Leisure Battery Flat / Radio? / Willinton Kit

Technical questions and answers about the Mazda Bongo

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Heart of Midlothian

Leisure Battery Flat / Radio? / Willinton Kit

Post by Heart of Midlothian » Wed Apr 21, 2010 12:58 pm

I recently installed a willinton split relay kit along with a new bosch 110 leisure battery. Kit seems to be installed ok, relay works as it should and 2 wires were patched into the fuse box for lights/12v and radio. The fuses from the 2 additional wires for blinds have been removed.

LB should have been fully charged after a 2 hour drive, but a week later when I tried the radio the power was low(kept going on & off ater 5 seconds) and the 12v socket green light at the back was very dim, so something is draining the battery.

I suspect the radio (its a sony and I do remove the face) may be drawing current from my lb to retain its memory, but I would have not expected it to draw such a current. I have also read on other posts something about a radio feed going the the ignition - can anyone ellaborate?

Additionally................
Anyone got any advice as to how I can check my radio current? (I do have a voltmeter)
Any other ideas as to why the LB would drain?

thanks
MountainGoat
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Re: Leisure Battery Flat / Radio? / Willinton Kit

Post by MountainGoat » Wed Apr 21, 2010 3:44 pm

Do you have a conversion with a Zig Unit or Power Management Unit installed and do you have the radio, blinds and internal lights etc patched to the Leisure Battery?

Tony
Former SGL5 Owner Jeep Cherokee 2.5CRD Burstner Ixeo Time it585
Heart of Midlothian

Re: Leisure Battery Flat / Radio? / Willinton Kit

Post by Heart of Midlothian » Wed Apr 21, 2010 4:46 pm

No zig or power management, just radio & lights/12v sockets and they are just patched into the fuse box.
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missfixit70
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Re: Leisure Battery Flat / Radio? / Willinton Kit

Post by missfixit70 » Wed Apr 21, 2010 5:10 pm

Check the inline fuses between the batteries haven't blown, if it's got really low, it may be demanding too much current, check the alternator is outputting ok, should be 13-14.something volts at the starter battery (& LB if it's charging) with the engine running, this'll drop to somewhere between 12.5 & 13v once it's switched off.
There have been reports of the middle floursecent type light in the rear draining the battery, but if it's a new stereo it could have a significant drain on the battery if it's on the LB, I fitted a switch on the ignition wire from the stereo so it could be switched off completely while still maintaining the memory.
My LB did a spurious drain a few weeks ago in the horrible wet weather when I'd been through some monster puddles, recharged it via the mains with an intelligent charger as the willinton fuses blew trying to draw too much current. All been ok since [-o<
You can't polish a turd - but you can roll it in glitter.
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