Battery drain

[TheStinkyHippy]

Had the dreaded.. key in.. click.. chug.. nothing..

Jumped from other car, started first time... went for a 15 minute drive.. all seems ok.

Alternator is giving around 13.6v to SB when running.

I connected voltmeter to check for parasitic drain.. found it is drawing around 0.043Amps (43milliamps)
LB is having around 0.083Amps draining.
Bongo is configured for fuses 1,6,7,8 to LB.

I tried pulling all cabin fuses one at a time, only one that made difference is fuse 17 (Sliding door) that seems to be drawing 0.003amps.

I pulled the engine IGN fuse and that stopped the 0.040 draw.



After pulling IGN fuse


Any idea what to check next?
Or is 0.043 ok?

[Simon Jones]

Depending on the year of your Bongo, the later ones have a bulb over the ignition switch which stays of for a while after locking / unlocking so that may be adding to your current readings. A drain of 43mA is nothing to worry about: the digital clock I have draws more than that. I'd be looking at getting the battery tested with a proper load testing gauge (a drop test I think it's known as).

[g8dhe]

Got to agree, 43mA is acceptable, you have things like remote key fob receiver drawing current, radio backup supply, ECU backup, lighting delay circuits etc all draw a bit.

You should be getting more than 13.6v when the alternator is charging, but its fine if its 13.6v when at idle, if you give it a little rev say 1000 to 1500 RPM it should rise to 14.4-14.6volts.

[Dodgey]

.. What Geoff says is 100%.

Perhaps your battery is dead? Even at "only" 13.6v under charge, it should get enough to keep things ticking along