vaultsman
Well-Known Member
Having been away for a couple of weeks, I came home and went to start Occie, my Series 2 3500S, only to find the battery was completely dead. No voltage reading at all on the multimeter.
Managed, to my surprise, to get it back to seemingly fully charged using the CTEK charger in Recondition mode. All was well for a couple of days but then, after another few days of non-use, the engine struggled to spin over.
Suspecting parasitic drain, I checked for it using the meter on the 10A range but could find no evidence of a drain. The battery was about 7 years old anyway, so I bought a new battery and fitted it, fully charged at approx 13V….with the same result, after 2 or 3 days of non-use the voltage had dropped to 12V and it was sluggish turning over.
Longish story shorter, I’ve found a 40mA drain across fuse #1 (Battery Control). Leaving the blade fuse out, the battery voltage has stayed at 12.9V for the last 4 days.
I’ve disconnected the boot lamp, time clock, interior light, cigar lighter & map light, and the LH horn so far…..but still the 40mA drain is registering across the fuseway.
I’ll do the RH horn when I’ve had this tea and warmed up a tad , then as far as I can see from the WD that just leaves the horn switch and the terminal post.
Or am I missing something? Any ideas?
Managed, to my surprise, to get it back to seemingly fully charged using the CTEK charger in Recondition mode. All was well for a couple of days but then, after another few days of non-use, the engine struggled to spin over.
Suspecting parasitic drain, I checked for it using the meter on the 10A range but could find no evidence of a drain. The battery was about 7 years old anyway, so I bought a new battery and fitted it, fully charged at approx 13V….with the same result, after 2 or 3 days of non-use the voltage had dropped to 12V and it was sluggish turning over.
Longish story shorter, I’ve found a 40mA drain across fuse #1 (Battery Control). Leaving the blade fuse out, the battery voltage has stayed at 12.9V for the last 4 days.
I’ve disconnected the boot lamp, time clock, interior light, cigar lighter & map light, and the LH horn so far…..but still the 40mA drain is registering across the fuseway.
I’ll do the RH horn when I’ve had this tea and warmed up a tad , then as far as I can see from the WD that just leaves the horn switch and the terminal post.
Or am I missing something? Any ideas?