Fuse 8 - Cigar lighters, Mirrors, radio - battery discharge

[jaylee]

I actually repaired mine a couple of years ago Kirsty....



The solder that holds the clip/contacts for the florescent tube had gone here causing in-continuity & the lamp to flash.. Though yours are removed for the led's.

[Alacrity]

Alacrity's advice is good but not all multimeters can handle the current involved.

That is true, but we are looking for a slow drain here so I would think it worth a try. I have checked the various meter ratings we have here (5) & we have 3 @ 10a & 2 @ 20a max rating. Any of these will do as a drain of more than 10amp is quite big & would drag the battery down fairly quickly, the worst that will happen is you will blow the fuse in the meter. No big deal. That's certainly what we would do here.

Either that or just wire an old fashioned ammeter instead of a fuse - only for diagnostic purposes though. We are only talking about a 15amp max circuit here.

[rita]

May be best to disconnect the centre light entirely, just undo the 3 screws under the plastic diffuser & there's a plug underneath, it's a complicated bit of kit in there I've cut out all that circuitry & fitted led strips inside instead. Should be less of a current draw then too.

Hi missf,

Do you have a Link for the LEDs,looking for a 48 cm strip,do you need any additional component when using these, ie resistors etc.

Thanks..

[Alifriendee]

I've removed the central overhead light this evening to see if it is the cause of the drain.

I would much appreciate some instructions on what to do with my Multimeter. It's like this.

]

I'm afraid I need an idiots guide but it if helps to see what is taking the power load it will save a lot of time. Many thanks in anticipation.

[Alacrity]

Move the red lead to the 10adc socket & set the meter to the amps range where it says 10a. This meter is only rated at 10 amps so just be careful when you put it in place of the fuse in case your drain is higher. The meter will have a fuse in it so at worst it should just pop that it if the current is much higher, I suspect it will be below 10a though but that is just a hunch & I could be wrong on that.

[Alifriendee]

OK thanks I'll give it a try. I guess I stick the pins either side of each fuse and if it says 0 there is no drain and if there is a reading to make a note of it and report back?

[Alacrity]

Yup, take the fuse out & attach the meter to the contacts where the two fuse blades push in (you may have to fiddle about & make something temporary up to attach the meter). The meter should be showing a reading if you have a drain, then disconnect stuff till you loose the drain. If it is showing 0 then there is no drain on that circuit but, if I remember correctly, the battery doesn't drain if you pull the fuse so it won't show 0.

[Alifriendee]

Results for everything I believe to be running off the leisure battery :-

Fuse with radio, central locking, interior lights - 0.02 (turning on the central interior light took it to -0.67)
Fuse for exterior mirrors and 2x cigar lighters -0.00
Fuse for RH blinds - 0.00
Fuse for LH blinds - 0.00
Fuse for Zig unit leading to third cigar lighter, coolbox supply and water pump (all turned off) - 0.00

I did remove the wire leading to the 110v inverter box last Thursday and am now tempted to replace it and check the load with that connected just to see. It was connected to the fuse with the mirrors and 2x cigar lighters.

Is -0.02 an insignificant load?

We have a 12 month old 85Ah leisure battery which has been running flat overnight after a full CTEK battery charger charge.

Many thanks as always.

[g8dhe]

That is insignificant (20mA) and probably just the backup current for the radio. Are you sure you have nothing else connected directly to the L/B itself ? Out mobile at present so may not be able to reply rapidly.

[Alifriendee]

The radio memory backup is connected to the vehicle battery.

I forgot I had the removable front on the radio off so just replaced it and the reading is now -0.03, fluctuating to -0.02 with the radio turned off.

The LB is connected to a Willinton relay so I have been taking the readings off the fuses on it, plus the live feed which goes directly from the LB to the Zig unit. There's nothing else connected to the LB that I'm aware of. I fitted an isolating switch to the LB some while ago and with the LB disconnected I've not noticed anything I expected to work not working if you see what I mean.

The vehicle battery keeps it's charge very well.

Even thought the LB still lost most of it's charge after I disconnected the 100v inverter I'll still reconnect it so see if it draws power when connected.

Exasperating!

[Alifriendee]

an update

The leisure battery has maintained it's charge all week while the vehicle has been standing.

It's confusing me as I detached the 110v inverter from the wiring, yet for a couple of days afterwards the LB still lost it's charge. We arrived at Glastonbury with a fully charged battery but it was flat within a day, despite the inverter being detached.

The battery charged itself during the journey home and has remained charged ever since.

When I have a moment I intend reconnecting the inverter to see if it drains the battery, but for the moment I'm glad it's remaining charged but not convinced I really know the answer why.

Can anyone check the inverter to see what it drains whilst sitting idle?

My inverter did not have it's 110v socket connected, but the 12v cigar lighter was live and taking it's current through the inverter wiring.

Hope someone can advise.

As a final point, if the inverter does drain a battery why don't our Bongo garages know about this? It's been to two specialists and neither of them mentioned this could be a cause of the drain we told them we were suffering. I realise that on original spec the inverter is running on a switched live so it turns off when the key is removed so it's is only if the circuit is put onto a leisure battery permanent live does the problem surface. It's this that makes me wonder if the inverter is actually a problem hiding away or perhaps other people having LB's fitted have experts who know to disconnect it as part of the fitting procedure. Surely it's quite common to have the cigar lighters etc. put on the LB circuit?

I did remove the central roof light and detach it to see if it was a problem, and then replaced it so I guess there is the slimmest of chances taking it out and putting it back did something.

Many thanks to everyone for their valuable comments and advice.

Nick

[g8dhe]

I don't think that you will find that the inverter is "Standard" merely a common attachment for users in Japan as is quite often the case over here with 230volt inverters for powering items.

[Alifriendee]

OK fair enough. If only a small number of Bongos had them fitted it's understandable.

I wonder if ours once had an original factory fitted kitchen and if it was only those that had a 110v inverter fitted, thus explaining why some have one and some don't.

[Simon Jones]

Did you say the radio was powered by the LB but the memory backup is on the starter battery? That may be a problem as you are effectively joining both batteries together via the radio, albeit not a direct connection. I've been diagnosing similar problems and that is where I'm currently looking.

[Alifriendee]

Yes it is. I took the memory off the LB as I was having to isolate the LB to stop it running down but this of course led to the radio losing it's memory each time. So I do currently have the radio running off the LB and it's backup memory running off an unswitched vehicle battery supply.

I had a suspicion that there was still a link between the two batteries somehow and this could well be it. I didn't consider this as a possibility.

It's an easy thing for me to put the radio back onto the LB in it's entirety so I'll do that tomorrow, particularly as it seems the radio is not to blame for the battery losing charge. It's a good quality Sony head unit.

Thanks for the tip.

Nick