Gentlemen,

We've all had this problem at some time or other. Your car's battery
doesn't stay charged for extended periods. Maybe it's 2 weeks, maybe 2
or 3 days. Something is leaching current from your battery and if it's
something more involved than a simple boot light not turning off, you
could be in for a world of pain.
In the old days before everything got crazy, we'd just pull fuses one
by one and find the circuit repsonsible easily enough. But things have
changed and your car now has a brain and likes to remain sentient at
all times. This can be a major PITA as it means you may have to wait
anything up to 2 hours between fuse-pulls for the systems to settle
down again into a genuine quiescent state. And given the sheer number
of fuses in a modern car, you may be looking at a *huge* amount of
time to get through them all properly. However, there *is* an
alternative which overcomes these issues. This helpful hillbilly
explains how to go about it - and all you need is a cheapo DVM.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRcj1fQcWwU

On 27/06/2021 18:57, Cursitor Doom wrote:
> Gentlemen,
>
> We've all had this problem at some time or other. Your car's battery
> doesn't stay charged for extended periods. Maybe it's 2 weeks, maybe 2
> or 3 days. Something is leaching current from your battery and if it's
> something more involved than a simple boot light not turning off, you
> could be in for a world of pain.
> In the old days before everything got crazy, we'd just pull fuses one
> by one and find the circuit repsonsible easily enough. But things have
> changed and your car now has a brain and likes to remain sentient at
> all times. This can be a major PITA as it means you may have to wait
> anything up to 2 hours between fuse-pulls for the systems to settle
> down again into a genuine quiescent state. And given the sheer number
> of fuses in a modern car, you may be looking at a *huge* amount of
> time to get through them all properly. However, there *is* an
> alternative which overcomes these issues. This helpful hillbilly
> explains how to go about it - and all you need is a cheapo DVM.
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRcj1fQcWwU
>
Useful.

Oddly enough my van battery just flattened unexpectedly.

On 27/06/2021 20:35, newshound wrote:
> On 27/06/2021 18:57, Cursitor Doom wrote:
>> Gentlemen,
>>
>> We've all had this problem at some time or other. Your car's battery
>> doesn't stay charged for extended periods. Maybe it's 2 weeks, maybe 2
>> or 3 days. Something is leaching current from your battery and if it's
>> something more involved than a simple boot light not turning off, you
>> could be in for a world of pain.
>> In the old days before everything got crazy, we'd just pull fuses one
>> by one and find the circuit repsonsible easily enough. But things have
>> changed and your car now has a brain and likes to remain sentient at
>> all times. This can be a major PITA as it means you may have to wait
>> anything up to 2 hours between fuse-pulls for the systems to settle
>> down again into a genuine quiescent state. And given the sheer number
>> of fuses in a modern car, you may be looking at a *huge* amount of
>> time to get through them all properly. However, there *is* an
>> alternative which overcomes these issues. This helpful hillbilly
>> explains how to go about it - and all you need is a cheapo DVM.
>>
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRcj1fQcWwU
>>
> Useful.
>
> Oddly enough my van battery just flattened unexpectedly.

Looking at the charts, I think my vehicles only have two sizes of fuse
in the fuseboxes. The small ones look like "mini", but is the "big" one
what the Americans call Standard or Maxi?

On Sun, 27 Jun 2021 20:40:55 +0100, newshound
<newshound@stevejqr.plus.com> wrote:

>On 27/06/2021 20:35, newshound wrote:
>> On 27/06/2021 18:57, Cursitor Doom wrote:
>>> Gentlemen,
>>>
>>> We've all had this problem at some time or other. Your car's battery
>>> doesn't stay charged for extended periods. Maybe it's 2 weeks, maybe 2
>>> or 3 days. Something is leaching current from your battery and if it's
>>> something more involved than a simple boot light not turning off, you
>>> could be in for a world of pain.
>>> In the old days before everything got crazy, we'd just pull fuses one
>>> by one and find the circuit repsonsible easily enough. But things have
>>> changed and your car now has a brain and likes to remain sentient at
>>> all times. This can be a major PITA as it means you may have to wait
>>> anything up to 2 hours between fuse-pulls for the systems to settle
>>> down again into a genuine quiescent state. And given the sheer number
>>> of fuses in a modern car, you may be looking at a *huge* amount of
>>> time to get through them all properly. However, there *is* an
>>> alternative which overcomes these issues. This helpful hillbilly
>>> explains how to go about it - and all you need is a cheapo DVM.
>>>
>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRcj1fQcWwU
>>>
>> Useful.
>>
>> Oddly enough my van battery just flattened unexpectedly.
>
>Looking at the charts, I think my vehicles only have two sizes of fuse
>in the fuseboxes. The small ones look like "mini", but is the "big" one
>what the Americans call Standard or Maxi?

