Rob350 Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 Long story but please bare with me... Basically I bought the car in September last year, everything fine for 3 months, just after Xmas we had some really cold days and nights, my battery (bosch s4) wouldn't hold charge overnight (would be showing about 11v on voltmetre in morning when trying to start) Once jump started the voltmetre would show just over 14v indicating the alternator is working. So I put it down to cold weather killing my battery, I bought a new yuassa battery and everything was fine for about a month showing just over 12v every morning on voltmetre before starting and 14v once started. After a month the same problems started occurring (struggled to hold charge overnight, showing just under 12v in the morning but the weather wasn't as cold) So I took the battery back and said the battery is goosed please swap it. I got a new bosch s4 battery as replacement, again everything fine for about a month, In the last 2 weeks same thing again. I turn the car off at 5 after driving home from work and by half 7 next morning voltmetre is showing just below 12v and has only just been starting (literally on the last crank before loosing power) If I leave it for the 14 hours between 5 and half 7, there I just enough juice to start but at the weekend I left it from maybe 1 o'clock in the afternoon and at 7 30 next morning it had to be jumped, so anything over 14 hours and it needs to be jumped. What could be my problem???? In car voltmetre says alternator is working... I can't have had 2 new dud batterys in a row could I.... I'm contemplating buying the bigger bosch s5 008 people have fit in their Zeds but don't want the same thing to happen.... iv turned the CD player and interior light off so they don't come on with the ignition.... I'm stumped, the car worked fine for 3months before Xmas and now can't hold charge after a month, nothing extra has been fitted or anything whilst iv owned the car. My drive to work in the morning is only a mileish, but i let the car idle for 3 or 4 mins 1st, then when leaving work I idle for 3 or 4mins again and take a longer route home which is about 6miles down a duel carriageway. Please help guys..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHEZZA Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 (edited) I think it's as simple as your mile journey to work and the 3-4 min idle is not enough to recharge the battery. Needs a good half hour I'd say. Edited March 7, 2017 by SHEZZA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
350zedd Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 Might be worth checking to see if there is any drain on the battery while it is stood idle. Have you got a multimeter ? You can use this to check if there is any excess current flowing through the battery with everything switched off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZMANALEX Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 If the alternator and the battery are both good, then there must be a drain on the battery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KyleR Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 Your commute is nothing to do with it. I work about a mile or so from where I live and although I don't tend to take the Zed into work, I have in the past including when it's well below freezing and never had a issue starting the car the next morning. If the car is parked up for a fortnight or so, it may struggle a bit or maybe need a few hours on the charger, but not for over night. Something is draining it, but I have no idea what it could be, electrics aren't my forté. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aashenfox Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 I too have a short commute (about 15 mins) and no battery issues. It will drain over two weeks though, I assume due to my viper alarm, but day to day it's fine, I don't even use it every day. Our winters are colder than you might think, but still milder than UK, I don't know if that might be playing a role. Easy test anyway, get up 20 minutes earlier, head in the opposite direction for ten minutes, then head to work. 15 minutes is definitely enough to 'add' juice to the battery. Idling does next to nothing by the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeezeebaba Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 My commute is less at 10 mins max and I have no battery issues. I would second the opinion something is draining your battery overnight. Something on the loom isn't right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chefey Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 Google or You Tube Parasitic Battery Drain, and it will show you how to test for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridz Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 You may wish to consider turning off your interior lights, as these are a common source of parasitic drain. Had a similar problem on my Honda Accord, turned the interior lights off and had no problems since. You may also want to turn the radio off, too, Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m4nn13 Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 I have a 3 mile commute and no problems at all. although, I did drive 10mins to the gym after work (70mph dual carriageway all the way) did an hour