Battery drain problem finally sorted

[smokintyres]

Can't remember if I had ever mentioned it, but my Bullnose's Battery wouldn't last more than three days with out being charged or driven in between. Had narrowed the bad circuit down to the "dome" circuit/fuse by checking the amps drawn in each of them. Due to the rather time consuming job that is taking the dashboard apart, I had never braved finding the actual culprit. But some thieving bastard that decided to steal my radio's face plate one night, pushed me into taking on the tedious job eventually. I started unplugging one thing after the other, starting with the immobilizer, only to find that the LCD clock was the culprit all along!! The current draw was somewhere around 300 to 400mA and is now down to not even 50mA with the clock unplugged.
Has anybody else got the problem on their Bullnose Hilux?

[yotaman]

I have indeed. Mine just takes 5-6 days to drain. Problem I have is that I'm completely clueless when it comes to auto electrical issues. Tks for sharing

[The Legend]

Can't remember if I had ever mentioned it, but my Bullnose's Battery wouldn't last more than three days with out being charged or driven in between. Had narrowed the bad circuit down to the "dome" circuit/fuse by checking the amps drawn in each of them. Due to the rather time consuming job that is taking the dashboard apart, I had never braved finding the actual culprit. But some thieving bastard that decided to steal my radio's face plate one night, pushed me into taking on the tedious job eventually. I started unplugging one thing after the other, starting with the immobilizer, only to find that the LCD clock was the culprit all along!! The current draw was somewhere around 300 to 400mA and is now down to not even 50mA with the clock unplugged.
Has anybody else got the problem on their Bullnose Hilux?

Should the LCD clock not to be off when keys is out of the ignition?

[george]

Should the LCD clock not to be off when keys is out of the ignition?

it should,but even 400ma cant drain your battery in 3 days.
I have one of these stop rust units that draw close to that or more constantly and my battery last for more than a week if I let it stand

[george]

I just quickly did the maths.
Lets say at 500mA it going to us 1 amp every 2 hours.So that is 12 amps per day.So in 3 days 36 amps.
Theoretically you should be able to start you car after 3 days,but it is still a lot.
I think my systems only draws 50mA then.
Mine used to draw more but that was because of an old tracker unit with a faulty battery

[smokintyres]

I just quickly did the maths.
Lets say at 500mA it going to us 1 amp every 2 hours.So that is 12 amps per day.So in 3 days 36 amps.
Theoretically you should be able to start you car after 3 days,but it is still a lot.
I think my systems only draws 50mA then.
Mine used to draw more but that was because of an old tracker unit with a faulty battery

Had done the calcs back then and also had my doubts that it could actually draw it flat enough to prevent starting. But I must add, the battery was never completely flat, in fact all that was needed to get the car started was a mere spark, which would bring the electronics back to life and it could actually start by itself. I haven't quite figured that one out yet, but it seems the electronics shut down when the battery reaches a certain voltage?

I have indeed. Mine just takes 5-6 days to drain. Problem I have is that I'm completely clueless when it comes to auto electrical issues. Tks for sharing

I must admit, fixing the one problem brought about a few things I have yet to figure out: the 12V power socket/cigarette ligte is without power since then, have checked for lose connection; nada. Another odd thing after all the fiddling I seem to have a headlight on warning buzzer all of a sudden! Gave me a hell of a fright; switched off the engine only to be greeted by a sound I had never heard before! Turning off the headlights cancelled the noise, but it had not done that before.

[CasKru]

I was wondering. When you say you unplugged the clock, did you actually unplug the clock itself or unplug the fuse for the clock circuit?

I was just wondering because generally speaking the radio is also on the same circuit as the digital clock

[Cinco]

Can't remember if I had ever mentioned it, but my Bullnose's Battery wouldn't last more than three days with out being charged or driven in between. Had narrowed the bad circuit down to the "dome" circuit/fuse by checking the amps drawn in each of them. Due to the rather time consuming job that is taking the dashboard apart, I had never braved finding the actual culprit. But some thieving bastard that decided to steal my radio's face plate one night, pushed me into taking on the tedious job eventually. I started unplugging one thing after the other, starting with the immobilizer, only to find that the LCD clock was the culprit all along!! The current draw was somewhere around 300 to 400mA and is now down to not even 50mA with the clock unplugged.
Has anybody else got the problem on their Bullnose Hilux?

How did you measure this current of 300 to 400 mA?
i think I may have a similar problem , regarding battery drain.

[pietpetoors]

bad circuit down to the "dome" circuit/fuse by checking the amps drawn in each of them

What I find interesting about this post is; remember when Tumelo's Hilux almost caught fire and he burnt his harness, it was also the "dome" circuit.

[smokintyres]

How did you measure this current of 300 to 400 mA?
i think I may have a similar problem , regarding battery drain.

A colleague of mine had found this write-up somewhere. It proved to be most helpful!

[smokintyres]

bad circuit down to the "dome" circuit/fuse by checking the amps drawn in each of them

What I find interesting about this post is; remember when Tumelo's Hilux almost caught fire and he burnt his harness, it was also the "dome" circuit.

Definitely worthwhile investigating it seems!

[Cinco]

How did you measure this current of 300 to 400 mA?
i think I may have a similar problem , regarding battery drain.

A colleague of mine had found this write-up somewhere. It proved to be most helpful!

Thank you for the write-up.

I used it tonight and found my NL intelligent solenoid was the culprit. As soon as i disconnect it I don't show the drain.

[Johan Kriel]

My Toy heep don't have a lcd clock but the battery drain overnight when connected .
With Battery disconnected it can survive easily the week when I am away and start every time when back on the farm.

It has only a few gauges and head lights connected thr the ignition switch. So either the ignition switch or the alternator is the culprit.

Till now did not find the time to eliminated the culprit.

[Mud Dog]

Johan, if you are not the only owner that the vehicle has had it could be that a previous owner had a tracking device fitted - the device's battery is too old to hold a charge so it constantly draws off the main battery to try charge it - can easily drain a battery overnight to the point where the vehicle won't start in the morning. Other similar culprits are old alarm / immobiliser units that are not functional but still connected to the power.

[Johan Kriel]

Andy, no other devices in that vehicle, that I know. The vehicle was stripped completely apart and rebuild recently. Only the basic electrics for farm use. When I pulled all the fuses it still drew current from the battery, that's whats puzzling me. At first I thought the temp gauge was connected directly from the battery, but that seemed not to be the case.

I think one grease monkey assistant has done the electrics, so I need to disconnect more wires to get of the bottom of it.

[Mud Dog]

Hmmm ... that's strange, even with all the fused pulled .... does that include the fuses in the engine compartment? Is this a petrol or diesel motor?

[Johan Kriel]

Diesel motor and all the fuses!

[Baasvark]

Johan I had a similar problem recently. Not being a mechanic's @ss, I had no clue how to find the fault.
At the same time my starter started giving problems.
When I replaced the bushes in the starter motor the problem stopped ?????

[Mud Dog]

Wonder if the glow-plug timer relay is not faulty and 'leaking' to earth. Whatever it is, it gas to be something with a direct feed from the battery - hope you track it down.

[Johan Kriel]

Thanks will check

[dalkill]

how can i identify if i have more than one tracking device on vehicle.
when i just bought the vehicle i contacted the trackign company to transfer tracking details, and then soon after that i got email to say system is working , then next day sms to say it not.

phone them then they said i actually got two in there but the inactive one giving the error on their system
buddy then says it will drain your battery. emailed them to ask if i can have old one removed. then they said it actually was removed.

Now did they just say this to save on the effort and/ or cost of removal, or is it actually out of the vehicle ??