Hard to say without an image, but most probably "standard" as they're
by far the most common I've come across.

On 27/06/2021 18:57, Cursitor Doom wrote:
> Gentlemen,
>
> We've all had this problem at some time or other. Your car's battery
> doesn't stay charged for extended periods. Maybe it's 2 weeks, maybe 2
> or 3 days. Something is leaching current from your battery and if it's
> something more involved than a simple boot light not turning off, you
> could be in for a world of pain.
> In the old days before everything got crazy, we'd just pull fuses one
> by one and find the circuit repsonsible easily enough. But things have
> changed and your car now has a brain and likes to remain sentient at
> all times. This can be a major PITA as it means you may have to wait
> anything up to 2 hours between fuse-pulls for the systems to settle
> down again into a genuine quiescent state. And given the sheer number
> of fuses in a modern car, you may be looking at a *huge* amount of
> time to get through them all properly. However, there *is* an
> alternative which overcomes these issues. This helpful hillbilly
> explains how to go about it - and all you need is a cheapo DVM.
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRcj1fQcWwU
>

Both of my cars have a battery suicide mode.

One as the battery goes flat will discharge though the door central
locking. It has no current when there is charge in the battery but once
it drops to a low voltage it ensures complete discharge.

The other triggers the alarm, an after market Cobra alarm. This again
ensures the battery is pancake flat. If I'm away when it starts going
off I have no way to detect that it's done this.

I have small solar battery maintainers. These are not effective in
winter with lack of use. Last winter during lockdown and only one
shopping trip every 8 days (time to use 4 pints of milk) I had to put
the cars on charge every week.

On Tue, 29 Jun 2021 09:04:53 +0100
Peter Hill <skyshac@yahoo.com> wrote:

> On 27/06/2021 18:57, Cursitor Doom wrote:
> > Gentlemen,
> >
> > We've all had this problem at some time or other. Your car's battery
> > doesn't stay charged for extended periods. Maybe it's 2 weeks,
> > maybe 2 or 3 days. Something is leaching current from your battery
> > and if it's something more involved than a simple boot light not
> > turning off, you could be in for a world of pain.
> > In the old days before everything got crazy, we'd just pull fuses
> > one by one and find the circuit repsonsible easily enough. But
> > things have changed and your car now has a brain and likes to
> > remain sentient at all times. This can be a major PITA as it means
> > you may have to wait anything up to 2 hours between fuse-pulls for
> > the systems to settle down again into a genuine quiescent state.
> > And given the sheer number of fuses in a modern car, you may be
> > looking at a *huge* amount of time to get through them all
> > properly. However, there *is* an alternative which overcomes these
> > issues. This helpful hillbilly explains how to go about it - and
> > all you need is a cheapo DVM.
> >
> > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRcj1fQcWwU
> >
>
> Both of my cars have a battery suicide mode.
>
> One as the battery goes flat will discharge though the door central
> locking. It has no current when there is charge in the battery but
> once it drops to a low voltage it ensures complete discharge.
>
> The other triggers the alarm, an after market Cobra alarm. This again
> ensures the battery is pancake flat. If I'm away when it starts going
> off I have no way to detect that it's done this.
>
> I have small solar battery maintainers. These are not effective in
> winter with lack of use. Last winter during lockdown and only one
> shopping trip every 8 days (time to use 4 pints of milk) I had to put
> the cars on charge every week.

It sounds as though you need one of the chargers that are usually sold
by Aldi or Lidl.You can leave them connected for ever, they adapt to
whatever the battery requires.
--
Davey.

In article <sbek6u$1qb$1@gioia.aioe.org>,
Peter Hill <skyshac@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Both of my cars have a battery suicide mode.

> One as the battery goes flat will discharge though the door central
> locking. It has no current when there is charge in the battery but once
> it drops to a low voltage it ensures complete discharge.

All the central locking systems I've come across with electronic timers
(other than perhaps vacuum operated early ones) have some quiescent
current. And if it has remote operation, the receiver too.

> The other triggers the alarm, an after market Cobra alarm. This again
> ensures the battery is pancake flat. If I'm away when it starts going
> off I have no way to detect that it's done this.

> I have small solar battery maintainers. These are not effective in
> winter with lack of use. Last winter during lockdown and only one
> shopping trip every 8 days (time to use 4 pints of milk) I had to put
> the cars on charge every week.

Why not simply disconnect the battery when the car is unused for a while?

