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Crazy phantom battery drain ?

geoffdragon said:
In my search for answers, I have come across a bank of relays behind the glovebox.
Anyone have any info on these please ?
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when you say "behind the glovebox" do you mean from the engine compartment or from inside the car ?

if the latter, how are they accessed ?
 
Inside the car. Unclip the glovebox stay on the side nearest the door. Squeeze the top sides of the glovebox together and it will swing down. Cabin filter and bank of relays in front of you.
 
geoffdragon said:
Inside the car. Unclip the glovebox stay on the side nearest the door. Squeeze the top sides of the glovebox together and it will swing down. Cabin filter and bank of relays in front of you.
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probably unique to the diesel as there is far less room in the diesel engine compartment. I'll take a look on the DVD

btw, that A-h meter was shipped yesterday, should arrive tomorrow

If I were you Id' go to the airport in the Passat and fit that A-h meter to be totalising while you're away and check when you come back
 
Hope so. 200 miles in a passat !!!!!
I like my comfort and the extra 10 mpg that the accord gives. Lol
I've still got 7 weeks to get this sorted. Fingers crossed.
 
relays behind glove compartment .............

petrol models only: throttle actuator control module relay

petrol & diesel models: safety hazard light relay, accessory power socket relay, seat heater relay

diesel model only: PGM-FI Main Relays


I didn't realise it was 7 weeks left, could be long enough to sort it, especially when he A-h meter has arrived

I wouldn't get another battery just yet, if it's not a current drain issue, there could be an intermittent charging fault, which will begger up your new battery too.
 
While I'm waiting for the meter, thought I'd check alternator since I now think the ELD is working
2000 revs, 14.4v
A/C on, dipped to 14.2.v then came back to 14.4v within 5 seconds. Same with the headlights.
Since I have seen the system drop indicated voltage to 12.6 - 12.8 while driving, it looks like the ELD charge system is now working properly.
Unfortunately the battery lost 0.4v in the last 24 hours.
Hope that meter arrives soon
I intend to connect it up for 24 hours, see the total draw and average it out. Hopefully come back to around 24maH.
I know there will be a spike when locking the car, but that will be so short it shouldnt matter.
 
Oh well, the meter hasn't arrived.
I'm sure Royal mail are delaying 2nd class Post.
Wonder if yours has come Freddo.
 
geoffdragon said:
Hope that meter arrives soon
I intend to connect it up for 24 hours, see the total draw and average it out. Hopefully come back to around 24maH.
I know there will be a spike when locking the car, but that will be so short it shouldnt matter.
Click to expand...
I intend to leave mine for weeks, and check the A-h each day.
I suggest you do the same for several days, you never know what's going on with these ECU's all over the car


geoffdragon said:
Oh well, the meter hasn't arrived.
I'm sure Royal mail are delaying 2nd class Post.
Wonder if yours has come Freddo.
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Nope ....hope they arrive by Friday at the latest
 
Hope so. Could have tested today and tomorrow but have to use car Friday. It can stay on over the long weekend though as I wouldn't be able to order a battery till Tuesday anyway.
 
The A-h meter arrived this morning.

I downloaded the destructions from the ebay advert and it's interesting where, under "powering up" it says
"The Red SOURCE and LOAD leads of the Watt Meter are connected to each other and the Black leads are essentially so." .....whaaat ??

So I took it apart and looked inside .....the red leads are indeed soldered onto the same point on the board, whereas the black leads go to points either side of a "chip" (probably the "Precision Alu-Chrom current sensing resistor").


I haven't tried it yet, off to do it now (I might be a while Captain Scott).


edit: methods below are correct
 
Mine up and running. Taken both leads off battery. Source leads onto battery. Load leads onto + and - leads. Working fine. Car locked up. Will see in 24 hours how much total drain. Did you look at the pdf link I posted. That shows different circuit setups.
 
No not seen that yet.

Not sure what you mean by "Load leads onto + and - leads" ???

I got it working by ....

disconnect -ve car lead from car battery

connect either of the red leads on the meter to the +ve terminal on the car battery (which still has +ve car lead attached)

connect black source lead to -ve terminal of battery

connect black load lead to car chassis
 
yeah I get what you mean now but IMO, though my method is similar, my method is better because you don't need to disconnect the +ve car lead from the car battery (which is a real pain in the neck to do).

the only danger of my method is that that other red lead of the meter is "hot" so it needs to be insulated.
 