in the gym and when I came to start it up it failed twice, third time gave the accelerator a good jap and it fired up. First time it's done it since having her for a month or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jords Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 Do you have an aftermarket stereo in there? The first time I put one in I wired it incorrectly and didn't earth the adaptor properly. This caused a constant live to the head unit I didn't know about and it would run the battery down overnight 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob350 Posted March 8, 2017 Author Share Posted March 8, 2017 (edited) Thanks for your thoughts and experiances guys, I think all I can do now is get hold of a multimeter and firstly make sure there is a draw, and then start pulling fuses, iv had my interior light turned off for the last few months and the CD player turned off for the last week. It does have a clarion single din CD player installed that came with the car, possibly that might be wired incorrectly. its weird because It didn't have this problem untill a few days after Xmas when the temp dropped way below 0, since then my new batteries have been fine, I could leave them days without a problem, after about a month of everyday use this issue occurs, where leaving the car for more than 14 hours there is only about 11.5v showing on the in car voltmeter. The last couple of days iv trickle charged the original battery i replaced after Xmas to fully charged and left it in the garage and tested it every morning for a couple of days to see what its losing in 24 hours and in 3 days its only dropped a tiny tiny bit, so that shows the original battery wasn't the problem in the 1st place I think, At least I have 2 bosch s4s now, not a bad thing lol Edited March 8, 2017 by Rob350 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob350 Posted March 8, 2017 Author Share Posted March 8, 2017 Do you have an aftermarket stereo in there? The first time I put one in I wired it incorrectly and didn't earth the adaptor properly. This caused a constant live to the head unit I didn't know about and it would run the battery down overnight This is one of the 1st things I'm going to check when I get a multimeter, I might just pull the dash out tomorrow and see if I can see anything funky. Also the car has bright white interior bulbs installed in the front and boot light, do these draw electricity even when switched off??? I might pull out the bulbs and see what happens. I know if I leave the interior light switch to on (only comes on when door is open or keys are pulled out) one of the bulbs stays ever so slightly on, like extreamly dim perminantly, but like I say I have had the interior light switched off (so it doesn't come on with doors open or pulling keys out) for the last 2months Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenLandy Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 Usual suspects would be alarm and stereo/ICE Pulling fuses isn't the worst idea in the world once you know what the draw is and can compare when a fuse is out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob350 Posted March 9, 2017 Author Share Posted March 9, 2017 Got myself a voltmeter today, so if been googleing and watching YouTube vids of all the different pictures and symbols on them tonight to see whats what lol there more complicated than I thought. Anyway tomorrow im guna have a go at pulling fuses to find where this draw is... I'm going to make sure the battery is fully charged, turn everything single thing off, then take the negative side off the battery and set the meter to 10 amps put 1 prong on the neg terminal and 1 on the disconnected cable. Anything above 0.50 Milliamps is too much draw, then I'm going to pull fuses one at a time till the draw gets below 0.50 Milliamps and thats my fouling circuit. Im going to start with interior lights, alarm and radio first as people have suggested to be the favourite. Quick question...... Has anyone done this before/does it sound like the correct way to do it???? Also, if I'm just pulling fuses and putting them back, could this cause any problems when I connect the battery back up and try to use the car again??? I.e management lights etc??? I'm just a little nervous to start pulling all the fuses one by one, like the ecu fuse, abs fuse, and all the other important complicated circuits etc Cheers guys, I WILL find this little devil in my car !!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob350 Posted March 12, 2017 Author Share Posted March 12, 2017 Gunna give ^^^^ this a go today as it was raining the other day... Will I be ok doing the above ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob350 Posted March 12, 2017 Author Share Posted March 12, 2017 Been out today to test for draw on my battery.... and there isn't any, it's around 0.35 amps.... so I'm confused now. What else could be causing my battery to lose charge from 5 at night till 8 next morning?? The weather isn't as cold at night anymore so it does last abit longer, but if left for 24 to 30 hours it will be below 12v to start. Iv had the battery out and trickle charged it to full then left for 5 days by my garage door so the temperature is similar to being in my car, and after 5 days there's still 12.48v in it, so this is telling me the battery is ok. The battery is a Bosch s4 008 with, 62 amps and 510 cca I think, Nissans spec, is 65 amps and 550 cca The minimal difference in the spec and my battery wouldn't cause it lose charge so fast would it??? When car is running my voltmeter says 14v so my alternator is ok too. I really am stumped.... what do you guys think?