Excessive battery use.

[DarranKing68]

Hi

Among the list of issues I have with my van at the moment I seem to be getting excessive battery usage when the van is not used. I drove 400+ miles straight to France last week. And the battery only got to 77% charged, within 4 days it was at 36% with the van standing unused.

I drove back yesterday and the van was again at 77% charge, but today it’s at 67% already.

The battery is new and was only fitted 3 months ago, after I was told my old battery (the vans original) had failed. The AA fitted and recoded the new battery, but it seems to me that something is using it a lot whilst the van sits. It has no conversion or anything as far as I know that could be draining it.

Is this normal behaviour ?

 

[VanArbed]

Hello,

Juste a basic idea, may you can use a simple test of tension (Volts) directly on the battery (engine running and not), to check if it reflects these values ?

 

[mmi]

I seem to be getting excessive battery usage when the van is not used.

Does the van think there is excessive drainage? If so you would get fault

02256 - Quiescent Current - Upper Limit Exceeded​

The alarm threshold is quite low so it will catch any significant leak.

 

[DarranKing68]

Does the van think there is excessive drainage? If so you would get fault

02256 - Quiescent Current - Upper Limit Exceeded​

The alarm threshold is quite low so it will catch any significant leak.

No errors reported for the battery. Only one error logged in here as a separate issue for the infotainment system.

 

[CAB]

@VanArbed is correct, you need proper voltage readings.

Have a read here :

Thread 'Battery Monitoring -- How I Done It --'

22 Oct 2019

Battery Monitoring -- How I Done It --

Part #1

Battery monitoring is a very important part of your 12v system . . . . whether its just the vans starter battery or your leisure setup keeping an eye on the power in your battery bank will keep you from breaking down and make sure your weekends are not cut short from lack of power.

Battery monitoring is even more important with Lithium Lifepo4 batteries as the voltage stays fairly constant for 90% of the capacity.

first off lets look at a few basic 12v meters.

here a great little unit that I've been using for ages....

you can plug it...

• Dellmassive
• battery sensor dellmassive how to guide
• Replies: 333
• Forum: Electrics, Lighting, ICE, Security

• 

The BM2 is ideal.

https://amzn.eu/d/05jRL1Xa

 

[mmi]

No errors reported for the battery.

All good then ?

 

[DarranKing68]

Hello,

Juste a basic idea, may you can use a simple test of tension (Volts) directly on the battery (engine running and not), to check if it reflects these values ?

Battery is reading 12.v when ignition is off, and 14.6 when engine is started.

 

[Salty Spuds]

Battery is reading 12.v when ignition is off, and 14.6 when engine is started.

Sounds about right. Does the van start happily enough, does the stop/start work? If so, you’re probably worrying over nothing.

 

[Dellmassive]

Hi

Among the list of issues I have with my van at the moment I seem to be getting excessive battery usage when the van is not used. I drove 400+ miles straight to France last week. And the battery only got to 77% charged, within 4 days it was at 36% with the van standing unused.

I drove back yesterday and the van was again at 77% charge, but today it’s at 67% already.

The battery is new and was only fitted 3 months ago, after I was told my old battery (the vans original) had failed. The AA fitted and recoded the new battery, but it seems to me that something is using it a lot whilst the van sits. It has no conversion or anything as far as I know that could be draining it.

Is this normal behaviour ?

View attachment 321982

14.8v and charging at 7A..


So the engine would have been running..

The quiescent code above will be triggered when a drain of over 50mA is logged.

Normally from 3rd party kit like dash cams , trackers, usb charges. Or anything plugged in to the OBD2 port

 

[StratosFearXX]

What's the screenshot from @DarranKing68?

 

[DarranKing68]

What's the screenshot from @DarranKing68?

Carista showing live data

 

[DarranKing68]

Sounds about right. Does the van start happily enough, does the stop/start work? If so, you’re probably worrying over nothing.

Van starts happy enough and stop start is working. However if I leave the van for a few days it reports low battery charge by driving error.

 

[StratosFearXX]

Looks normal to me. Mine sits at around 12.1 if I've not used it in a few days (data from tracker and Ancel battery monitor thing agree on that). It's never not started ... yet, and the tracker warns me if it's getting too low.

 

[Salty Spuds]

..... it reports low battery charge by driving error.

could you elaborate please? what's reporting "low battery charge" a message on the MFD? And what's a "Driving error"? What is the source of this info?

 

[StratosFearXX]

Oh yeah and I've just ordered one of those little 10w Eco-Worthy solar panels to sit on the dash and plug into the cig lighter socket. I know they're probably not much good but if it helps to combat the parasitic drain a bit it might be worthwhile.

 

[StratosFearXX]

could you elaborate please? what's reporting "low battery charge" a message on the MFD? And what's a "Driving error"? What is the source of this info?

Typo I suspect ...

 

[T32Rich]

.. it reports low battery charge by driving error.
I've had this in the past while camping. It's just a message on theMFD/Vritual Cockpit display telling you to "Drive to Charge" the Battery.

 

[Salty Spuds]

.. it reports low battery charge by driving error.
I've had this in the past while camping. It's just a message on theMFD/Vritual Cockpit display telling you to "Drive to Charge" the Battery.

Ahh right, and how long into a camping trip does this usually occur? a couple of days?

 

[T32Rich]

Ahh right, and how long into a camping trip does this usually occur? a couple of days?

I think from memory, it was around 4-5 days, but I had forgotten to turn off the Interior Lights when opening the doors

 

[Salty Spuds]

I think from memory, it was around 4-5 days, but I had forgotten to turn off the Interior Lights when opening the doors

Oooops, I've just realised I'm replying to a different person