Parasitic Battery Drain [Resolved]

[HHO]

Hope everyone is keeping safe and well.
Has anyone had a parasitic battery drain on their van? Just had a new battery on mine and it’s draining after standing for 3 days. Are there any known troublesome components to target before starting to pull individual fuses ? My original battery (Varta) lasted just over 4 years and have replaced with a Bosch.
Thanks

link to resolution

 

[HHO]

Update. Draw traced back to the fuel pump. I’ve been having a few false readings over the last few months so might be linked.

 

[Jereth]

You are not alone, mate. I have the same van spec and the same problem. I have posted a couple of times on my ongoing problems already so I hope I am not becoming boring. My van has a flat battery again. It is draining in a few days. I am tackling VW customer services who are being helpful to an extent. The VW Assist guy came today to get the van going again. I am using them because it logs the fact there is a problem with VW HQ. What he has advised me beggars belief. If you have time to read my last email to them you will see what I mean...

Thank you for your help Adrian (customer service team). I have also been in touch by phone with a colleague whose name is Lisa (customer services). She was helpful and is trying to get someone to contact me.

However, the latest advice from VW Assist is set out below and I am not happy with it.

The technician has been and reported that the battery is sound with a good response to charging even when the van is at idle.

- He said it drained because I drove the van only once in a two-week period.

Advice: I should be driving the van for at least a half-hour long run every few days or it will go flat again.

If the police stop me because of Covid-19 restrictions, I should tell them that VW told me to do so and inform them of the battery problem. (!!!)

- Alternatively the alarm system is draining the battery. An alarm system on a Transporter will drain the battery inside two weeks.

Advice: Leave the van unlocked so as not to engage the alarm system or remove the battery altogether.

I wrote all this down as he said it. Then I read all his comments back to him to double-check it reflected accurately what he had said.

To be frank I am struggling to believe this is good advice - it's a van not a thoroughbred racing car.

- I have wasted a total of half a tank of diesel - about £40 worth - having the van sit at idle on the drive, three times.

- I don't want to risk breaking the law on Covid-19 lockdown rules, just to make sure my van starts.

- And, I can't see that my van is safe being left unlocked, particularly, if I am away.

This is costly and worrying. No other vehicle around here is having to do this and they are all being used for short journeys or sitting on drives in exactly the same way as mine is at the moment.

The van's systems, are not performing correctly or have been poorly designed, despite what the diagnostics say.

 

[HHO]

These were my two initial AA breakdown reports. For the first one, the battery would’nt take a charge so the AA fitted a new battery. The second is the day after when I called them back out to register the battery - they omitted to do this when they swapped the battery. The second patrolman read all the error codes too etc.

 

[Jereth]

Thanks for taking the time to do that. Very helpful. There must be something going on with mine; I'm struggling to believe the stuff I was told by the technician.

 

[Martinf]

I have posted a couple of times on my ongoing problems already so I hope I am not becoming boring

Me likewise. My 2018 150 DSG when parked up in my garage sometimes draws about 2% of the battery per day, which simplistically would be about 60mA continuous. I think this is a reasonable quiescent current. There are 4 positive cable connections from the battery and the largest current I measure (thanks to a clamp meter advised on the Forum) is about 45mA on the van system connection, that which disappears back under the battery.

However more often than the above, the current draw will be much greater. Instead the van systems connection will be drawing around 150mA, which hugely increases the rate of quiescent drawdown on the battery. What I can't determine is what causes the much higher and more usual current.

All these are 'steady state' with the current levels having stabilised after the van is locked.

Any ideas what van system item can sometimes draw a current of about 100mA more than other times? Suggestions on how I determine it would be welcome. It's not really practicable to pull out all the various fuses one by one until I find a lower quiescent current, after all it could be the vehicle deciding itself to draw less!

The other three positive connections are a VW system appearing to go into the engine compartment, the VB-Air connection and the Leisure B2B connection. None of these varies by any significant extent, the Leisure connection taking the largest quiescent current at about 15mA.

 

[HHO]

When I has getting mine sorted, I was told that a faulty J367 battery monitor controller is one of the favourites for causing a battery drain. They’d seen a few.