Just sketched it out and I seen how you've done it. That seems to work but as you say you have to insulate the flying red wire. Mine not difficult to take both leads off battery. Will post 24 hour results tomorrow afternoon after dentists appointment. Yuck.
 
I don't know how the +ve clamp is on your car but on my car the clamp has an "over-hang" with the nut underneath which is a pain to get any type of spanner on to loosen it. And then putting it back and tightening the clamp requires a lot of help from ancestral spirits (I can't think how else it tightens successfully or not). On the other hand, the clamp on the -ve lead is a joy to undo and tighten.

In fact I'd rather go to the dentist than remove the +ve lead on my car LOL
 
Lol. Both clamps are basically the same. Slacken pinch nut and lift off. The + one has a small plate sticking out but there's only a small wire attached to that. I'd send a pic but the cars all locked down now - monitoring.
 
geoffdragon said:
I wouldn't be able to order a battery till Tuesday anyway.
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Yuasa Silver arrived and fitted today. Always been a bit of a slow & lazy starter...until now. Nice quick lively turnover. Would recommend.
 
Cliffordski said:
A 10mm socket on 1/4 inch ratchet slides straight under the positive terminal overhang onto the nut.
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Yeah I know, but that means getting out my 1/4 inch set which I don't keep with my car tools as I don't expect to use 1/4 inch set very often on a car .....especially a battery terminal. I think the Civic models of the same year are the same, not seen any other make of car where you needed a 1/4 inch set to undo a battery terminal especially when the other terminal is easy to access

plus .... the clamp on the +ve terminal has a weird spacer on it that looks like it's the wrong way round, it's been like that since I've had the car, which was 9 years ago

Honda engineering at its finest (not)

IMAG1040.jpg




hence putting the A-h meter like this ...note the use of thin extension wires in case I forget the meter is there and try to start the car (which would cream-cracker the chip in the A-h meter)

IMAG1041.jpg
 
That's a completely different clamp from mine. That looks like a "space saver" battery too. Also used 10amp cable to connect up.
 
Hi. Looks like I have a hidden problem.
Ah draw for 24 hours 3.574amps
Wh draw 42.8watts.
That's an average of 149 mah. Even taking into account locking and unlocking car it's way to high. No wonder the battery is going flat.
Question now is how to find this sneaky drain when locked and standing the dmm only shows 24ma for at least an hour after closing car up ?
 
Btw when I first connected the meter an locked the car, before closing the bonnet it was showing 0.02ah draw. Which is what I was hoping for.
 
geoffdragon said:
That's a completely different clamp from mine. That looks like a "space saver" battery too. Also used 10amp cable to connect up.
Click to expand...
That's the standard battery in the 2.4 (it's the same Panasonic as was fitted at the factory)


geoffdragon said:
Hi. Looks like I have a hidden problem.
Ah draw for 24 hours 3.574amps
Wh draw 42.8watts.
That's an average of 149 mah. Even taking into account locking and unlocking car it's way to high. No wonder the battery is going flat.
Question now is how to find this sneaky drain when locked and standing the dmm only shows 24ma for at least an hour after closing car up ?
Click to expand...
3.5 Ah over 24 hours is definitely not right :eek:

As you say, an average of 150 mAh .....that definitely points to an issue ;)

Maybe consider extending the wires on the A-h meter so it can be seen without lifting the bonnet (I was thinking of doing that on mine) ?
 
Have to have a think on this. As I recall at the start of the thread, there was a draw of 150ma before I shut the boot, and you thought it may be the micu waiting to shut down. I know I'm only looking for 125ma'ish but makes one wonder if that's coming back on. I also wonder if there may be a diode in the alternator allowing drain, but guess that would show all the time. I think it's fuse 7 in car that supplies micu but that is also for the alarm so don't know if I could pull It to try. 15 under the bonnet controls that fuse and a few others. May not be able to lock up if I pull those. It would be nice to get meter on dash but getting wires into car may be a nightmare.
 
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