Craigb 2 Posted January 6, 2006 Great start to a morning this was . Old girls polo . She went out to start it this moring ( 6.15) , and it was as flat as a fart , so got out of bed and jumped it with a new battery that i have waiting to go on to my car . it started fine , and read a good 14V once it was running. Luckily the 205 and polo battery are the same , so she can have my spare when she gets home . The question is , how do you see if there is a drain on the battery when everything is switched off May not be neccessary , the battery may be knackered as it has been on for over 5 years , but would like to know!! Cheers Craig Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vikgti 0 Posted January 6, 2006 You need to get hold of a load tested. Your local motor factors or garage should be able to test it for you Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Anthony 1,000 Posted January 6, 2006 Or use a multimeter if you have one (or can borrow one off a friend/colleague) to test for a current drain and to track it down to a particular circuit - usual candidates are things like boot/glovebox lights staying on and faulty car alarms. To be honest though, a battery over 5 years old is probably well past it's prime anyway and a brand new one is only £30 odd (if your spare is a few years old too) and hence worth it for peace of mind that your missus isn't going to get stranded somewhere. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Craigb 2 Posted January 9, 2006 New battery now fitted . And one happy lady . Anthony , I have a multimeter , what is the procedure for testing for a current drain . I just love vehicle electrics, its one of those challenge type things , that i have never got my head around and won't stop trying until i've sussed it . ( a bit like golf) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pugnut 9 1 Cars Posted January 9, 2006 set you're multimeter to Amps , this is normally 10amp range. Take the positive connection off the battery and put the positive lead of the multimeter onto the positive terminal of the battery, and the negative lead of the meter onto the positive battery connector . this means the multimeter is now in series with the battery. with the keys out you should see no current at all . sorry , Al not Ant ! ps , dont try and start the car or anything with the multimeter in there , you'll pop its fuse Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Anthony 1,000 Posted January 9, 2006 with the keys out you should see no current at all . Well, you will see a small load as there will still be some circuits that are live - clock, radio memory, ECU memory, alarm, and a few other bits. Certainly shouldn't be any sizeable load though. If you think that the load on the battery is too high, then you can reattach the battery and remove each fuse in turn and bridge the connections with the multimeter instead. This will show you what the circuits that fuse covers are drawing, and allow you to pinpoint the problem if there is one. Like I said, the usual candidates in my experience are dodgy car alarms, and boot/glovebox lights that are staying on due to a faulty switch Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Craigb 2 Posted January 9, 2006 Cheers Guys Will give it a try Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
