madwoody1 Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 mine did have five wires coming from the battery to there own fuse's under the bonnet looked a real mess (i'm an electrician by trade) so ended up wiring two new 10mm main feed cables from the battery to a new 4"x4" box under the bonnet it now looks a lot better than it did , some of clifford installers if thats what you want to call them are crap when you pay good money for that S*** i like the alarms but the people installing them shouldn't be near cables let alone a £500 alarm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted January 19, 2011 Author Share Posted January 19, 2011 (edited) mine did have five wires coming from the battery to there own fuse's under the bonnet looked a real mess (i'm an electrician by trade) so ended up wiring two new 10mm main feed cables from the battery to a new 4"x4" box under the bonnet it now looks a lot better than it did , some of clifford installers if thats what you want to call them are crap when you pay good money for that S*** i like the alarms but the people installing them shouldn't be near cables let alone a £500 alarm Yup, sounds like the same fitter that did my original install. The 2nd lot are no better as they didn't even bother to sort out the rats nest. 10mm is a bit overkill though (or do you mean mm2?) I went with decent 3.5mm cable and coupled them all to the 1 line up near the charcoal canister. I neatly wrapped them all and then ran the new cable down the wing and underneath the fusebox onto my newly fitted distribution block. Edited January 19, 2011 by Scott (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveC Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 With the alarm off I was seeing 165mA drain. I pulled all the fuses on the alarm, 1 at a time, and the biggest change I saw was around 20mA. I take it that it is normal for the system to use 20mA when not armed? I know the immobiliser is still in play and obviously the brain will use some power. Next I moved to the capacitor which feeds my entire stereo system (3 amps and a carPC), the current instantly dropped to 80mA drain. Bingo I'm thinking. With the capacitor disconnected and with the alarm armed I am now seeing 115mA drain. Does that sound a bit more like it or is something else still chewing away my power? I'm hoping that it is the capacitor that is chewing up the current. I'll remove it from the loop soon and see what I get. There is a possiblity that it is the CarPC power supply as it has lots of clever features that may require constant power. Just to make sure I wasn't talking b*llocks earlier when I quoted current drain with these alarms, I've just been out to test mine with a digital multimeter. Mine is a 650MkII, but the current draw shouldn't be much (if any) different to the original 650. When the alarm is activated and the sensors have come on, the total drain on the battery (including whatever the head unit, internal clock etc takes) is 53 - 63mA. The variation will be down to the flashing alarm LED and probably also the way some the four sensors work. When the alarm is in 'valet' mode the drain is 43mA steady. When the alarm is off and starting is immobilised (sensors are not activated), the drain is 37mA - 43mA (varies due to flashing LED). I hope this info gives you something to go on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveC Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 (edited) mine did have five wires coming from the battery to there own fuse's under the bonnet looked a real mess (i'm an electrician by trade) so ended up wiring two new 10mm main feed cables from the battery to a new 4"x4" box under the bonnet it now looks a lot better than it did , some of clifford installers if thats what you want to call them are crap when you pay good money for that S*** i like the alarms but the people installing them shouldn't be near cables let alone a £500 alarm You're absolutely right, many of these so-called alarm specialists shouldn't be let near these alarms. I think the problem is they just don't allow enough time for a proper install and they usually take the easiest/quickest option every time. I've heard that some alarm fitters are only allowed a morning or an afternoon to fit an alarm. With any decent alarm it's near on impossible to do that and have a good quality installation that is reliable. If people are going to have an alarm installed, then make sure it's by reputable company that has the car for a day or two and pay that bit more for it. It'll be worth it in the end. Edited January 19, 2011 by SteveC (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted January 19, 2011 Author Share Posted January 19, 2011 Just to make sure I wasn't talking b*llocks earlier when I quoted current drain with these alarms, I've just been out to test mine with a digital multimeter. Mine is a 650MkII, but the current draw shouldn't be much (if any) different to the original 650. When the alarm is activated and the sensors have come on, the total drain on the battery (including whatever the head unit, internal clock etc takes) is 53 - 63mA. The variation will be down to the flashing alarm LED and probably also the way some the four sensors work. When the alarm is in 'valet' mode the