My Pug 405 estate if left for a couple of days won't have enough oomph in the battery to turn it over.
The AA man says battery OK (its less than 2 years old, but I'm not saying it isn't, as they can lose a cell or somesuch) and that I have a current drain of half an amp somewhere, which is a problem - we pulled out all the fuses, and checked cooling fan relays but it wasn't there.
S I disconnected the battery for two days to remove the drain, and of course the car started up
Then, another guy told me that half an amp is normal, as the clock and radio memory use that much when the car is sitting. Just seems like a lot of current to me for a clock and a memory on a radio......Leave the interior or side lights on (I think a 25 W bulb is about half an amp) and you'd expect your battery to take a tumble afeter a couple of days.
Anyway my last 405 (a saloon) would sit idle over a two week vacation and start up easily when we got home.
Anyone know what the usual drain on the battery of a 405 is, with all the doors shut, and just the clock and radio memory drawing current, etc.
Better yet anyone had this problem and got an idea ?
Thanks all.
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Boot ,bonnet light ,hands free wired incorrectly .Disconnect the battery put an put an AVO in line and see how much if any current it is drawing it should be zero.Best to do it after the ignition has been turne off for 20 minutes.
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Divide watts by volts to get amps.25w/12v=2.08a.
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Why would you want to do that it should have an amp setting ie AVO amps volts ohms
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Two amps and not half an amp. Makes it even worse ! Physics, electronics and Ohm's law was never my strong subject !
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Half an amp (500mA) is too high. Over a couple of days that's 24Ah or about half the battery capacity.
With clocks, alarms, radio, alternator diode pack leakage etc. a modern car should have a drain of a few tens of milliamps - I've measured them as low as 20mA, even with an alarm, but I'm told up to maybe 40 or 50mA is possible. Should not be higher. Your car is pulling more than 10 times the leakage current it should.
Disconnect the battery earth lead and put a decent meter in series with it. Pull fuses to try to identify the circuit that's pulling the curent.
JS
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If you pulled the fuses an the drain was still there then I would suspect the alternator. Disconnect it and measure the drain. If it is the Alternator then either the control regulator has gone which can be changed or the recifier pack has failed, not so easy to change, exchange/replacement alternator. Regards Peter
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Interesting. I'll give it a go. The alternator clearly works to recharge the battery, plenty of current there - again, from the AA man.
I presume that what you are saying is that the alternator could be charging fine, but then acts to drain the battery when the engine is off.
Thanks for your help. I'll keep you posted.
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Peter could well be right. I should have read your post better, and noted you'd tried removing fuses. You may find in this state the alternator will do a reasonable, but not a proper, job of charging. A combination of that, plus excess current drain.......
JS
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Thanks for the tip. I must get a decent test meter !! I thought that the current drain seemed high as well. Someone else said the alarm/immobiliser (the factory fitted one) could be at fault?
I'll keep you posted.
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Yes they could but you have had the fuses out so have you eliminated them, maybe not. Regards Peter
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Maximum acceptable drain is about 0.1A (100mA). Don't forget that the alternator could be the problem as the windings could be the cause of the drain due to a faulty diode. Disconnect it to see if the drain then disappears....
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