Battery drain

[Paulca]

Hi all,

I have recently joined this forum as a first time T6 owner, only had the van a couple of weeks but already upgrading!
I just installed some new sequential side indicators and rear barn door brake lights from Thq along with swapping out the interior cab lights with leds. After going away for the weekend I have found the battery nearly flat and only able to start after charging it for a few hours.
After checking with a multimeter the pull is around 1.6A, is it likely the new lights are the issue? They all work exactly as they should and I have checked the internal lights to make sure they are turned off.
Is there a way to check what is causing this as I don’t want to remove the new lights without knowing for sure, the adhesive seals they come with would be ruined.
Any help would be much appreciated!

 

[Salty Spuds]

Pull the relevant fuses one by one & check the current drain.

 

[Pauly]

1.6A is huge for a drain, how are you measuring it ?

The van wont go to sleep until doors are shut and its locked, my preferred method of measuring is to leave the bonnet open and lock the van up then use a clamp meter to measure the draw on the battery after its been locked and left alone for 5 mins to fully shutdown

 

[Paulca]

Yeah the fuse pulling was going to be my next step but I was hoping to narrow down which fuses are responsible for the lights I added to make sure it was or wasn’t those. I’m using a multimeter and currently disconnecting the battery when I am not using the van so it has charge to get to work in the morning. Also to get to the fuse box under the dash I need the door open which messes with the readings, I can’t figure out how to make it think the door is closed so the rear internal lights stay off (there are hard wired led strips in the back that turn on when it opens).

 

[Dundee_Kev]

I can’t figure out how to make it think the door is closed so the rear internal lights stay off (there are hard wired led strips in the back that turn on when it opens).

Use a screwdriver to close the lock.

The pulling of fuses isn't the best way as it can cause modules to stay awake. Your meant to take readings across the tops of the fuses.

Plenty YouTube vids with detailed info.

 

[Paulca]

Ahh great, will have to try that! The battery drain vids that come up are all pulling fuses until a difference is seen on the multimeter, would much prefer to leave them be and just test them from the top

 

[Dundee_Kev]

 

[Paulca]

Awesome! Will try this tomorrow cheers kev

 

[Alster]

@Dundee_Kev never seen that before but looks a really good way to check current draw.

 

[Dundee_Kev]

@Dundee_Kev never seen that before but looks a really good way to check current draw.

You just have to hope the fuses fitted have the bare ends on them, not all fuses do unfortunately!