berg Posted February 10, 2016 Share Posted February 10, 2016 Long story short... Bought a brand new calcium deep cycle battery from halfords in December Car has been perfect, no issues Last week i removed a mines ecu, and plugged in a standard ecu and wired in a HKS FCD Drove it to MOT and then drove it home fine Car has sat for 5 days and now is flat as a pancake, wouldn't even read on battery tester, fully charged booster only just managed to start the car Only thing thats changed is the new ecu and fcd, and also it was sat the 5 days with the clocks and top dash panel off as i wired in the speed delimit wire and never put the dash back together until today. Any ideas what could cause it so suddenly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mk4Gaz Posted February 10, 2016 Share Posted February 10, 2016 If you have a multimeter, search on Google for a 'parasitic drain test' Very easy to do, and you should be able to find the circuit that is drawing too much current. Then it's just a case of working out what on that circuit is the culprit! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berg Posted February 10, 2016 Author Share Posted February 10, 2016 Ive just tested this on 10A setting on my multimeter and the reading was 0.28 Is that ok or is that too much drain? Im yet to start pulling fuses until i know if its good or bad lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrispot Posted February 10, 2016 Share Posted February 10, 2016 That's miles too high. Should be below lower than 0.05 on your meter set at the 10A range. just make sure doors are shut etc and keys out of the ignition regards chris. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berg Posted February 10, 2016 Author Share Posted February 10, 2016 Yer all doors shut, battery is in the boot so i was inside on the back seat keys in pocket Ive tested again 15 mins later and its 0.31 now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_jza80 Posted February 10, 2016 Share Posted February 10, 2016 Start pulling fuses with it connected, aftermarket radios, amps etc are a common cause of drains like this. HID headlight kits too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berg Posted February 10, 2016 Author Share Posted February 10, 2016 Will do that in the morning Never had a problem until now and the only changes are the new ecu Fitted defi gauges around 3 weeks ago but again no issues up until this point, and i cant see 4 gauges pulling that much power to save memory Will pull fuses and hopefully get to the bottom of it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berg Posted February 11, 2016 Author Share Posted February 11, 2016 (edited) It didnt take long to find the culprit 7.5A fuse labelled "dome", when this is pulled the amp drops to 0.04 where it should be Strangely when pushing this fuse back in i hear my defi gauges make a noise, the defi gauge is wired into the oem clock plug so im not sure how that fuse is linking with my gauges somehow?? From my understanding the clock wiring is on the same circuit as the cig lighter, when the cig lighter is pulled the current draw doesnt change, thats the circuit my gauges are on Yet when i pull the dome fuse the gauges are making a calibrating noise when the fuse is plugged back in Confused.com Edited February 11, 2016 by berg (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrispot Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 I would say they are not on the same circuit as a cigar fuse would be about a 15 - 20A fuse also I think the cigar power is lost when the ignition switch is off and the clock obviously should stay powered up. The only thing I can think of that links the cigar and clock is instrument illumination. I will check wiring diagram/ colours etc later for you. What colour wire did you connect the gauges to? what about the earth/negative connection? did this get connected to the clock wiring as well? or separate earth? it sounds as if you have connected the gauges to the permanent live of the clock? hope you get it sorted. I will help if you need it but it will have to later today. regards chris. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berg Posted February 11, 2016 Author Share Posted February 11, 2016 The 4 wires for the gauge are wired to the 4 wires of the clock harness as the clock has the same features as the gauge 1 x ignition live 1 x illumination so they light up only with headlights 1 x earth 1 x permanant live (this is only to store the setting in the gauges, obv stores the time on the clock) They are definately wired correctly, everything works as it should and they do go off with ignition as they should, the permanant live connection to 1 wire is only to store the peak, warnings etc that i set on them I have unplugged the gauges and my readings are showing 0.04 amps so they are definately drawing too much power when off, why im not sure yet lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev.O Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 Could the defi controller be faulty? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berg Posted February 11, 2016 Author Share Posted February 11, 2016 (edited) Im not too sure, i hope not Defi manual says max power consumption with 7 gauges is 0.1A ign and 0.2 amps with all illuminated Fact i have only 4 and im using 0.3 amps with everything off, something isnt right lol Control unit unplugged for the time being Ive triple checked the wiring and its 100% correct, everything works as it should with regards to switching on/off/illuminating with headlights etc Maybe ill try a different earth point to rule that out, cant see that having an impact though Edited February 11, 2016 by berg (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev.O Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 So with the controller disconnected everything is fine, and you've had the controller fitted for quite a while now with no previous issues? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berg Posted February 11, 2016 Author Share Posted February 11, 2016 (edited) Yer as soon as i unplug the controller the current draw disappears Only had the gauges fitted for around 3 weeks but have had no problems until now and the car previously sat for longer than 5 days Edited February 11, 2016 by berg (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev.O Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 If the battery was new, then I presume it'll take longer to drain. Now that it's flat, it might not be totally charged before being fitted to the car. Have You tried disconnecting the gauges, just to leave the controller and see how much it pulls? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berg Posted February 11, 2016 Author Share Posted February 11, 2016 It seems thats the case yer I havent tried that no, i will give that a go tomorrow and see what happens Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev.O Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 Any update Berg? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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