Weird electrical issues

[NLB2024]

Folks, looking for some techy advice.

My Battery Drained a couple of times due to a faulty stereo (Now fixed) however the second time, its not holding a charge, new battery - problem solved..

However since it died a second time, something funny is going on with the front internal light / front lighter socket and the central locking .... the front socket seemed to be pulsing, but this seems to have stopped, however the interior front light isnt working, nor the central locking, however if i turn the engine on, the central locking and the socket work (Light still dead) something definitely gone a bit funny with it, I have checked all the fuses in the internal fuse box and all is well.

Before this the socket always had power, as did the central locking ...

Any thoughts?

Cheers

[gilly99]

Bongos have a relatively high parasitic drain on the battery (dark current).... and sounds like you may also have a fault on interior light, central locking or cigarette lighter socket making this worse. You may be buying batteries for nothing.

If you have a multimeter it's easy to trace the culprit - with the ignition OFF and key out.......basically charge battery fully, let it settle, disconnect negative terminal and connect multimeter between (-) battery terminal and (-) cable clamp, record reading in mAmps (20-60 is normal, a bit higher maybe on some models, but anything over that range is going deplete the battery and is likely indicating a fault). Then start pulling fuses until you find the problem circuit.

[NLB2024]

I will try that tomorrow. Its a weird one as they have been working perfectly for the last 6 weeks

[g8dhe]

You don't mention if you have a leisure battery at all ?
If you do then all the circuits you mention are normally powered from the LB. It could be a problem with the Split Charge Relay that is used to charge the LB from the alternator once the engine is running, but its worth investigating both the relay operation and the two fuses that connect the relay to each battery.

[NLB2024]

Yes, I do have a leisure battery, but I thought that the only came off that if you had the split loom? which isnt standard as I understand it?

If I turn the engine on, the central locking works fine, but when off, nada, only happened in the last few days since the battery died

[g8dhe]

A Swap loom is one method but it can also be wired up from behind the fuse box, my first Bongo I did that before I came across the idea of a Swap Loom. Have you checked the two fuses that feed the LB via the Split Charge Relay, some conversions wire it wrongly with the Swap loom fed from the fuse feeding the LB, this is bad practice, if that fuse blows then it causes much confusion, because it will all work whilst the engine is running then die when the SCR opens when you stop but the blown fuse prevents the LB feeding those circuits!
If you find one fuse has blown then change BOTH as the second fuse will have been damaged and likely to blow shortly afterwards!

[NLB2024]

I will have a check! Don't suppose you can point me in the right direction as to where I might find the split charge relay? Likely to be in the front of the van?

[g8dhe]

Most often its been bolted to the air scoop or a bit of plastic around the radiators, can be a small 1" cube or a larger VSR 4" cube, follow the two hefty cables back to each battery and there should be a fuse in each close to the battery. The one that feeds the LB sometimes will have a connection to the internal fuses on the relay side rather than the battery side and that's when confusion arises! Below is the right way to wire it.

[NLB2024]

Ok checked the fuses at the battery today, so they were ok.

It's really strange....two wires to the stereo one that's the memory and the permanent feed that was causing the problem, both now only show a charge via the meter if the engine is on. Tried to trace the back but they get lost in a tangle under the passenger seat there are alot of connectors going into a unit under the passenger seat, went to unbolt the plastic then metal cover but bottled it when I saw all the connectors come away, I'm wondering if there are fuses in there

Got a new stereo today and it doesn't seem to want to work even though I checked everything was recieving power , grounded etc

[NLB2024]

So I suspect all the issues are linked. Too many wires that had a permanent live feed, that now dont.

So focusing on the central locking .... ignition off ... it doesn't work....ignition on .... it works fine.

So I presume that the central locking must have a live feed going into it from somewhere

Anyone have any ideas what this would look like on a standard bongo build?

[g8dhe]

The central locking, internal lights etc are fed as standard from the internal fuse panel top left fuse which is the unswitched circuits, however this is often moved using the swap loom over to the leisure battery. Without actually following the wires back its difficult to say what is going on, how about some pictures of the internal fuse panel and under the bonnet so we can maybe guide you as to where to look ?

Might be worth, taking any extra added wires out from the internal fuse panel and replacing the fuses, this will bring the vehicle back to standard unless someone has played with the internal circuits which is not impossible but less likely.

[NLB2024]

i will take some pictures.... another weird thing..... the socket in the front and rear seem to be pulsing power .... i plug in my gps speedo and it just goes on off on off, same with the rear one, but if i plug it into the one that's connected to the leisure battery it works fine

Honestly this is so frustrating!

[NLB2024]

Just working out how to post with images... in the mean time.... there are 3 wires coming off the leisure battery....(Over and above the massive think red wire that goes to the main battery battery)

1 of the wires goes across to the main battery, the other two go through the body and into the passenger side footwell .... i can see that one goes to the rear where the switch for the leisure stuff is (I have a rear conversion) the other ends in a screw termination block and doesn't seem to be connected to anything, the screw is up suggesting if it was it wasnt tight on to anything.... cant see any obvious loose wire that it should be on to

Any thoughts?

[NLB2024]

I wonder if the pulsing could be the alternator? Its new on, so there shouldn't be an issue but?

[g8dhe]

There can be several causes, first check the SCR itself, that might be switching on/off causing the surging because the voltage is varying.
You've only just mentioned that the alternator has been changed, can you tell us why as it might well have been the cause of previous problems that are now only showing up. From the bits you've mentioned so far I still suspect the charging fuses and the way they have been connected to the LB supply feed to the circuits. You really need to be able to use a multimeter and understand what it is telling you and how to go about checking out the circuits.