Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 29

Thread: Disco 4 Dual battery issues - Battery drain

  1. #1
    Tommy Armstrong Guest

    Disco 4 Dual battery issues - Battery drain

    Hi everyone. Real long post, apologies in advance.

    I have a disco 4 that's losing battery storage in both the main battery and auxiliary battery at fast rates.

    I run ctek Bluetooth monitors on both batteries. They alerted me saying that over 2 days on freshly charged full batteries, the auxiliary drops to 70% and lower and the main to 75%.

    I even charged the batteries up to full one day, disconnected the charger, drove a total of 2 hours and on the way home ran the headlights and spotties and the ctek said I had 97% main battery and 80% auxiliary.

    People have said not to trust the ctek devices so I used the multimeter yesterday.

    I put the multimeter on the batteries (I've only got a basic knowledge on how to use it) and the main read 12.83v and the auxiliary 12.85v.

    1 and a half days later the auxiliary shows 12.45v and 12.18v for the main battery. I've disconnected the negative off the auxiliary and just waiting for 2 hours to see if it changes the figures on either battery.

    I have the following things installed in the vehicle that I think could drain the battery when off:

    LLAMS - led light is off.
    UHF - head unit is off.
    Dual air compressor install - switch is off with no leds showing
    TPMS - Unplugged when vehicle is off.
    Traxide system yellow top battery.

    I thought maybe the alternator isn't charging properly but under idle the main battery gets 14.89v with lights and aircon running.

    What I have noticed is that I have a draw on the auxiliary battery during running with the headlights and spotties on and the spotties are connected to the main battery. I lose approx .02v every minute during idle while the main battery seems to charge. Now I know with the traxide system that main charges before the auxiliary but I'm stumped with the losses on the auxiliary when the spotties are on.

    I've attached a screen shot of fuses I checked yesterday to check for high current draw. Hoping I'm doing this right. I couldn't reach the lower dozen odd fuses in the bottom of the glove box because of my bad back. Also tested the ones in the engine bay. They were tested with the vehicle off, unlocked and the passenger door and bonnet opened.

    Could anyone please tell me if any of these fuses look like they are drawing too much.

    Also apart from the cteks drawing 2ah per month (manufacturer spec) and everything else looks like it's turned off could the LLAMS, air compressor or UHF be drawing anything?

    And does the car need to be locked overnight for it to turn off all cpus. I've read the car does it after a few minutes anyway but I'm wondering if it's a cause of the drain.

    Tim from traxide is also trying to run me through some tests for the traxide system but also advised me to post on here for assistance.

    Thankyou to all.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    Whyalla, SA
    Posts
    7,545
    Total Downloaded
    0

    Disco 4 Dual battery issues - Battery drain

    Yes the car needs to be locked to fully shut down.


    What do you have attached to the aux battery?
    Any USB sockets on either battery?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2020
    Location
    McGowanastan
    Posts
    694
    Total Downloaded
    0
    Gday Tommy,

    With some of the stories i have heard about the latest crop of optima batteries I would be gettin it load tested myself. The start battery dropping will likely be the cars systems , but the optima dropping so much points towards a suspect battery in my very limited knowledge..

    Bulletman

  4. #4
    Tommy Armstrong Guest
    Hi Tombie.

    I have the 2 x 12v sockets in the boot connected to the auxiliary via the traxide and neither have anything plugged in.

  5. #5
    Tommy Armstrong Guest
    Tombie regarding not shutting the car down I'm assuming the cpus will slowly drain the main battery then. During this latest test I did lock the car every time but the batteries are still draining.

  6. #6
    Tommy Armstrong Guest
    Bullet man, chatted to Tim today and he has so far narrowed down that the main battery was weighing down the auxiliary (drain is on the main battery). I'm currently charging both batteries to full then disconnecting the main battery then leaving it overnight to see what happens to both of them.

    In the meantime it looks like I need to narrow down what's draining the main battery.

    Hopefully someone on the forum can help me narrow down the issue from the draw on the fuses I posted.

    I'll also be taking the auxiliary battery to get tested once this is all done to make sure it's also good.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    Bittern Vic
    Posts
    516
    Total Downloaded
    0
    The Ctek bluetooth battery monitors will use quite a bit of power. Can you put a switch on them and turn them off ?

    Ian
    Bittern

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Location
    Nirvana near Albany W.A.
    Posts
    2,480
    Total Downloaded
    0
    Failing diode pack on alternator is another common issue, that will drain the main battery

  9. #9
    Tommy Armstrong Guest
    Hi Ian.

    A switch to turn them off would be handy. I only use them when I go camping to monitor the battery storage with the fridge running.

  10. #10
    Tommy Armstrong Guest
    Discovery wizard how do I test for a failed diode pack please?

Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Search AULRO.com ONLY!
Search All the Web!