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Battery leakage current excessive

AndyLiz

New Member
Messages
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Location
Surrey UK
Car
Honda Accord Tourer
2006 Accord Tourer petrol auto 2.4 Vtec. Owned for over 12 years and a great car!

I was going to write a long saga about trying to find out why my 2006 Accord 2.4 petrol Tourer's battery had suddenly started to go flat (only 3V!) after 3 days of non-use but this is the "long story short" version. I replaced the battery, as it was elderly and looked "weak" on my battery tester, but the new one showed the same problems.

With a 10A meter replacing the battery negative lead to chassis I checked the leakage current with everything switched off. There was around 255mA flowing continuously with a surge every 30 seconds to 450mA lasting about 3 seconds. A search of Google suggested 30 to 80mA was the norm for such leakage currents (I had not found this forum at that time!). I removed, one at a time, every fuse and relay I could find under the bonnet using the diagrams in the Owner's Manual. Nothing made any difference to the current or the surges. I tried the interior fuse panel by the driver's ankle and apart from the light in the driver's door (on because I could not get at the fuses with the door closed), pulling each fuse in turn, nothing changed the current or the surges. Now what???

Then I found this forum (I should have looked first you may say!) and spent several hours looking for battery leakage or quiescent current topics. What I did find was a lot about the Hands-Free Telephone (HFT) system with one contributor ("Gerryf") saying that faults with the HFT could cause "parasitic current drain".

https://typeaccord.co.uk/board/threads/hft.1383/

That sounded encouraging! Today I disconnected the HFT (using the very helpful description and pics of how to access the module) and the current drain instantly fell from 255mA to 37mA!!!!

I do not believe in taking phone calls while I am driving so the HFT has not been used in the last 12 years. I shall leave the module in place and leave the connector out!

This could be a BIG RESULT! I am so grateful to this forum and the many contributors whose words I read! Thank you all so much.

Having had the car for 12 years and never before needing to look for a forum, I hope that it will be another 12 years before I have to search for your help again!
 
Whilst I've not got one in the tourer (AFAIK) are you certain it is not on it's own fused circuit ?

Good to hear you have fixed the issue with ***istance, I signed up to TA for the same reasons, certainly saving more than the car is worth.
 
Pulling all the fuses I could find, one at a time, made no difference to the current leakage. Does the HFT system have its own fuse?? It is not listed on the Owner's manual. Unplugging the HFT module worked first time. I drove the car today on a mission and everything works normally (I did not check the HFT as I don't use it anyway). (PS My postcode is KT11)
 
From a thread on sidelights wrt 8th gen cars

15 10A Via driver's under-dash fuse/relay box:
Driver's MICU, Ultrasonic siren
Via passenger's under-dash fuse/relay box:
ACC unit, Audio unit, Audio-Navigation switch panel, Audio-HVAC display unit (without navigation), Automatic lighting/rain sensor, Data link connector (DLC), Door multiplex control unit (Power window master switch), Driver's courtesy light, Front passenger's courtesy light, Gauge control module, Hands Free Telephone control unit, Immobilizer-keyless control unit, Inclination sensor Microphone (with navigation), Navigation display unit, Navigation unit, Power seat control unit, Power tailgate control unit, Passenger's MICU, Ultrasonic switch, Ultrasonic/Inclination sensor switch

 
Then again, it might not be a fuse on the 7th gen.

 
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