Been having problems with my 3.5 year old battery losing it's charge so I suspected something was drawing current while the ignition was switched off.
I invested in one of these nifty devices which shown that the Ignition Off Draw (IOD) fuse was drawing over 1 amp. I'm not sure what the draw should be but 1 amp seems quite a lot. Car Fuse Current Battery Amp Meter Leakage Detector Mini Blade Fuse Type | eBay

I've got a new battery on order anyway so I'll be fitting it as soon as it arrives.

 

That's a nifty little find AlanC thanks for that, might add that to my box of diagnostic stuff at some point as an extra to my multimeter, etc.

You're right, 1Amp is a bit high, don't forget to test it after the 'sleep' state of the computers, as after closing doors, waiting for the courtesy lights to go off, then wait I think another 10-15 minutes for total sleep mode and see if you're still pulling the same.

Out of curiosity, after market head-unit/stereo fitted? If so then the amp might have been hard-wired on and drawing that power. Otherwise it's going to be a tricky diagnostic game to track it down.

 

Hi Andy, head unit is standard fitment but I did install a Parrot blue tooth kit a few weeks ago. My battery problems started a couple of weeks after that but I did consider the possibility that the Parrot unit was the cause so I disconnected it. I fully charged the existing battery on Saturday but not used the car since. Yesterday it was down to 8 volt and this morning it was only reading 3 so I've convinced myself that the battery is knackered. My replacement battery is due to arrive today so I'll fit it as soon as it gets here and then start the IOD measurements again, just to be sure that nothing untoward is adding to the 1 amp draw. I'll then reconnect the Parrot unit and measure any increase in the current with the ignition off.

Alan

 

Hi Alan,
Doubt the Parrot would consume much, I have one too and it's made barely any change to idle power (make sure the Parrot has powered down when doing your IOD test, as mine stays lit a few minutes after ignition off to close connection to the phone gracefully, etc. Wait for it's screen to say 'Goodbye')

But yes, 8 volt or 3 volt is pretty terrible, shouldn't really drop below 11v from memory so hopefully new battery will sort you out. Just in time for winter!

 

Hi Andy, New battery arrived today. Yodel said they tried to deliver it yesterday at 11:44 but nobody was in so they left a card. Lying ba3tards. I was on the drive washing cars until 13:00 and they didn't post a card either. Anyway, New battery fitted, left it on charge for a bit then measured the draw with my little gadget. It's now floating between 0.87 and 0.88 amps with or without the Parrot connected. I don't know a lot about electrics but I think I'm correct in thinking that the lower the voltage the greater the current draw, in which case that will explain why I was measuring a draw greater than 1 amp with the old battery.
Alan

 

IOD

The best you can ever do for a battery summer or winter is the batteryMOD

I did a further mod and changed the the 33K Ω @ 1/2 watt to 22K Ω @ 1/2 watt keeps it under the 4.6[ish] [although I'm sure it would be safe a little higher]. I did get the extra .3's @ 14.4+ I was aiming for. This will better recover the winter loss more quickly. Of course in the summer the ALT output will be limited by the lower battery replenishment needs. I can confirm that I had 14.5-6V over the winter and its now an average of 14.3-4V this last summer.

EDIT : I've now run this setup for more than a year right through last years winter and this years summer. My summer charge rate was 14.2/3 volts and my winter charge rate was a steady average of 14.5+ volts [very low user @ x2 half hours per week] - the point being the winter draw [and battery pathology] is automatically compensated for .. .. .. compared to summer use. Best of luck.

 

Thanks Q. Unfortunately I have no idea where I could buy such a resistor from or where to fit it in my GV. If I knew the answer to those two points I would have a go at making the mod.

 

Hi AlanC,

To be honest I could probably knock you one together and send it to you, it's just a resistor attached to a connector. Let me take a look this weekend and see if I can 'make' a connector for it and will message you.

 

delivered

 

That's a bargain Q. I could sell the other 59 for 1d each plus postage.