Member Since: 02 Mar 2020
Location: Ringwood
Posts: 15
Battery Drain
Hi all,
Hoping for some help in tracking down some battery drain issues!
The obvious one straight away, there's a tracker fitted (May 2009) from www.tracker.co.uk by the previous owner. After reading multiple posts about this being a potential drain cause, can someone please DM me on where I should start looking for the module/battery so I can remove it? This may not be the current issue but going from what others have posted this will potentially become an issue, preventative maintenance and all that...
Now for the "fun" part... (and sorry for the long post and the waffling)
The quiescent current draw seems to be floating around at least 100 mA more like 150 mA, obviously too high, with some interesting things happening. Also at least every minute it looks like something is trying to switch on and drawing upto 800 mA in 1 ms pulses.
Whilst following Robbie's Guide on measuring the voltage drop across fuses (and not finding anything on any of the mini fuses) I noticed the current draw sat at a steady 1.6 A(possibly the tracker battery charging?). This happened around 2 hours after the car being in sleep? I was only clamped around the positive battery wire going to the fuse box, but again when this happened I couldn't find which fuse this current was going through, I did rush to check as many fuses as possible when this happened as it caught me off guard. I didn't measure every fuse in the engine box, as I don't have a fuse mate for the large fuses and I didn't pull any either. This 1.6 A dropped after around 3-5 minutes, back to where it was before.
I've got two constant fault codes:
B1C13-3A (6C) Driver's up/down mirror motor feedback circuit - Frequency modulation/pulse width modulation failure - incorrect, has too many pulses
B1D13-15 (2E) Interior lamps 1 circuit - General electrical failure - circuit short to battery or open
I ran out of time to fully investigate the second fault with the light, assuming its just going to be open circuit.
For the first fault code, I'm pretty sure this will cause some of the battery drain as the drivers side mirror will change its parked angle when the cars sat for a while. So being turned on whilst the cars meant to be asleep. Any ideas if this will be a sensor issue or module issue?
Any help will be greatly appreciated!
4th Apr 2020 6:02 pm
Pete K
Member Since: 15 Jan 2016
Location: GL
Posts: 10689
Almost all current goes through the large fuses first
So worth getting a way of measuring current thru them to narrow down
I guess your missing the fusebox behind the glovebox, another reason to check the large fuses
Tip: get your mirrors positioned correctly and pull related memory fuses
And see If that fixes dray
4th Apr 2020 6:46 pm
Chipp
Member Since: 02 Mar 2020
Location: Ringwood
Posts: 15
@Pete K Yeah, planning to make an extender but don't have any crimps to hand.
I've checked the fuses in the glove box as well, bit surprised I didn't find any of them passing current if I'm honest.
And good shout on pulling the fuse for mirrors, I'll give that a go tomorrow and see what happnes
Thanks
4th Apr 2020 7:02 pm
Robbie
Member Since: 05 Feb 2006
Location: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Posts: 17932
Always hard to diagnose from the sofa & I am rather rusty, but the waveform / pattern looks like the CLS / CJB being triggered. Best guess... try looking for corrosion behind the rubber of the upper tailgate button and go from there.Land Rover - Turning Drivers into Mechanics Since 1948
Member Since: 22 Apr 2012
Location: Rome
Posts: 2323
It should be caused by the air suspension ECU that wake up few times in a day (car asleep) to check the body level and in the case adjust the suspension height... - Easy-Lift suspension module 4.0
- GoodWinch 9500 lb
- Full underbody protections
- Tree/Rock sidebars
- Prospeed roofrack & ladder
- Compressor guard
- Raised Air Intake
- Driving lights (2+4)
- 50 mm Waffle boards
- Altox Heater control
- Overland Rooftop Tent
- Rear seats entertainment
- Front & Rear camera
- GVIF
- Removable tow bar
- Cubby box fridge
- BFG KO2 265/65R17
- iidTool BT
5th Apr 2020 12:19 pm
Chipp
Member Since: 02 Mar 2020
Location: Ringwood
Posts: 15
Made some progress!
Found and disconnected the tracking module and performed a hard reset.
