Electrical Drain! do i start to pull fuses?

[NoobyNiall]

Hi All,

The van wasn't started in 4 weeks, found the battery completely dead/ murdered in fact :?

Got a new battery, Van started and started some tests, I noted it started to drain the battery straight away.
Disconnected a few cables etc to narrow it down, its only when i pull the 70 amp relay in the junction box in the engine bay that it stops the drain.
So looking for advice, to i have a ground fault? do i start to pull fuses or check my earthing points or maybe water got in on them?

Thanks for any tips / advice.

 

[Aidan]

which engine do you have ?

[NoobyNiall]

1.7 Diesel 

[Aidan]

afaicr the only relay in a JX engine bay is the glowplug relay which is ignition fed
the wiring diagram is HERE

[NoobyNiall]

Thanks Aidan, would you also have the change over relay circuit?

[Aidan]

change over relay ? que ?

I don't really do Diesel

[ZsZ]

By default the factory black junction box has two relays on a JX. One bigger one, the glow plug relay - which is a control unit, not a standard relay - and one small relay for the aux coolant pump.

Both circuits have battery feed so when they fail closed they can drain your battery.

A NA diesel has only the glow plug relay IIRC.

There is no standard 70A relay by factory.
Try to post a pic of the junction box which relay you are talking about.

[firetrader]

Just a quick question regarding this issue as I notice there are multiple posts on vehicle battery drains. (By the way I am not an expert so views gratefully received). I recently tidied up my wiring around my leisure battery and found my split charge relay, it had a fuse within it which had blown so I replaced it. Since then, it may be a coincidence, but my vehicle battery is needing a charge up every 10 days or so when its about 33% depleted when its not been running. I wonder whether this is a coincidence or is related? I have a multimeter, is there some quick simple tests I can do to investigate? I guess first of all I should run the engine and take a reading on the leisure battery (lithium)to see if its receiving a charge via the relay to see if its working or not? My understanding is the reading should go up a little over 13 volts? But obviously a slight increase from the norm? Then is there any other way to check with the engine off, would pulling the replaced fuse in the split charge relay for a week when the vans not running be a good test just to see if the vehicle battery is keeping its charge better? 

[Cecil]

If that is a voltage sensing relay as apposed to an alternator triggered relay you have for your split charge system then it may not behave correctly if you have it connected to a lithium leisure battery.

Just a quick question regarding this issue as I notice there are multiple posts on vehicle battery drains. (By the way I am not an expert so views gratefully received). I recently tidied up my wiring around my leisure battery and found my split charge relay, it had a fuse within it which had blown so I replaced it. Since then, it may be a coincidence, but my vehicle battery is needing a charge up every 10 days or so when its about 33% depleted when its not been running. I wonder whether this is a coincidence or is related? I have a multimeter, is there some quick simple tests I can do to investigate? I guess first of all I should run the engine and take a reading on the leisure battery (lithium)to see if its receiving a charge via the relay to see if its working or not? My understanding is the reading should go up a little over 13 volts? But obviously a slight increase from the norm? Then is there any other way to check with the engine off, would pulling the replaced fuse in the split charge relay for a week when the vans not running be a good test just to see if the vehicle battery is keeping its charge better?

[clift_d]

You need to check that you’ve got the right kind of split charge relay fitted for your wiring setup - if you have a wiring diagram of your setup that would help. For example, Westfalia campers tend to have a different relay to many standard setups as it connects the vehicle battery to the mains charger when the van is connected to a hookup - that relay is a Durite 0-727-32.

It could be that your blown fuse has been keeping the vehicle battery isolated from your leisure battery when the vehicle is switched off and that now you’ve “fixed” the fuse a possible incorrect relay is allowing something on your leisure circuit to drain the vehicle battery - we’ve previously found the original diesel heater in our Westy was drawing current when everything else was off.

[hotpod]

The question then is how is your leisure battery? Does it get much use? is it mysteriously better now all of a sudden? Does it even work?

[firetrader]

Many thanks ,its a new lithium battery , works great, with a genius smart charger,will have a go it removing the fuse from the split charger as I am registering no flow from it anyway when running the vehicle. Worth a go to see the result I feel.