Electrical Problem

Ty Whitlock

Ty Whitlock

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Hi I am very new to motorhoming although I have owned an Elddis Majestic 155 for nearly 2 years. I purchased from Motorhome Depot franchise and am positive it had this issue!! The vehicle battery drains after 2-3 days on drive? It has in Peugeot for over 3 weeks the handsfree kit has been changed but still a draw.....any ideas would be greatly appreciated?? Thanks Ty
 
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Ty Whitlock said:
Hi I am very new to motorhoming although I have owned an Elddis Majestic 155 for nearly 2 years. I purchased from Motorhome Depot franchise and am positive it had this issue!! The vehicle battery drains after 2-3 days on drive? It has in Peugeot for over 3 weeks the handsfree kit has been changed but still a draw.....any ideas would be greatly appreciated?? Thanks Ty
Click to expand...

If it has an alarm then that could be the issue as our Majestic 195 did the same.
 
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Is the battery good? My car battery worked fine to start the car etc until you leave a light on or ignition on then it was flat in 10 minutes. Needed a new one. Old one just wouldn't hold a charge.
 
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I would go with a suspect battery, if it was on the vehicle when you bought it then you dont know how old it is or if its been abused.. Radios and alarms will have a small drain and a poor battery will go faster.
If in doubt buy and fit a new battery, at least that's a starting point.
 
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As others have said, check the condition of the battery first as that's the main suspect, if it's not holding a charge, then it will definitely lose anything it does have very, very quickly.

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Ty Whitlock said:
The vehicle battery drains after 2-3 days on drive?
Click to expand...

You need to measure the current leaving the battery. Get it charged up. Remove the easiest terminal. Connect ammeter.

NOTE: You will probably need a radio activation code afterwards.
NOTE: Do not attempt to turn anything on whilst using the ammeter.

Once you know the drain then you can take a view on whether or not the battery is at fault.
 
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Hi thanks for the replies.... I have replaced the battery twice now and still draining? The battery is new.

Peugeot have asked if there is a tracker/alarm fitted not sure on tracker but no alarm!!

I guess we will have to continue searching? This is such a pain.

Thanks Ty
 
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There is an alternative method of measuring current (amps) that is much easier to use and does not have such potential risks of causing issues such as those described by @hilldweller.

It's called a clamp meter. The meter clips around the wire without making electrical contact, and without any disconnections. It measures the current by sensing the magnetic field produced by the current.
UT210E.jpeg

However for this job, any old clamp meter won't do. Many of them don't measure DC current, and of those that do, most will not measure small currents very well. They'll measure 10 amps OK, but you're looking for currents of less than half an amp, and they won't see that very well.

The one I use is the UNI-T 210E, which will measure up to 100 amps but more importantly has a 2 amp range for measuring small currents like the ones you are interested in. It also has sockets and comes with test leads so you can measure volts, resistance and continuity like a normal multimeter. It's the meter I always carry in the MH.
UT210E_Leads.jpeg
 
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Ty Whitlock said:
. I have replaced the battery twice now and still draining? The battery is new.
Thanks Ty
Click to expand...

NOW you tell us. Well you can be sure you'll be doing again soon if you don't take our advice.

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2 or 3 days is quick, but they all have persistent parasitic drains. Everything from the Body Control Module, the radio and any security all take a current from the battery whilst parked
 
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Connect ammeter as described above and see what is being drawn out of battery. Then start to pull fuses until drain on battery stops. That will identify which circuit you have problem with.

Obviously some circuits/fuses will have a small consumption, such as clock, radio, etc. But look towards ones that shouldn’t, or that are high.
 
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TheBig1 said:
2 or 3 days is quick, but they all have persistent parasitic drains. Everything from the Body Control Module, the radio and any security all take a current from the battery whilst parked
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All of the electronic modules in a vehicle are switched on and off by a software command. They are receptive to a software command to switch them back on again. Normally they go into 'deep sleep' mode when the engine is off, but it's possible that a fault will stop them going into deep sleep mode. Or some noise or activity on the CAN bus may wake them up at the wrong time. Radios are susceptible to this, but it can happen to any module. The only way to find it is to measure the current to each module, gradually narrowing it down.
 
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autorouter said:
There is an alternative method of measuring current (amps) that is much easier to use and does not have such potential risks of causing issues such as those described by @hilldweller.

It's called a clamp meter. The meter clips around the wire without making electrical contact, and without any disconnections. It measures the current by sensing the magnetic field produced by the current.
View attachment 293728
However for this job, any old clamp meter won't do. Many of them don't measure DC current, and of those that do, most will not measure small currents very well. They'll measure 10 amps OK, but you're looking for currents of less than half an amp, and they won't see that very well.

