Battery Charge

[daxyz]

Quick question.

Approximately how long should a fully charged battery be able to sit in an S2 without being used before it will be effectively flat? Are we talking a few days or a week or two weeks? What should I expect.

If I leave the car for 3 days from full charge then the battery is next to flat when I go try to start it.

I dont think this seems right and given that I've replaced the battery twice I suspect something is draining the battery !!

Next question....... ideas for tracing what it might be????

D.

[Greg_S]

have you got immobiliser? stereo? or interior light thats staying on even?

[daxyz]

Recent upgrade to alarm made no diff.

No internal lights that I can see (possible boot light??)

ICE upgraded by previous user (my brother) but head unit usually removed so 'shouldn't' be drawing anything.

[S2 Ant]

Get a multimeter, disconnect the negative terminal from the battery, then join the multimeter inline with the negative connector and the battery's negative terminal and measure the current, it will show if there is much of a drain happening.
Once you've got a reading with the car "as is" try disconnect suspect items or possibilities... Amp's etc, look for any suspecious DIY wiring. Also try arming the alarm to see how much this adds to ensure there isnt a fault there.

[Fat Audi 80]

Mine sits for up about a week to ten days with the alarm connected before starting can be a lottery. Without the alarm connected over three weeks...

(Doesn't sound right to me!)

HTH

Cheers,



Steve

[s2driveruk]

2 immobilisers on mine and will sit over 2 weeks and fire up without probs - are you sure it is being charged properly, where does it sit on the amp mtr when the car is first turned on to electricsa only and then wehere when the engine is running?

[daxyz]

Battery pretty new and I have fitted a new charger to it so I can just run an extension cable out to the car and charge it for days!!!

Once charged the car turns over REALLY quickly and starts a treat so I know the battery is charged at that point.

Taking the car for a good long run does also seem to keep it charged and if I use it every day it's fine - so I think it's charging ok.

Problem is only if it sits for 3 days+ and then all that charge seems to leak out somewhere.

Like the idea of the multi meter and trail and error - was looking for something to do this weekend anyway!!

Cheers guys - all further suggestions gladly accepted.

[caterpillar]

the stereo,or if you have some sub amp....

[S2 Ant]

The multimeter idea works, i done this on a mates Ford, turned out there was some addtional wiring in the engine bay that was draining the battery.

On my Clifford alarm you get a small pulse register every couple of seconds.

[daxyz]

I've had my suspicions about the amp......it's a hand built Gensis job but it's been in the car for about 6-7 years and may well be draining things - relatively easy to check I guess but I didn't want to disturb all that nice hard wired jumbo cabling!!!!

Spose I can give that a go and then try extracting fuses one by one to try and narrow down the offending circuits????

[Fat Audi 80]

How does the amp turn on??

[quattronutter]

i have had problems with a permanently live maf,this used to drain the battery after 3 or 4 days,the heated wire was permantly hot..worth checking,easy fix is to put a battery kill switch on it,so when its not in use there is no way for the battery to drain...

[iain1067]

also easy to check the alternators charge whilst you have the muiltimeter to hand just to be on the safe side. around 13.5 to 14volts is ok anymore it's over charging

[Jamo]

How does the amp turn on??

That was my next question, whats the betting it's permenantly live?

Seen it done before