Battery Drain of 0.4A, is this normal? (1 Viewer)

[Wissel]

I've had bad battery drain for a while but after seeing a thread at the weekend on the OBD2 had a light bulb moment and realised I'd left one plugged in for the last year

Anyway, I fitted a new battery yesterday and would like to keep it alive for as long as I can. This morning I sat in the van, locked it, took off the neg wire and put a multi-meter inline to test the draw.

My van has a draw when off of 0.4a, is this normal or a high? I tested this for 10mins and was the same .

If it's high I'll use a fuse tester to see if I can narrow down what the draw is, but is this even worth worrying about as in another week I'll have 400w of solar and my MPPT (and when on EHU) trickle charges the starter battery anyway?

 

[hilldweller]

Over the years on here I've picked up that new MHs are now failing to start after 3 weeks idle.

0.4A , say 80Ah starter ( guessing ) so 50Ah usable / 0.4 = 125h = 5 days until you are in trouble.

On that basis possibly normal but also disgraceful. With well designed modern electronics it should be one tenth of that when idle. Modern designers are very sloppy because computers are so powerful they just don't think in terms of efficiency like the olde fartes did.

 

[Urs4_2008]

I've had bad battery drain for a while but after seeing a thread at the weekend on the OBD2 had a light bulb moment and realised I'd left one plugged in for the last year

Anyway, I fitted a new battery yesterday and would like to keep it alive for as long as I can. This morning I sat in the van, locked it, took off the neg wire and put a multi-meter inline to test the draw.

My van has a draw when off of 0.4a, is this normal or a high? I tested this for 10mins and was the same .

If it's high I'll use a fuse tester to see if I can narrow down what the draw is, but is this even worth worrying about as in another week I'll have 400w of solar and my MPPT (and when on EHU) trickle charges the starter battery anyway?

0.4 is quite a lot. Maybe it’s your stereo? Check all fuses (start with main power button on / off)

 

[hilldweller]

Check all fuses

That is soooo easy to type.

 

[Tykatem]

If your cab radio has a removable faceplate, try detaching it and take another reading.

Pete

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[Urs4_2008]

That is soooo easy to type.

Which is a good thing, typing on a small, clever phone with a crazy efficient Norwegian spell checker, using my fat sausage fingers

What I probably should have typed is:
-switch main power off using the powerbutton. Does drain go away, it's somewhere getting power through your EBL. If so, pull out one fuse at a time, and stick a multimeter configured to measure amps in the socket.
Repeat until you find the fuse which has the drain.
If the drain is not on your EBL, do the same on the vehicle's fuses until you find the bastard who steals power
It it doesn't help, check the physical battery for wires connected directly to the battery poles or near.

 

[Gromett]

I have a battery master and a small 10 watt solar panel. This keeps the van battery nicely topped up. It takes 2 weeks for my cab battery to get too low to start the van.

 

[ramsthom]

If its with the control panel on I would say its about normal. If it has a Sargent control panel shut it down during storage. Ours draws 0.3 amp with the panel on but with it off the batteries are still ok after 4 weeks

 

[TerryL]

There is a similar drain showing on the control panel despite years of checking that nothing is being left on, disconnecting things etc. It was finally suggested to me that it might be the control panel itself so now I switch that off when storing the van. However I've got a 100w solar panel and a battery master so that it's never been a problem anyway.

 

[movan]

Does the alarm make a difference?

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[MikeD]

Our van shows an approx. 1/2 amp drain as well. Alarm and radio/audio system I think are to blame.

 

[rosalan]

Not an easy decision. Turn off the security and lose the van (potentially) to save the battery drain or keep the van safe and do as I think you are doing and fit a solar panel but try not to park it under cover.

 

[JockandRita]

Does the alarm make a difference?

Most definitely Joy, especially if the MH is alarmed and not used for several weeks. We used to suffer a flat starter battery, when the MH was alarmed and in storage. Fitting a battery manager soon resolved that issue, and we have never suffered the same since.
As explained to you a couple of weeks ago, when the leisure batteries reach a certain voltage, the battery manager diverts the excess charge to the starter battery. With solar panels installed, it's a win win situation.

Cheers,

Jock.

 

[pappajohn]

Alarm, radio memory, tracker ect all need power, then there's the batteries natural drain.
Leaving an OBDII module plugged in should use no power once the system has fully shut down...which can take a minute or two after locking the van .

 

[Minxy]

I've had bad battery drain for a while but after seeing a thread at the weekend on the OBD2 had a light bulb moment and realised I'd left one plugged in for the last year

Isn't it funny how people understand things in different ways especially when tired ... when you said this I thought you literally meant you'd left a light on for the last year! It was only when I read PPJ's comment that I realised you meant the OBD2 (I thought it was the name of one of the robots from Star Wars ....

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