Quiescent current draw is now alot lower, fluctuating between 30 to 45 mArms (measured on a DVM). Seems reasonable but still on the higher side? Probably nothing to worry about
Checked it with a scope, over 500 ms I get 44.8 mArms:
This might be normal, as most the measurements i've seen online are taken with current clamps or DVMs so there's a bit of averaging going on depending on the unit and havn't come across any scope captures.
Had a bit of a set back though... over tightened one of the battery posts and it snapped AND lost the special washer thing in the process of modifying a new bolt to fit...
Found that a M6 bolt and metal M6 cup washer seem like an almost perfect replacement. Use cup washers on 19" racks so their readily available online if anyone else manages to do the same
5th Apr 2020 3:33 pm
Pete K
Member Since: 15 Jan 2016
Location: GL
Posts: 10689
30 -40 ma rms sounds fine
5th Apr 2020 4:14 pm
Robbie
Member Since: 05 Feb 2006
Location: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Posts: 17932
Chipp wrote:
This might be normal, as most the measurements i've seen online are taken with current clamps or DVMs so there's a bit of averaging going on depending on the unit and havn't come across any scope captures.
As an aside, scopes tend to be pretty poor at absolute measurements, even on a quality brand; so they are just a flamboyant stunt-double for a good DMM. Have a peak at the claimed accuracy when used as a graphing DMM.
Land Rover - Turning Drivers into Mechanics Since 1948
Member Since: 05 Feb 2006
Location: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Posts: 17932
Sidestick wrote:
It should be caused by the air suspension ECU that wake up few times in a day (car asleep) to check the body level and in the case adjust the suspension height...
Good thought but not the right waveform.
Hopefully the aftermarket accessory is to blame (aka step 1) but the issue with chasing potential CLS issues is that they tend to fade away during diagnostics. Same goes for chasing corroded wires, after a few fiddles, static garage time and dry weather they tend to hide themselves away again.
Land Rover - Turning Drivers into Mechanics Since 1948
Member Since: 09 Nov 2019
Location: Solihull
Posts: 10
Would someone be kind enough to send me info regarding the location of the tracker module. I’m reading a lot that this can be the culprit on a lot of battery drain issues. My wife’s 2006 Disco 3 is on its second battery in a month. We’ve been on lockdown due to corona virus so car has sat for at least a fortnight and now it’s so flat the remote won’t even open the doors. I’m sure I can get into the vehicle easily enough and I’ve got the spare battery charged up ready to be changed. Obviously I don’t want to be changing the batteries over every week so figured I’d get rid of the tracker first if this is a common problem. Once the trackers gone I’ll be able to start moving on to the next thing if the problem persists.
29th Apr 2020 6:04 pm
Pete K
Member Since: 15 Jan 2016
Location: GL
Posts: 10689
They should be fitted in various different places.
I’d start looking at the rear for odd wiring
Sounds like u need a ctek charger
29th Apr 2020 6:31 pm
Jay_gb
Member Since: 09 Nov 2019
Location: Solihull
Posts: 10
I did read something Very briefly about a ctek charger but I’ve no idea of the advantages over any other battery charger. I don’t believe I can use the tow ball socket charge method as it’s a 7 pin with a black cover. Other than that I’m a bit in the dark at present.
29th Apr 2020 7:19 pm
Pete K
Member Since: 15 Jan 2016
Location: GL
Posts: 10689
If you have a mains 240v supply near your car you can leave the car on standby charge when not being used with ctek maintainer
29th Apr 2020 7:41 pm
Jay_gb
Member Since: 09 Nov 2019
Location: Solihull
Posts: 10
Unfortunately the car sits on the drive as we have no garage so regularly plugging in a charger isn’t so convenient. I feel this would only mask the issue anyway and ideally I’d like to fix this draining problem once and for all. Been as we don’t pay a subscription for a tracker I’d rather remove it so I know for sure that it’s not causing the issue.
30th Apr 2020 11:46 am
john ryan
Member Since: 05 Apr 2006
Location: leamington spa
Posts: 121
You obviously have a problem. I can leave my 2005 D3 S for a month, and it starts up as normal, so there is no significant drain on a locked standard car (ie without tracker).
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special washer thing in the process of modifying a new bolt to fit...
