Bongo Fury

Hi Everyone,
As a new member, I hope someone can help.
My van is a V6, 1998 with a full conversion - had it about 6 months with no problems but the battery has just gone completely flat.
I don't use the van very much as I use it to tow my race car and the race season has finished but I try and give it a run every couple of weeks.
Any ideas what could be causing the drain on the battery ? Only thing I can think of is the remote central locking.
I'll try charging the battery and putting an ammeter in circuit to measure any drain.
Thanks,
Mark

Welcome to the madhouse Renault Racer.
Hopefully it'll be something stupid like when mine last went flat - I'd left the rear interior light on
Also, if your fluorescent light is dull, try replacing the tube - it cured a persistent drain that I had.

It's also possible, if it is the original Japanese battery, that it has just died.

Thanks for the replies - good to know that help is available.
I've taken the battery out and it seems to be charging OK but it's a Japanese one, so unknown age.
I'll put it back and run the tests on the charging circuit, drain current etc.
I'll let you know what happens.

it is that time of year that the temperature drops low enough to kill off all those batteries that have been hanging on all summer, & have now come to the end of their natural lives. 2 or 3 people I know have had to replace batteries over the last few weeks.

Absolutely right Kirsty but don't jump too quickly to that conclusion if your battery is flat. Yes it does take more out of a battery to turn over the engine in cold conditions, especially a big diesel lump like in the Bongo. However, it can also depend on your circumstances. My battery was flat one evening about a fortnight ago. I charged it overnight and its been fine since but on reflection the only trips we had made all that week were short half mile runs. Now I recall reading somewhere that you need to make a 14 mile trip in order to put back into the battery what you take out on starting a big diesel engine. That may be an exaggeration but you can appreciate the concept.

Anyway, I've made the odd longer trip during the last fortnight and the battery is still showing a good charge and the alternator is putting out 14.7v so the jury's still not out on whether I need a replacement or not. I'll give it a bit longer before chucking it out.

You'll get a battery isolator in a boat chandlers for about £11, I've got one fitted to the car 'cos the battery runs down after a few days - also a handy ant-theft extra.

With central locking you will probably need to pop the bonnet, lock the doors then disconect the battery and close bonnet.

Welcome aboard.

francophile1947 wrote:Welcome to the madhouse Renault Racer.
Hopefully it'll be something stupid like when mine last went flat - I'd left the rear interior light on
Also, if your fluorescent light is dull, try replacing the tube - it cured a persistent drain that I had.

Hi Francophile, could you expand on that?
My bongo wouldn't start the other day, cranked the engine for 20 secs or so about 3 or 4 times ubtil the battery dide.
The night before my bongo didn't start first time, took a few goes (first time ever it did that)
Got the AA man out who jump started the bong and checked alternator etc.
He said that the bongo was pulling almost 1 amp with Ignition off.
I have noticed that the interior fluorescent light had benn getting gradually duller. I've now fitted a new battery and the bongo seems to start OK, but I'm disconnecting the battery until I can check for the drain.
So, I'd be interested to learn how a dull tube drains your battery.
Since I put the new battery on the tube does seem brighter with engine running, although dulls when engine is switched off.
Cheers!

Silly question, but were all the doors completely shut when the AA man tested the current drain? It could have simply been an interior light on. If the tube dulls when you switch the engine off, that proves you are charging ok, so I suspect you simply had a duff battery.

Glynanderson wrote:

francophile1947 wrote:Welcome to the madhouse Renault Racer.
Hopefully it'll be something stupid like when mine last went flat - I'd left the rear interior light on
Also, if your fluorescent light is dull, try replacing the tube - it cured a persistent drain that I had.

Hi Francophile, could you expand on that?
My bongo wouldn't start the other day, cranked the engine for 20 secs or so about 3 or 4 times ubtil the battery dide.
The night before my bongo didn't start first time, took a few goes (first time ever it did that)
Got the AA man out who jump started the bong and checked alternator etc.
He said that the bongo was pulling almost 1 amp with Ignition off.
I have noticed that the interior fluorescent light had benn getting gradually duller. I've now fitted a new battery and the bongo seems to start OK, but I'm disconnecting the battery until I can check for the drain.
So, I'd be interested to learn how a dull tube drains your battery.
Since I put the new battery on the tube does seem brighter with engine running, although dulls when engine is switched off.
Cheers!

My battery kept going flat when nothing was in use, then somebody (can't remember who!) asked if my fluorescent tube was dull. It was very dull so they said to replace the tube - never had a flat battery after that. It seems that they can cause a sort of short when failing, but I'm no expert on these lights.
My light never got bright at all - it's possible that yours is dimmer because of the cold weather - they can take a while to warm up.

francophile1947 wrote:

Glynanderson wrote: My bongo wouldn't start the other day....
The night before my bongo didn't start first time, took a few goes (first time ever it did that)
Got the AA man out who jump started the bong and checked alternator etc.
He said that the bongo was pulling almost 1 amp with Ignition off.
I have noticed that the interior fluorescent light had benn getting gradually duller.

My battery kept going flat when nothing was in use, then somebody (can't remember who!) asked if my fluorescent tube was dull. It was very dull so they said to replace the tube - never had a flat battery after that. It seems that they can cause a sort of short when failing, but I'm no expert on these lights.
My light never got bright at all - it's possible that yours is dimmer because of the cold weather - they can take a while to warm up.

Not wishing to sound rude or anything of the kind (after my first hour of ownership flat battery I would be the last person to be so ) but is it possible the flourescent lights were dim enough not to be noticed when left on in the daytime, or is that too obvious?

Had to replace my battery this week. It was starting to die on very cold mornings so had it tested. Turns out it is the original one and is 12 years old, made by Panasonic. I do use a top up charger which has worked on my CX25 Citroens for many years but a dying battery is non fixable. New 95 ah cost £83. so not too bad.