Battery being drained

[gsc1ugs]

This nightmare nemo strikes again with another problem, in day i could not see this, in dark i can, faint lights on in the instrument cluster, not sure what i should look for , is it traceable? 3 faint lights not all of them and its enough to drain battery in 6 hours so it struggles turning engine over

[Sloppysod]

Are you sure it faint lights and not just a reflection.
1st things first, you say it drains the battery in 6 Hours - if they were faint that means they are not pulling alot of power.
Being the car it is, you don't say anything about age, it's possible somone in the past has replaced the tradition bulbs with LEDs, and cheap LEDs can do alsorts of things to modern electronics.

Firstly, I would disconnect the battery, then leave it for 6 hours, reconnect and try to start, if this gives the same issue ".....so it struggles turning engine over", you battery is stuffed. Then while the battery is off the car check to make sure the dash illumination is of the correct type as it left the factory- if not replace, or leave the Dash disonnected, reconnect the battery and leave for anothe 6 hours, this will show if your dash is actually causing the problem. - Good luck

[gsc1ugs]

Its none of what you said, unplug battery for 6 hrs then reconnect, turns over like superman something is drawing from the battery, its done it with 2 batteries, and they are not reflections i was in the dark.

[Peter.N.]

Disconnect the alternator and connect an ammeter between that and the battery, alternator diodes or regulators can go leaky. To run the battery flat in 6 hours it must be drawing 2-3 amps or more, or it could be just a low capacity battery, how old is it?

Peter

[gsc1ugs]

Battery is fine, ive tried 2 batteries both drain slowly, battery doesn’t go completely flat just not enough fire engine

Whats an ammeter?

[PaulC5]

Just a meter that measures amps and will also do volts and resistance. They do not cost much, as an example for £8.50 at Halfords https://www.halfords.com/tools/hand-too ... YwJGwwJGgw

[gsc1ugs]

Can it be done with multi meter?

[PaulC5]

Surely a multi meter is the same thing.

When checking for something that drains the battery it would need to be connected between the battery positive terminal and the positive lead after it has been disconnected from the battery. Then set it to amps. Meters usually only go up to 10 amps so do not try to start the car with the meter connected or turn anything on with a high wattage such as the lights.

[gsc1ugs]

So if i get a reading how do i know where the fault is?

[mickthemaverick]

Personally I would connect the meter in series with the negative battery terminal so that should your lead to meter connection touch the car's body or engine etc it will not cause a short circuit and possibly blow more fuses. Once you see a faulty current just remove each fuse in turn until the reading disappears. That will be when you disconnect the faulty circuit. Identify that fuse and then you know what to look at.

[PaulC5]

Using the negative terminal makes sense but might not help find something that is shorting to earth.

A normal reading should be around 30 milli amps or less, to flatten the battery might be 10 times this.

[mickthemaverick]

No it doesn't matter Paul, if the battery is being drained the leak current travels through the circuit the same at both terminals. Breaking that leakage circuit at any point will drop the current so the fuses still break the circuit. Once the fuse is identified then you can leave the fuse out and do resistance tests along the circuit to identify the actual fault.

[gsc1ugs]

Personally I would connect the meter in series with the negative battery terminal so that should your lead to meter connection touch the car's body or engine etc it will not cause a short circuit and possibly blow more fuses. Once you see a faulty current just remove each fuse in turn until the reading disappears. That will be when you disconnect the faulty circuit. Identify that fuse and then you know what to look at.

Which fuses? Engine or those inside van?

[mickthemaverick]

Who knows? You'll have to work your way through all of them one at a time until you find the one that cuts the current off. I'd start with the easiest to access!

[gsc1ugs]

Im just thinking, why do i need a multi meter why dont i pull fuses until dim lights go off?