Battery problems.

Bonsi007 · Post by **Bonsi007** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 11:53 am

YES! I could not beleive this either, but they guy at my garage did the amp test again and when we took the strip light out it recorded a .3 loss as appose to loosing 1Amp with the light in!

I do not know a lot about this but he told me that all batterys loose some power, but .3 is now not enough to affect starting up. If the unit is faulty it will drain power even when off, I am going to play on the safe side and leave out...
Simon.

francophile1947 · Post by **francophile1947** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 8:10 pm

It's something to do with the failing tube causing some sort of short - no problems since I replaced the tube with a new one.

Aethelric · Post by **Aethelric** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 9:39 pm

Bonsi007 wrote:YES! I could not beleive this either, but they guy at my garage did the amp test again and when we took the strip light out it recorded a .3 loss as appose to loosing 1Amp with the light in! I do not know a lot about this but he told me that all batterys loose some power, but .3 is now not enough to affect starting up. If the unit is faulty it will drain power even when off, I am going to play on the safe side and leave out...
Simon.

If you have a dead tube then the electronic inverter in the light may be running and you are getting no light out. If you take out the tube and the light is still switched on, it will take current albeit less than with a tube fitted. It sounds like, somehow, the light is left on. There may be short in the wiring to the doorswitch or the light may be wrongly wired.

If that is a drain of 0.3Amps it will flatten an 85AH battery (the usual size) in 11 days. Leave your bongo for two weeks and the battery will be ruined. For the time being it would be best to disconnect your battery if you are leaving it for a more than a couple of days.

Dave

mikeonb4c · Post by **mikeonb4c** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 9:52 pm

What I don't understand is that unless the light unit has power going to it (as happens when the door is open and power gets switched through, or if the switch is in the permanent on position) then how can it get its hands on power to drain?

Aethelric · Post by **Aethelric** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 10:18 pm

mikeonb4c wrote:What I don't understand is that unless the light unit has power going to it (as happens when the door is open and power gets switched through, or if the switch is in the permanent on position) then how can it get its hands on power to drain?

Mike, I'm not certain about the bongo, but the usual method is that there is permanent power going to the light, and there is a single wire going to the doorswitch which grounds it when operated. The centre position (ON) on the light applies another ground. So if there is a short to chassis in the doorswitch wire or the doorswitch itself, the light is always on.

Dave

mikeonb4c · Post by **mikeonb4c** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 10:43 pm

Ah! I think I get it

Manny · Post by **Manny** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 10:55 pm

If I remember right, there is a connector to the light at the hinged end of the roof bedboard. If this is disconnected it will probably isolate the light so the battery drain can then be tested to see if that is the problem. If it is, it can be left disconnected instead of the battery until the fault is found.

Manny

Aethelric · Post by **Aethelric** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 11:21 pm

Manny wrote:If I remember right, there is a connector to the light at the hinged end of the roof bedboard. If this is disconnected it will probably isolate the light so the battery drain can then be tested to see if that is the problem. If it is, it can be left disconnected instead of the battery until the fault is found.

Manny

That sounds a better idea - assuming that the fault is in that circuit of course.

The only things that I can think of that would draw power with the "everything switched off" would be an alarm, a clock, or the controller for central locking, and these should be very small. The fuel guage may take power too, but that seems to be debatable.

moonshine · Post by **moonshine** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 9:27 am

Aethelric wrote:The only things that I can think of that would draw power with the "everything switched off" would be an alarm, a clock, or the controller for central locking, and these should be very small. The fuel guage may take power too, but that seems to be debatable.

Another thing which will cause a very small permanent current drain is the radio. There is a permanent live feed to this, which maintains the preset stations and clock (if so equipped). I wouldn't expect this to be more than a few milliamps though.