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Omega Help Area => Omega Electrical and Audio Help => Topic started by: Humpy on 29 April 2011, 12:00:31

Title: Idle Current Draw?
Post by: Humpy on 29 April 2011, 12:00:31
Yes as you can see, I'm not watching the wedding!

Went out to the car last night nad the battery was nearly flat. Charged it overnight stuck it on this morning but put a meter on it to see what the current draw was, it was hovering around the 1A mark! Now I would have said that was quite high, anybody know roughly what the current drain should be? Even a bit battery won't put up with an Amp being drawn from it for long.

The worrying thing is me and a mate put a Parrot handsfree kit in last weekend, so I pulled the radio fuse (F12) to see if that was drawing the current and it isn't! So now I'm really stumped. I guess it's a case of pulling all the fuses...

Humpy
Title: Re: Idle Current Draw?
Post by: Martian on 29 April 2011, 12:04:09
All I can suggest is pull the fuses on circuits you know are live with the keys out, and watch the meter for when the current drops.
Title: Re: Idle Current Draw?
Post by: Humpy on 29 April 2011, 12:08:57
And make a note which one went where :)

Humpy
Title: Re: Idle Current Draw?
Post by: Martian on 29 April 2011, 12:12:07
Quote
And make a note which one went where :)

Humpy
Pull (and replace) them one at a time, no chance of getting it wrong then.
Title: Re: Idle Current Draw?
Post by: TheBoy on 29 April 2011, 12:16:17
try pulling powersounder
Title: Re: Idle Current Draw?
Post by: Kevin Wood on 29 April 2011, 12:43:01
Other common cause is the accessory delay relay sticking "on".

A failed diode pack in the alternator can also do this, but first job, as said, is to pull the fuses one at a time to see if you can narrow it down. Should be about 60-80mA or less IME.

Kevin
Title: Re: Idle Current Draw?
Post by: Humpy on 29 April 2011, 19:52:17
It hasn't got a powersounder, that went some time ago! I'll try the fuses tomorrow and see what I can find out.

Humpy
Title: Re: Idle Current Draw?
Post by: Nick W on 29 April 2011, 22:51:49
Quote
All I can suggest is pull the fuses on circuits you know are live with the keys out, and watch the meter for when the current drops.

 If you use something like Sealeys Ta123(Laser do a similar gadget) adapter lead for your meter you can plug directly into the fuse box. Very handy, although I've not actually used mine yet!
Title: Re: Idle Current Draw?
Post by: Humpy on 30 April 2011, 09:54:35
Quote
If you use something like Sealeys Ta123(Laser do a similar gadget) adapter lead for your meter you can plug directly into the fuse box. Very handy, although I've not actually used mine yet!

That's just showing off!!! I shall put my trusty 29 year old Fluke on it. The best meter I ever had as it's the only meter I ever had :y

Humpy
Title: Re: Idle Current Draw?
Post by: Humpy on 30 April 2011, 12:07:15
380mA without the Stereo fuse and with 480mA with it. Still too high I would have thought. It drew 49mA with no fuses plugged in including the underbody fuses removed. Any thoughts?

Humpy
Title: Re: Idle Current Draw?
Post by: Martian on 30 April 2011, 13:02:44
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It drew 49mA with no fuses plugged in including the underbody fuses removed. Any thoughts?
Did you remove them one at a time and note the current drop (if any) as I suggested?
Title: Re: Idle Current Draw?
Post by: Humpy on 30 April 2011, 13:24:14
Had a problem with my meter intially so took them all out 1 by 1 with inconclusive results!!! Borrowed a mates meter to prove mine and put the fuses back in one by one. The sunroof, central locking and other expected fuses drew a little bit each all adding up to 380mA, the radio fuse put this up to 480mA.

Humpy
Title: Re: Idle Current Draw?
Post by: Martian on 30 April 2011, 13:30:43
A quiescent current of 100mA for the radio sounds excessively high to me, especially as all it has to do is keep the memory alive.
Title: Re: Idle Current Draw?
Post by: Kevin Wood on 30 April 2011, 14:41:28
Quote
A quiescent current of 100mA for the radio sounds excessively high to me, especially as all it has to do is keep the memory alive.

Agreed.

I reckon there's another problem as well, because the 380 that leaves is still high.

One thing we should have mentioned is that you need to leave the car to stand for 5 minutes or so with the doors closed to get the true reading, as the accessory delay relay takes about this long to power down the circuits it feeds (including the lighting in the electric window switches, so it will be significant).

Kevin
Title: Re: Idle Current Draw?
Post by: Kevin Wood on 30 April 2011, 14:43:08
Fuse 7 in the passenger compartment fuse box feeds the accessory delay relay so you can just remove this fuse then you won't have to wait for it to deactivate every time. :y

Kevin
Title: Re: Idle Current Draw?
Post by: Dave DND on 30 April 2011, 16:42:46
Have you unplugged the parrot kit and observed the current?

Also, things like parrot kit may have standby timers etc to save you from being cut off when keys pulled - check the settings!! Also check the permenent and ignition lives are the correct way round

Leaving car to rest for a few minutes is very important, pulling the fuse for any accessory delay relay will do nothing for things like interior movement sensors for the alarm etc, they all need to find their own levels, and this takes a few minutes also.

 :y
Title: Re: Idle Current Draw?
Post by: Martian on 30 April 2011, 17:26:04
Quote
I reckon there's another problem as well, because the 380 that leaves is still high.
Seconded.
Although I am not familiar with the Omega electrics, 380mA is way outside what I would expect to find on any vehicle where quiescent current is concerned.


@ the OP,

If you fancy a 50 odd mile slap to North Hants, I'll quite happily find the problem device for you.
Title: Re: Idle Current Draw?
Post by: Humpy on 01 May 2011, 09:52:58
Ok guys, I'll have another go and leave all the doors shut for a while and let everything settle down.

Humpy