Where does my power leak out?

Mazcan farouk & rob.

Have put multimeter from terminal to clamp with the meter set to 10A I get .24 and .25 alternating. so looks like a quarter of an amp going places.

Now what would draw that sort of power? guess I'm hoping to short cut the test every circuit bit.

Disconnecting the Piranha could be a bit tricky there's an awefull lot of wiring there.

As for anti theft device, It's a Land Rover Defender!!!! The whole thing is an anti theft device :-)

Gonetroppo, a few thoughts:

I assume the ignition and accessories were turned off when you measured that 1/4 amp. If so, you have localised your problem a bit. It is not in the battery itself. The obvious things that come to mind to draw a steady 1/4 amp are a radio (AM/FM or maybe UHF?) or a small lamp. An insulation breakdown somewhere is very unlikely to give a nice steady reading. Leakage through a crook diode in the alternator is a possible, but I'd first rule out the radio/s.

I see you're in FNQ. From what we hear it's very wet up there - do you have a trailer connector full of wet mud? That could do it too.

Suggest leave the meter connected and showing a 1/4 amp drain, then one by one take out a fuse and then put it back, until the meter drops to zero - you have found the one that's carrying that 1/4 amp. Check what's running off that fuse (you do have a manual? )

You mention that you have a red light on the radio - why is it always on? Has anything changed around the radio? Think I'd be pulling the radio out and unplugging it before going much further.

HTH

John

Gone Troppo, Chose not to raise it before for fear of being accused of Product Bashing, but when I first got the Troopy it suffered from a small current drain which turned out to be the Piranha battery isolator. Chucked it out in favour of a Redarc. No more trouble.

Now I'm not saying it IS the Piranha but it COULD be!

GoneTroppo,

Try reading the amp meter on DC. AC will give you an inaccurate reading. You may find the current draw is 1.414 x AC reading.

Redeye

Gonetroppo-now that you have found .25 amps draw, just start removing fuses til it stops.

Thanks for those ideas.

John, the red LED on the radio is a very poor mans anti theft device. it does nothing but stay on to warn potential thieves of the dire consequences of messing with the car. (I asked the LR dealer when I bought the car new and that's what I was told)

Fisho I removed All fuses (see further down thread) no change hence my problem

Redeye I "sort of" get what you're saying, but not sure how to do this. I have been using the section of the multimeter that has a A and a line with three dots underneath which I thought was DC. (maybe not)

Yep you are correct. you are measuring DC.

as you say next step is to remove the wire to the alternator and see if the current falls to zero.

redeye

Allan, i would beg to differ on the prescription of an improvement by fitting a Redarc. That is unless the switch wire is fitted through an accessory power voltage. I have disconnected my Redarc capability to steal 0.6a/h every hour it is connected/ Yes, they can deplete to the extent of somewhere between 14-16 a/h a day. If you are using them in something with solar power, that is quite a proportion of what you can gain. Perhaps two hours charging or more a day :-O

Allan,
Since your post, the batteries have been shown to have a 250mA parasitic drain, so looks like the batteries are unlikely to be the problem.

But as a fellow 70series owner, have you ever tried to remove the batteries from a Defender with dual batteries? I had to jump start a Defender once - it was a bit of fun! First issue was working out how to tilt/remove the front passengers seat (the owner wasn't sure) and then finding two batteries crammed under the seat. Removing them would have been a bit of work. But you could do the same with them in the vehicle.

Cheers
Phil

No Phil, I haven't had my hands on a Defender and that seems fortunate? They are a good bus but do seem to have some idiosyncrasies.
I agree now about the batteries but see my FollowUp above.

I was thinking along the same lines. Sometimes a diode can fail in the alternator and drain the batteries. Maybe the alternator????? Michael

Yes there was.



And thats what it was.

To check if the battery is being charged get your multi meter and check the battery voltage at the terminals with out the engine running.. should be around 13.2 volts.

Then start the engine and check the battery voltage should be over 14 plus volts, but at least more than when the engine in not running.

Cheers

Chris
A battery drain of .20 amp is still to much, you need to have it below .o6 amp for the battery not to go flat. If the drain is on the main battery cable,you need to isolate each live battery circuit one at a time in the fuse box with the ammeter connected and watch for the drain to disappear. If it doesn't then leave your ammeter in and disconnect the main battery wire from the alternator watching that you don't short the wire or spanner when doing so. If drain goes the alternator is your problem.The .20 amp drain also sounds like the e coil current of a relay feel all the relays on the car and if any are warm its been held on so then you need to find out why.If the cars got AC pull the fuses in the battery box fuse panel and feel the relays also. As you have disconnected the main power lead to the piranha and its still there the piranha is not guilty.Any electrical unit that's drawing .20 amp will feel warm to touch so run your hand over everything. hope this might help.

Murray