The one I use is the UNI-T 210E, which will measure up to 100 amps but more importantly has a 2 amp range for measuring small currents like the ones you are interested in. It also has sockets and comes with test leads so you can measure volts, resistance and continuity like a normal multimeter. It's the meter I always carry in the MH.
View attachment 293729
Click to expand...

I have this meter and it's ace, it even has a backlight, hold etc.
Don't buy a cheaper meter: get this one.
 
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hilldweller said:
Not cheap but a hell of a site cheaper than a battery.

On the back of a sound recommendation I've just bought one. The only meter I do not have is a DC clamp.
Click to expand...

Deep Joy !!

What a quality piece of kit. Solid "proper" plastic - tough, not going to break first time you use it.

Just done some small DC current tests and I can't believe how it measures down to 2mA. It's over reading at 2mA but that's good enough for most purposes, certainly for a MH to track down those missing battery watts.

With the leads the DC volts are spot on.

As a Big Bonus it has a volt sniffer - NCV - turn it on that and it beeps as soon as it sniffs AC - perfect to trace that faulty EHU.

No motorhome is properly equipped without one of these.
 
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hilldweller said:
Deep Joy !!

What a quality piece of kit. Solid "proper" plastic - tough, not going to break first time you use it.

Just done some small DC current tests and I can't believe how it measures down to 2mA. It's over reading at 2mA but that's good enough for most purposes, certainly for a MH to track down those missing battery watts.

With the leads the DC volts are spot on.

As a Big Bonus it has a volt sniffer - NCV - turn it on that and it beeps as soon as it sniffs AC - perfect to trace that faulty EHU.

No motorhome is properly equipped without one of these.
Click to expand...
You have just talked me into getting one, oh boy you are going to be in big troubler with my boss.:)
 
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hilldweller said:
It's over reading at 2mA
Click to expand...

You'll need to use the 'Zero' button for DC current measurements as it nulls out residual magnetism in the sensor. Hold the meter away from any cables and press 'Zero', then it is ready to be clipped on the wire.

It also has a backlight you may have also found, and 'Hold' is also useful.
 
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hilldweller said:
Deep Joy !!

What a quality piece of kit. Solid "proper" plastic - tough, not going to break first time you use it.

Just done some small DC current tests and I can't believe how it measures down to 2mA. It's over reading at 2mA but that's good enough for most purposes, certainly for a MH to track down those missing battery watts.

With the leads the DC volts are spot on.

As a Big Bonus it has a volt sniffer - NCV - turn it on that and it beeps as soon as it sniffs AC - perfect to trace that faulty EHU.

No motorhome is properly equipped without one of these.
Click to expand...
@brian, how long did it take to arrive, I see the seller is based in China
Thanks - Derry
 
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I like the 2A scale, my uni-t (different model) is crap for small measurements, as they usually are.
If there's enough slack on the cable to be measured, you can loop it through the Jaws several times, then divide the reading by that amount (y)
 
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Derry Wilson said:
@brian, how long did it take to arrive, I see the seller is based in China
Thanks - Derry
Click to expand...

Yes, I was worried about that, I keep getting conned by Chinese waiting times but this was here in a week, I think it was posted in UK.

I've used it quite a bit now on a home control system, 12V lead acid based, I still think it's just great. It's just so easy to track those DC amps. I hope I remember to put it in MH when we next set off.

For all the annoyance of spotting Chinese delivery after pressing "buy" they do normally arrive in decent time. I have had one display arrive cracked but for a fiver, I can live with it when it did work enough to do the programming I wanted.
 
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hilldweller said:
Yes, I was worried about that, I keep getting conned by Chinese waiting times but this was here in a week, I think it was posted in UK.

I've used it quite a bit now on a home control system, 12V lead acid based, I still think it's just great. It's just so easy to track those DC amps. I hope I remember to put it in MH when we next set off.

For all the annoyance of spotting Chinese delivery after pressing "buy" they do normally arrive in decent time. I have had one display arrive cracked but for a fiver, I can live with it when it did work enough to do the programming I wanted.
Click to expand...

Thanks Brian. I will order one this afternoon.
Derry

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I’ve had the UNI-T 210E multimeter a while now and it’s an excellent tool, the only slightly annoying thing is that it defaults to AC current when reading voltage, just need to remember to select DC when checking DC voltages
 
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Mine came today :love: really like it, the test readings I did (10uf, diode, resistance and dc volts) are very close to my Sunday best fluke multimeter.
The low 2 amp clamp scale read 170ma when my fluke in line ammeter read 190 but hell it's accurate enough, and the display doesn't seem to drift about like some clamp meters. Auto power off is a great feature too :love:
 
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So BIG thanks all round to @autorouter for the link.

For anyone reading this for the first time, this is just about the most perfect electrical meter for a MH to have on board. Yes, it's more cash than a cheapo digital meter but being able to read low DC amps without cutting or undoing cables makes it worth every penny.
 
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