Parasitic drain

[Terbs]

Hi all....

I definitely have a parasitic drain on my 2.5 estate. New battery, and still flat after leaving for a while. Other cars start perfect.
So...following a link I searched on here to a video of how to test and cure, I seem to have a drain of 3.0.
The next step is fuse pulling. However, the chap doing the vid says disconnect the meter before you open any doors. Then clamp the door open mechanism switch in the closed position.
Sorry if this is a 'duh' question, but how to you clamp the door switch in on the Omega. In the vid, his was on the door post...easy.
TIA

[Diamond Black Geezer]

What about just pulling the wires/bulbs from the door courtesy lights/interior light? Failing that actually take out the switches (one screw) and unplug them. 

[Terbs]

Ah...thanks DBG....
I did not think there would be a plug behind....thought it would just be a wire. I will undo that screw and pull the wire and see what happens.
But...and excuse my ignorance...the circuit is 'live' when the plug is in the open position. Just disconnecting, would that not leave the circuit open, and working, or does it have to be connected to work
Meaning...the contacts in the switch spring to a closed position when the door is open completing the circuit !!

[Nick W]

Sorry if this is a 'duh' question, but how to you clamp the door switch in on the Omega. In the vid, his was on the door post...easy.
TIA

Duct tape a short strip of wood across it.

[Terbs]

Thanks Nick, I'll try that first, before I start playing with things I don't know about

[Diamond Black Geezer]

I have a pre-GCSE and pre-19th Century understanding of electrics, but if there's no connecting wires, that's that, there's no electrical drain, there's no circuit. (unless, one supposes, there's a frayed wire arcing on a bit of bare steel on that particular wire, of course)

if unsure, as Nick says , tape the thing down. I've also wedged a lump of wood/plastic between the door and the switch before to hold it in the down position before. Just remember it's there before you slam the door and rip the hinges out! I eventually twigged it's far easier to just take the switch out, or the offending light bulbs. 

[Bigron]

The usual system with door courtesy light switch wiring is to feed the switch via the bulb (i.e. the 12 volt feed goes to the bulb first) and the circuit to earth is made via the switch, as it is physically in contact with the door metalwork.
If you remove the retaining screw for the switch and allow it and its wire to dangle in the fresh air, the earth return path cannot be made, so no light and no drain.....

Ron.

[Terbs]

Thanks chaps....I have taken the switch out (DBG) and once I gave a tug I had excess wire, so disconnected the plug. Me worrying over nothing, as usual.
Going to reconnect the meter, and then the laborious job of fuse pulling
I think the only thing fitted and hidden away was a phone system, which Nick W 'uninstalled' a while back, but I still get drain, unless there is a bit we missed lurking somewhere

[Dave DND]

Tried unplugging the Alarm Powersounder under the scuttle 

A real favorite for battery drain 

[Kevin Wood]

Bear in mind that there's a 10-15 minute delay before everything really turns off after closing all the doors due to the consumer delay relay. In a standard Omega it should drop to below 80ma or so.

[Diamond Black Geezer]

Tried unplugging the Alarm Powersounder under the scuttle 

A real favorite for battery drain 

Good thought. Most on here have long unplugged theirs, but if you haven't then that's a good thing to try 

[Terbs]

Power sounder went 6 years ago, mate...
To be quite honest, this is not my territory. I don't think my meter is good enough. Its only a Draper one, and I am not totally sure I am using the right settings. On the front it says DCV and I have it set on 200m. The other readings in that section are...500...200...20...2000m.
Yesterday it read 3.0, today I have got a reading of 004  or  00.4 (because the 'point' does not seem to be lit).
All I have done is unplug that door switch, so do you think its in that circuit ?

***Edit....not that, reconnected and same reading.
Will now pull fuses to see if reading changes...bah humbug !!!

[Diamond Black Geezer]

As above, my understanding is abysmal of using a multimeter, but I'm learning. I think it's just got to be logical, take it steady, and isolate/deduct one thing at a time.


I had a fuse blow on the Central Locking circuit day before our holidays, perfect timing. We'd recently replaced most of the doors, so anything could have happened. Rany my mechanic mate and save faffing with multimeters and so on, his nice, simple approach was 'get a handful of fuses, disconnect/reconnect the doors one by one, soon as the fuse stops blowing, you've found the door.' each day out we did just that, by the 3rd day found the faulty door. CL solenoid at fault.

If you're having inconclusive results from the multimeter, try a similar approach? Not entirely sure what systems you can safely remove a fuse from (well, theoretically all of them, otherwise what happens when a fuse blows?) yes, the car might not start/windows stop working etc but at least you've found/discounted your fault each time. 

[Bigron]

terbert, your description of how you use the meter is confusing. Just to clarify, (not knowing your exact model of meter) your test leads should be in the current socket (perhaps 10A, or loer if you have more choices) and the other lead in the common socket. The test leads are then used in the negative return from the battery; disconnect the battery terminal and connect theblack lead to the battery lug itself and the red lead to the terminal on the loose lug that was connected to the battery.

Ron.

[pauls]

I had a drain on my old estate.after days of searching it turned out to be curtasy light in passenger sun visor. Pulled bulb and all ok