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toon Chris Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 (edited) Been out today to test for draw on my battery.... and there isn't any, it's around 0.35 amps.... so I'm confused now. That is the drain with everything off? That's 350 milliamps and high enough to flatten a battery. If I've misunderstood and you don't have a drain then the alternator could be the problem (not only though elimination). When the alternator is turning its' supplying enough power to run the car and show 13.8v but that doesn't mean it is charging the battery. There may be a fault in the alternator circuitry. Sell one of your new batteries and get a second-hand alternator from Alex Edited March 12, 2017 by Toon Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob350 Posted March 12, 2017 Author Share Posted March 12, 2017 I set the multimeter to 10 amps, and got a reading of 0.35 with everything turned off and doors closed etc, I read on the internet and watched YouTube vids saying anything below 0.5 was ok... or am I wrong??? Do I have a decent draw?? Whats acceptable??? 0.05 or 0.1 maybe?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toon Chris Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 (edited) You need to let the car settle for a while before testing. Turn off everything and wait for 20 minutes or so to make sure the car is completely asleep. If you still get that 0.35 reading I'd say that is too high and you have a drain. The trouble is different manufacturers and models will differ so hopefully someone else might kindly do a test on a healthy car for you which would help, for comparison(sorry, I am Z-less at the moment) This link is handy as it talks about the alternator issue I mentioned as well as general good assistance. http://www.aa1car.co...y_runs_down.htm It costs you nothing to try this: "Or, just disconnect the alternator overnight and see if the battery stills run down. If the battery drain stops, you have found the problem" Edited March 12, 2017 by Toon Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt3579 Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 i have a somewhat similar issue but mine takes about 2 weeks of non running to die bit less when its cold, i found the culprit to be my aftermarket alarm system draining it on very minimal drain and normally gets used before it dies but when its icy i avoid using it and normally find its dead but hour or so charge and then drive it round seems to sort it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob350 Posted March 13, 2017 Author Share Posted March 13, 2017 Well I found the problem guys, first fuse i pulled was the radio fuse and it instantly dropped from 0.35 (350 milliamps... coincidence) down to 0.01 (10 milliamps) Question is now, what is the likely to be the problem with the wiring??? And how do i find the problem?? Any ideas. I'm going to have a go to at sorting it myself if i can find some advice, if not I'll take it to an auto electrition at least I know where the problem is now after being told off loads of people i know that it was a dud battery lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stan Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 Is the radio standard or not? If aftermarket some have the permanent 12v and ignition 12v wires the wrong way round which may be causing a draw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob350 Posted March 13, 2017 Author Share Posted March 13, 2017 It's an aftermarket clarion CD player, how do i find out which wires are the perminant and ignition?? The CD player was already fitted when I bought the car, and no manuals came with it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jords Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 It's an aftermarket clarion CD player, how do i find out which wires are the perminant and ignition?? The CD player was already fitted when I bought the car, and no manuals came with it I can't remember exactly on the zed but... Red and yellow are usually the ignition live and permanent live. On my wiring harness at the back of the head unit the red plugs into the red and yellow into the yellow (usually on bullet style connectors so they can be changed). May vary from head unit to head unit and sometimes need swapping round (red to yellow etc). See if you can actually power the stereo on without ignition being on. This is an indication that the radio is permanently getting power. It should only be able to power on when the key is turned. I threw a head unit into mine and connected it with the generic bose aftermarket harness, and had the same issue with battery drain. The only thing I missed was an extra earth wire on the wiring harness I had not connected. This turned out to be what was causing the drain and I earthed it to a metal bracket where the front panel screws to. I would hope that it would be clear to see what's out of place when you remove the stereo though.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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