--
*You are validating my inherent mistrust of strangers

Dave Plowman dave@davenoise.co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 29/06/2021 10:43, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
> In article <sbek6u$1qb$1@gioia.aioe.org>,
> Peter Hill <skyshac@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> Both of my cars have a battery suicide mode.
>
>> One as the battery goes flat will discharge though the door central
>> locking. It has no current when there is charge in the battery but once
>> it drops to a low voltage it ensures complete discharge.
>
> All the central locking systems I've come across with electronic timers
> (other than perhaps vacuum operated early ones) have some quiescent
> current. And if it has remote operation, the receiver too.
>
>> The other triggers the alarm, an after market Cobra alarm. This again
>> ensures the battery is pancake flat. If I'm away when it starts going
>> off I have no way to detect that it's done this.
>
>> I have small solar battery maintainers. These are not effective in
>> winter with lack of use. Last winter during lockdown and only one
>> shopping trip every 8 days (time to use 4 pints of milk) I had to put
>> the cars on charge every week.
>
> Why not simply disconnect the battery when the car is unused for a while?
>

Can you believe the key for the car with cobra alarm only works the
steering/ign and I can't lock it manually? I think there's been more
than one attempted theft that's damaged the locks. (and about 5 "I wanna
buy your car" notes, but they never make a cash offer)

When it's flat I have to jack the car and put a jump lead to the starter
solenoid to get power to the car and use the fob.

I've got a full lock set off a car I scraped 11 years ago and I've had
this car 10 years 11 months. Must get a round tuit. But I know that lock
set is insecure as one Xmas the car was broken into and a Goodmans CD
player that used a cassette adaptor stolen. They left the key they used
behind. All the nieces and nephews Xmas presents were in the car at 1am
and I found the CD player missing at 6am.

On 29/06/2021 09:49, Davey wrote:
> On Tue, 29 Jun 2021 09:04:53 +0100
> Peter Hill <skyshac@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> On 27/06/2021 18:57, Cursitor Doom wrote:
>>> Gentlemen,
>>>
>>> We've all had this problem at some time or other. Your car's battery
>>> doesn't stay charged for extended periods. Maybe it's 2 weeks,
>>> maybe 2 or 3 days. Something is leaching current from your battery
>>> and if it's something more involved than a simple boot light not
>>> turning off, you could be in for a world of pain.
>>> In the old days before everything got crazy, we'd just pull fuses
>>> one by one and find the circuit repsonsible easily enough. But
>>> things have changed and your car now has a brain and likes to
>>> remain sentient at all times. This can be a major PITA as it means
>>> you may have to wait anything up to 2 hours between fuse-pulls for
>>> the systems to settle down again into a genuine quiescent state.
>>> And given the sheer number of fuses in a modern car, you may be
>>> looking at a *huge* amount of time to get through them all
>>> properly. However, there *is* an alternative which overcomes these
>>> issues. This helpful hillbilly explains how to go about it - and
>>> all you need is a cheapo DVM.
>>>
>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRcj1fQcWwU
>>>
>>
>> Both of my cars have a battery suicide mode.
>>
>> One as the battery goes flat will discharge though the door central
>> locking. It has no current when there is charge in the battery but
>> once it drops to a low voltage it ensures complete discharge.
>>
>> The other triggers the alarm, an after market Cobra alarm. This again
>> ensures the battery is pancake flat. If I'm away when it starts going
>> off I have no way to detect that it's done this.
>>
>> I have small solar battery maintainers. These are not effective in
>> winter with lack of use. Last winter during lockdown and only one
>> shopping trip every 8 days (time to use 4 pints of milk) I had to put
>> the cars on charge every week.
>
> It sounds as though you need one of the chargers that are usually sold
> by Aldi or Lidl.You can leave them connected for ever, they adapt to
> whatever the battery requires.
>

the XP power battery charger I got from Aldi resets and stops charging
if power is lost.

One of the cars has to be parked about 200m away as there is only room
for one car in front of the house.

When I go on away I have to park the car that's left 200m away as that's
above the high water mark. It's even flooded in July. Still photos
first, video starts at 2:15. You can see my car at about 3:58 outside
the white painted pub.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kau3XM3mmw4

In article <sbespu$1u7o$1@gioia.aioe.org>,
Peter Hill <skyshac@yahoo.com> wrote:
> the XP power battery charger I got from Aldi resets and stops charging
> if power is lost.

It's not just the Lidl/Aldi ones that do this. Perhaps a safety feature? I
have a large bench top charger that does the same.

--
*Always remember you're unique, just like everyone else.

Dave Plowman dave@davenoise.co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.