LeedsMans buttonMOD

The little Ring meter has been in the LHS lighter socket for a year and normally reads @13.9v [ish]. The two wires are also blue & brown [like Leedsman's] The battery is a fully charged S5 800CCA. Brown was checked with probe then read @ 3.7v with the Fluke [Leedsman said around 5v]. The 0.6W resistor was chokkied into place and my Ring gave a nice steady read of ................. 14.0v. So I did the test and got totally different figures. - where are you Leedsman ?

 

You know what, I'd totally missed this thread, but I'd been thinking of doing this mod myself anyway as I could do with a bit better charging these cold mornings too.

I'll take a look this weekend and see what resistor value I'd guess at and compare to what Leedsman originally came up with. A simple 33k sounds along the lines of a temperature/thermistor range and at 5v logic so I reckon I can test it out and work out what he was aiming for. Will get back to you at the weekend when I've got tinker time.
(I'll also look into the connector solution as for the sake of a few pennies a clip-in mod might be nice)

 

QinteQ can that red thing be used to test for an electrical feed. I need to test wires to see which one is the one for reverse or is there a better tool for the job

 

This thread is probably the most hi-jacked thread going!

Anyway, darkcild101 is it just to find which lead at the back/light cluster or elsewhere?
I can probably check my rear light cluster and tell you the wire colour if you're stuck?

But yes that red probe tester QinteQ has would let you, you put the wire/clip onto the chassis and can probe for positive voltage. Same with a multimeter if you have one. To be honest if you're going to invest in something, get a cheapy multimeter and then you have a few toys in one box rather than a single unit that can't do a great deal (Multimeter will give you battery voltage too, as seen in the earlier discussion about the charge voltage, etc)

 

It's ideal, mines looks to have all the teething problems mentioned, it's the one stop shop for what I need to be doing

Needed a jump when I was away there (3 kids, dog, me and OH and a weeks worth of luggage/toys with no sign of a roof box, god I love these cars). At first I thought it was the kids playing around with the power doors before starting, but it done it again this morning. The "new" battery has a stickered date of Nov 2014 on it, don't know if that was when the stockist got it in or if it was when it was installed. It's 72ah/620a. After the 100 mile journey home, it's charging at 13.9v. (EDIT: - resistor fitted, now charging at 14.35v)


Definately needs the thermostat mod, sits about a quarter, put it to hot and the blower on full, it drops to 1/8th. (EDIT: - QTH144 Renault thermostat ordered)

Little over 400 miles now, and never cut out once so I'm 100% certain it was the filter.

Finally, 26 MPG after it's first fill. Mixed driving. 320 miles covered, 120 of that motorway. That was on a tankful of premium diesel, likely the first one it's ever seen. I'm going to be running an additive from now on that works out @ 2ppl although I might double dose for the first couple of tanks.
I've never used additives before, and am a bit sceptical, but thought I'd give it a try.

 

On the meter front, at home, I've a small digital one from aldi that was £3 or £4.
Compared it to a calibrated fluke at work and it does the job.

 

Darkcild here's my 2003 Voyagers rear lighting wires which might be same as yours. Still as drawings but you can see what's what. One pic's Offside. Other is Nearside. As you can see there is an odd earthing arrangement which I worked out but it eludes me at mo.

 

- AndyB - can't deny that, and in this case I'm guilty too
- AndyB - the Sealy Probe was in the boot, the DVOM only had test hooks on it, not probes, and I wanted to puncture the [very] thin cable to confirm volts
- I used this and can confirm it tested @ precisely 33.3 & .6
- the buttonMOD is why I tested, I expected towards the +1/2 volt and got only a disappointing .1 from a start point of 14v

- Scotsman4th - its a doddle, quick, cheap, and it works
- goes hand in hand with cheepo pipe lagging MOD which more that halves the time to temp
- the fluke is only [see previous post] because I was given it free
- the buttonMOD is why I tested, I expected towards the 1/2 volt and got only a disappointingly fluctuating .0 & +.1 from a start point of 14v

 

It's cold tonight, the proof will be startup tomorrow as it's easy enough to tell if the batteries lacking oomph when it's turning over.

I've been doing a bit of searching on the forum, and noticed the internal light LED mod you had done as well QinteQ. The interior lights were switched off, which also points to someone having charging/battery issues, but the lights are blue, so I'll take a cover off tomorrow and see if they're already changed.

My reference to a fluke was more to do with me checking a cheap meter against a calibrated one. We only use calibrated flukes at work.

Also remembered we've a clamp meter at work, so will (easily) check for battery drain as well.

That's 3 out of 5 so far from my OP, glad to be hopefully correcting them from the start of ownership, and not 2 or 3 years in.

 

- I originally paid £1.90 delivered cheap money the same seller delivered
- you can however get - claims ? will run on early & late CANBUS systems
- claims ? bridge rectifier built inside the bulb allows it to be plugged in either way round regardless of polarity
- 50p per pop - you decide - read the feedback - if they work you've saved £17+ quid - if they don't you've lost £5 quid

The paintwork on the car you bought looks good and belts, service, fuel filter and battery add up to money. Inline stat & Screwfix lagging will (1) stabilise temp where it should be just under half and (2) double the speed the warm up with or without a Webasto. Best of luck !