drain is 43mA steady. When the alarm is off and starting is immobilised (sensors are not activated), the drain is 37mA - 43mA (varies due to flashing LED). I hope this info gives you something to go on. still something to find then lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted January 20, 2011 Author Share Posted January 20, 2011 Was out tonight and started pulling fuses. The only one that made any difference was the 20A Rad no.1 fuse? No idea why that would be drawing current but it is pulling 30mA? Not really sure where else to look Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveC Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 190mA is a little on the high side, but I wouldn't worry about it too much. The only way you'll lose out is by not being able to leave the car parked up for as long. It's not an exact science, but your car possibly wouldn't start after being stood for a week or so. If you still want to find out where most of the drain is, then disconnect everything that isn't standard on the car and measure again. I would estimate that you should only have a drain of only 10 - 20mA or so that keeps the standard clock going, ECU memory etc. If you can't get it down to something in that region, then something is still connected and drawing current. When I replaced my original alarm I found an extra tracker that I didn't know was fitted. Perhaps you've got some electronic gear in your car that you're unaware of? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted January 20, 2011 Author Share Posted January 20, 2011 190mA is a little on the high side, but I wouldn't worry about it too much. The only way you'll lose out is by not being able to leave the car parked up for as long. It's not an exact science, but your car possibly wouldn't start after being stood for a week or so. If you still want to find out where most of the drain is, then disconnect everything that isn't standard on the car and measure again. I would estimate that you should only have a drain of only 10 - 20mA or so that keeps the standard clock going, ECU memory etc. If you can't get it down to something in that region, then something is still connected and drawing current. When I replaced my original alarm I found an extra tracker that I didn't know was fitted. Perhaps you've got some electronic gear in your car that you're unaware of? It's not as high as 190mA from when I disconnected the capacitor. I still need to check it with the amps connected but I'll get to that. It is now sitting around the 130mA mark with the alarm armed, and 80mA with it disarmed. When I remove the "Rad no.1" fuse from the fusebox it drops to around 90mA armed and 50mA disarmed. I'm wondering WTF the rad no.1 has to do with anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveC Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 It's not as high as 190mA from when I disconnected the capacitor. I still need to check it with the amps connected but I'll get to that. It is now sitting around the 130mA mark with the alarm armed, and 80mA with it disarmed. When I remove the "Rad no.1" fuse from the fusebox it drops to around 90mA armed and 50mA disarmed. I'm wondering WTF the rad no.1 has to do with anything. The Rad No. 1 fuse is for the original radio, amplifier and electric aerial. What exactly is the capacitor for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted January 20, 2011 Author Share Posted January 20, 2011 The Rad No. 1 fuse is for the original radio, amplifier and electric aerial. What exactly is the capacitor for? So that's basically my headunit using that power for it's internal clock and memory? Seems a lot. The capacitor is meant to stabalise the current use of the sound system when cranked high, so that it doesn't kill the battery basically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveC Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 So that's basically my headunit using that power for it's internal clock and memory? Seems a lot. The capacitor is meant to stabalise the current use of the sound system when cranked high, so that it doesn't kill the battery basically. It's looking like the head unit then - unless something else is connected to the same supply? You'd have to disconnect the head unit at the back and test again to find out. If the amp isn't being used (ignition off), then the capacitor should have fully charged up and not be drawing any significant current at all. If it is drawing something like 60mA(?), then I would have thought it was faulty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted January 21, 2011 Author Share Posted January 21, 2011 It's looking like the head unit then - unless something else is connected to the same supply? You'd have to disconnect the head unit at the back and test again to find out. If the amp isn't being used (ignition off), then the capacitor should have fully charged up and not be drawing any significant current at all. If it is drawing something like 60mA(?), then I would have thought it was faulty. It shows the voltage constantly on a little LED display thing. To be honest it's cheap crap so I wouldn't be surprised if it was just burning energy. I'm going to hunt this fecker down lol!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.