Omega Owners Forum

Omega Help Area => Omega Electrical and Audio Help => Topic started by: Bigron on 12 November 2012, 09:15:01

Title: Current drain from battery.
Post by: Bigron on 12 November 2012, 09:15:01
My battery went flat after a few days of non-use, so assuming the 6 year old battery had seen its last, I bought a new one, but it still happened. With everything off, there is approx. 1 Amp discharge from the battery. I took the fusible links out one at a time from the box over the battery, and removing the middle one from the group of three stopped the drain. I cannot identify which items are served by this fuse; can anyone help?
It has been suggested that there might be a leaky diode in the alternator, but when I put my meter, on AC volts, across the battery there is only a tiny reading, so no significant AC on the output from the alternator.
Title: Re: Current drain from battery.
Post by: Kevin Wood on 12 November 2012, 10:19:03
Alternator is directly connected to the battery so removing the fusible link wouldn't have changed things in that case.

Bear in mind that most models have a consumer delay relay that leaves some circuits active for 10 minutes or so after the last door is closed, so might be worth giving it a few minutes to see where the current settles. This relay has been known to fail, which would cause a similar issue to the one you have.

Once you're sure it's settled, you can narrow down the problem by removing fuses in the main fusebox in the driver's footwell to find which one is the culprit.

If you have a power sounder fitted still, it'd be worth trying its' removal as they can fail in such a way that they drain the battery (and can also start a fire).
Title: Re: Current drain from battery.
Post by: omegapioneer on 18 November 2012, 18:25:17
hi i am suffering similar problems with my 3.2 elite battery drain, changed alternator in first instance and then got new battery as thought one i had for about 5 months was potentially faulty, i am seeing a 1 amp current draw on middle 80a fuse on top of battery but i am interested to find out more about this consumer relay that can go faulty as i still see current draw with power sounder disconnected, where it is located and how to identify it make or colour code, or any other things i can try to remedy this problem, it doesnt happen every time as if battery gets a good charge it is ok for a week or two as long as driven daily, thanks for any help you can give, Eric
Title: Re: Current drain from battery.
Post by: Kevin Wood on 19 November 2012, 23:39:39
I would try pulling out the cabin fusebox fuses one at a time until the drain disappears.
Title: Re: Current drain from battery.
Post by: omegapioneer on 22 November 2012, 15:01:37
Hi just to update i went thru the list  of checks and found that although the alternator was output 14.45 v when started after a few minutes started to drop back gradually, when putting under load droped and didnt recover properly and even with load removed kept dropping until got to about 12.7 v. i had original alternator tested and have replaced it back into omega with a new 35mm cable to alternator from battery, before connecting it to battery i ran engine and found a volt difference on old cable to new and now with a load of full blower heated window lights heated seats and it was able to hold 14.1v at idle and 14.28 at fast idle so need a few miles to check out come properly but looks muc better than previous.
On a seperate note i had just did a quick disconnect of the alarm siren by unplugging it thru the wiper panel drain hole, so removed it today as it didnt even squeak when i did disconnect it,  when i cut it open it has evidence of it attempting to go on fire more proof that they should all be removed and thrown away. cheers guys Eric
Title: Re: Current drain from battery.
Post by: v6man54deg              Geffd on 15 December 2012, 17:43:31
my battery died the other day - re charged it not tried it since  but this topic looks interesting as the battery fitted doesnt look that old!