Battery drain - how many mA is OK?

[vwsween]

Battery was draining in 1 or 2 days. Suspected central locking fault so removed CL Motors to refurb them (springs rusted and spindle siezed) - have not refitted them yet. Then bought a multimeter to measure drain between negative pole and earth lead - its reading 225 MA. There is a dash clock, a flashing red light in radio unit (face removed) and another flashing red light in dash (sort of pretend alarm). So what I need to know is whether 225MA with these connected is reasonable or not. Or do I need to look for a battery drain still. I suspect the drain was caused by central locking but I didnt measure it before removing CL.
Thanks
Brian

[tonytech]

225mA is probably a little high.
You are looking at using about 6 Amp hours of battery capacity every 24 hours.
So 12 Amp hours over 2 days.
You dont say how flat the battery was getting, no dash lights?, will turn over, but wont start etc.
Assuming you have a battery in good condition, it souldnt make much differance to your starting, but a diesel (you dont say which engine) takes a prety hefty current especialy in the cold.

I'd check how much current the stereo is taking.

T

[caveman]

28-30 mA is the max you would be looking for. That should only be the clock and radio memory.I have seen some cars work fine with 100-200 mA but they were probably driven every day.

[vwsween]

Thanks for replies - battery was replaced but still went completely flat - no dash lights. Probably not stereo - had same one for 4 years. I'll need to find it by pulling fuses etc as in previous posts. In meantime getting by with disconnecting battery after each run.
Brian

[vwsween]

On closer inspection.
When first connecting meter the reading is 220MA. After 5 secs the dash clock numbers become clear, after 10 secs the meter reading reduces to 18MA but pulses between 18MA and 28MA in time with the red light in the stereo. If I disconect meter and reconnect it within a few seconds before the dash clock fades the reading is still 18-28MA. But if I reconnect after the clock fades its back up to 220MA dropping to 18-28MA after 10 secs again.
So, does this simply mean the clock draws about 200MA for 10 secs to get going and much less to maintain it thereafter. Is so, the battery drain must have been due to central locking (now removed). I think the central locking must have been drawing much more than 200MA to drain a new battery in 1 or 2 days.
Brian

[tonytech]

Sounds like you have the solution.
20ma is fine.
Rebuild the CL, I have this on my van and I love it.

T

[caveman]

You should be okay now. As it is settling down to the lower values,that tells you that ,that is what it's really drawing. Depending on how cold it is, 200mA can drain a battery in a suprisingly short amount of time.

[vwsween]

Thankyou both for your help.
Brian