Battery Going FLAT
 

Not used my 2004 Diesel for about a week and when I tried to start it the battery was very nearly flat, the battery is a 9 month old heavy duty Bosch unit.

Charged it up for over 24 hours, not connected to the car, and checked the voltage 48 hours later and it was a stable 12.8 volts.

Connected up to the car, pulling out the FBH plugs, and within 3 days nearly flat again.

Gave it a good 24 hours charge and reconnected it to the car with an ammeter in the circuit.
I found that after about 30 minutes it was still drawing 0.45 amps (450ma). Is this normal is it seems a little high to me?

If so, any ideas where I should start to look for this current drain?

Me little black book says after 18-20 minutes, the drain should be in the 30-45mA range, so you've got a parasite somewhere. Anything glowing at night that shouldn't be (LSM?).



TC

So drawing 10 times what it should be, don't think there is anything glowing away, but I will go out later tonight re-connect the battery and have a look about in the dark.

Are any internal lights staying on (boot glove box), is there a fitted sat nav?
I would be tempted to charge the battery off the car, check voltage, leave for a few days sill off the car then check again.

macafee2

After everything had shut down I measured my petrol V6 as background 16mA with slightly higher pulses corresponding to the burglar alarm LED.

0.45A is about 5W so it could be your glove box light.

Thanks for all your suggestions, I will investigate some more after dinner this evening.

So, reconnected the battery now its nice and dark.

The LSM is not staying illuminated....

The glove box light was off, and switches on and off like it should do...


More investigation needed tomorrow.

is a saloon what about boot light?

macafee2

At that sort of discharge something would probably feel warm to the touch.

The info you gave about your battery says your battery is OK.