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[Lesopc]

On Sunday night at half past midnight i drove my miggy 4 miles home from the bus garage where i work. During the journey eveything went normally (the only light on the dash was the engine management amber light due to a failed cam sensor) and i parked the car with the radio/cd player off,a/c off and lights off. When i went back to the car at 8.30am on Monday, EVERYTHING was dead. The battery was bought brand new in Nov 09 and is a high output diesel one (my miggy is a 2.0 petrol straight 4 manual). I have had a battery replaced under it's guarantee but just wondered if there might be another underlying cause. Any help might be useful.

[Dave DND]

Have you measured for current drain ?

1st place to start

 

[Lesopc]

Have you measured for current drain ?

1st place to start

 

Never checked that Dave, Do i just need an Ampmeter??? If all systems are off how can there be a current drain??

[Lizzie_Zoom]

I once had exactly the same thing...................I inadvently had pressed the fob button for the boot after locking the car and the boot light had drained the battery by Monday morning!

Is your boot open? :-/

[Lesopc]

I once had exactly the same thing...................I inadvently had pressed the fob button for the boot after locking the car and the boot light had drained the battery by Monday morning!

Is your boot open? :-/

No the boot was shut and as i say, all systems were off.

[Dave DND]

Have you measured for current drain ?

1st place to start

 

Never checked that Dave, Do i just need an Ampmeter??? If all systems are off how can there be a current drain??

Checking for current drain will determine if somethng that should be switched off is still actually partially switched on and draining the battery - if unable to perform this yourself, have a word with your local autoelectrician - without knowing for certain that you have battery drain, and you didn`t simply leave a light on, you do not have a point to start diagnosing from.

[russ b]

I am experiencing same problem I have put up post looking for new alternator. How do you test current drain and rectify it   :-/

[Entwood]

First things first. Disconnect battery, Recharge OFF the vehicle for 24 hours. Leave to stand for 1 hour. Then, and only then, take voltage readings every couple of hours for the next 24 hours-ish

If the voltage maintains steady over this time.. the battery is probably good, if the voltage drops the battery is fubar and most likely the problem.

Once you have a battery that is known to hold its charge properly, place on the vehicle, ensure everything you think is off actually is, make sure all doors/boot closed. Take voltage readings for a further 24 hours.

If the voltage drops then something is "live" .. time to start systematically pulling fuses to find out what ..

[Andy B]

To test for curent drain, rather than Entwood's voltage drop, you need your multi-meter & leads set to read current. There's normally a 20 amp none fused connection and a 2 amp fused connection. Your battery lead needs disconnecting and the multi-meter connected in line with the battery lead.

[Kevin Wood]

To test for curent drain, rather than Entwood's voltage drop, you need your multi-meter & leads set to read current. There's normally a 20 amp none fused connection and a 2 amp fused connection. Your battery lead needs disconnecting and the multi-meter connected in line with the battery lead.

Yep. Make sure you don't switch on anything that will draw serious current or it will blow the fuse in your multimeter and may destroy it.

Also, wait 15 minutes with the doors closed to ensure the accessory timer has expired.

Kevin

[Cdxer]

Is this not the start of the Powersounder problem... like I had .... fixed the battery prob by removing the powersounder.... first sign of Powersound battery leak is
flattening the main battery... well it was for me..
doogie

[russ b]

i would say no to powersounder as mine and ops car are both basic beasts which do not have alarms or powersounder, but i stand to be corrected
i thought my alternator was struggling because i have just put an elite interior in i have know disconnected my seats to see if that changes anything failing that i could remove boot bulb as some have commented that it can stay on if not catched properly :-?

[Lesopc]

Is this not the start of the Powersounder problem... like I had .... fixed the battery prob by removing the powersounder.... first sign of Powersound battery leak is
flattening the main battery... well it was for me..
doogie

Powersounder has been disconnected since before i became owner. Just had fobs fixed and was thinking of re-connecting it though.

[Lesopc]

i would say no to powersounder as mine and ops car are both basic beasts which do not have alarms or powersounder, but i stand to be corrected
i thought my alternator was struggling because i have just put an elite interior in i have know disconnected my seats to see if that changes anything failing that i could remove boot bulb as some have commented that it can stay on if not catched properly :-?

No as boot bulb is also out everytime.

[zirk]

Do as mentioned above for Battery condition and drain, also worth checking your alternator output voltage, when running should be arround 13.5 to 14.2, if its less than this then pull the Neg off the battery while running and measure alternator volts again. As where having hot weather now, check that the fans dont kick in and mess up the readings.

Chris.