 

[HHO]

Dragging this one up again I’m afraid my battery drain has returned. Spent the weekend testing fuses and I’m picking up a current draw from the 5 amp fuse for the battery monitor and a key-off drain of around 450mA. Would any of you mind doing me a favour and checking your battery monitor on the negative pole of your battery to see if it’s warm (cold engine obviously). Beginning to think we’ve been chasing ghosts and it was that all along. Preparing for 4th dealer visit. Cheers guys

 

[R88]

Me likewise. My 2018 150 DSG when parked up in my garage sometimes draws about 2% of the battery per day, which simplistically would be about 60mA continuous. I think this is a reasonable quiescent current. There are 4 positive cable connections from the battery and the largest current I measure (thanks to a clamp meter advised on the Forum) is about 45mA on the van system connection, that which disappears back under the battery.

However more often than the above, the current draw will be much greater. Instead the van systems connection will be drawing around 150mA, which hugely increases the rate of quiescent drawdown on the battery. What I can't determine is what causes the much higher and more usual current.

I don't remember seeing this thread when I created mine on a simliar subject, but the drain figures you've mentioned are very similar to mine at approx 150mA, so did you ever get to the bottom of your issue? My investigations lead to finding that pulling fuse F8 reduced the drain to acceptable levels, but I don't know why and my issue is still unresolved.

 

[HHO]

After a couple of false starts with diagnosing the drain, it turned out to be the battery monitor module on the battery itself.
If it’s warm to touch on a cold engine it’s most likely that. Easy swap but needs to be coded in.

 

[Martinf]

I don't remember seeing this thread when I created mine on a simliar subject, but the drain figures you've mentioned are very similar to mine at approx 150mA, so did you ever get to the bottom of your issue?

@R88 it's fine at the moment and I haven't found out why it has been variable. I have had two electrical system changes made, though neither should affect the quiescent current, rather the general battery charge level. The VB airsuspension had been connected directly to the battery negative post and its now connected to the vehicle earth so not bypassing the battery management system. Also my solar can directly feed the vehicle battery when it's voltage drops. So far it's much improved, but as I say, the changes shouldn't affect the issue under discussion in the thread!

 

[FairyCakes230]

You are not alone, mate. I have the same van spec and the same problem. I have posted a couple of times on my ongoing problems already so I hope I am not becoming boring. My van has a flat battery again. It is draining in a few days. I am tackling VW customer services who are being helpful to an extent. The VW Assist guy came today to get the van going again. I am using them because it logs the fact there is a problem with VW HQ. What he has advised me beggars belief. If you have time to read my last email to them you will see what I mean...

Thank you for your help Adrian (customer service team). I have also been in touch by phone with a colleague whose name is Lisa (customer services). She was helpful and is trying to get someone to contact me.

However, the latest advice from VW Assist is set out below and I am not happy with it.

The technician has been and reported that the battery is sound with a good response to charging even when the van is at idle.

- He said it drained because I drove the van only once in a two-week period.

Advice: I should be driving the van for at least a half-hour long run every few days or it will go flat again.

If the police stop me because of Covid-19 restrictions, I should tell them that VW told me to do so and inform them of the battery problem. (!!!)

- Alternatively the alarm system is draining the battery. An alarm system on a Transporter will drain the battery inside two weeks.

Advice: Leave the van unlocked so as not to engage the alarm system or remove the battery altogether.

I wrote all this down as he said it. Then I read all his comments back to him to double-check it reflected accurately what he had said.

To be frank I am struggling to believe this is good advice - it's a van not a thoroughbred racing car.

- I have wasted a total of half a tank of diesel - about £40 worth - having the van sit at idle on the drive, three times.

- I don't want to risk breaking the law on Covid-19 lockdown rules, just to make sure my van starts.

- And, I can't see that my van is safe being left unlocked, particularly, if I am away.

This is costly and worrying. No other vehicle around here is having to do this and they are all being used for short journeys or sitting on drives in exactly the same way as mine is at the moment.

The van's systems, are not performing correctly or have been poorly designed, despite what the diagnostics say.

Found your excellent and worrying post while trying to work out how to move forward with a similar sounding issue. I wondered if there was a collection of excellent reasons offered by garages to explain issues.
My Caravelle has gone in under warranty for a diagnostic after two battery related RAC callouts in two months of ownership. The dealership told me the RAC warning codes were from the battery going flat, and it went flat because of the fridge or something from the conversion (it’s an unconverted original T6 Caravelle) or because of bad luck. There was no advice on how to prevent the bad luck flattening the battery again.