Thread: Weird electrical problems - overvoltage

Hi All,

I have been away for a few months, while I was away my house-sitter was regularly starting the beast and running for a while to keep everything charged.

When I got back I started it up, everything was normal, cool.

Two days later, the next time I tried, both batteries dead flat, and I mean dead flat, less than 5V on each. So I jumped it, took it on a good run, charge lasted a couple of days.

Disconnected both batteries, tested with multi-meter, there is a 1.4A draw from somewhere which I need to track down but also when running the Nanocom shows battery voltage as 16.2V!

Voltage regulator??

TIA

Originally Posted by sierrafery

In most cases one(or more) shot diode in the rectifier would create parasitic drain not the regulator, undo the thick brown lead from maxi link FL1 in engine bay fusebox and if the drain goes away the problem is at the alternator.... in this case my money is on the diode pack, if the drain stays on this way too start removing fusible links one by one untill it drops then we'll know which circuit is problematic

1.4 amps, so maybe 17 watts. Any system on the car could draw that, so a process of elimination. I agree, after chasing something similar, that the alternator, and specifically the rectifier is the place to start. Most everything else gets isolated by the key, immobiliser being one obvious exception.
Of course, if it's the alternator then you may as well just get the whole thing done and go for ten more years.