Battery drain....?

[keith]

Too much rain to look properly....but this is what happened in the 10 mins i was out there

Mm on batery side ....stabilised for a few mins now reads 0.15 to 0.16 when set to 10 amps dc.

Taking out the radio fuse drops it to 0.13.

Turning the radio on ...with the fuse back in and it goes up to 0.7


Im sure if the sun ever came out then i wouldnt notice anything as my s panel would make up the loss ...with some spare.
But at the moment i suspect a 24 hr a day draw.....not driving it enough and zero light from the sky makes my battery flat in a week.

[CJH]

That result is with the tracker off.....i think. ( battery backup switched to off)

Switching the battery backup to OFF just means that when the vehicle power to the tracker is cut then the tracker's internal battery will no longer keep the tracker going. It should normally be left in the ON position so that if someone steals your van and disconnects your vehicle battery your tracker should continue to work for a few hours.

So if that's all you've done to turn it off then it'll still be the cause of a chunk of your current drain. I've seen readings of around 50-55mA in steady state. To take the tracker out of the circuit you need to disconnect the power from the vehicle battery - either pull the multiplug out of the unit or just remove the fuse in the live line. If you want the tracker to keep operating while you do this, switch the battery backup switch back to ON.

[keith]

Thanks chris....makes sense

[keith]

It was the tracker....

0.14 to 0.15 with it connected.

Zero with it disconnected.

Any ideas as to why its that thirsty......that is with a flat tracker battery though....

[CJH]

With a flat internal tracker battery I'd guess that the current draw will be higher while it recharges it from the external power source. As a test you could try switching the backup battery to off - I would think that will probably take it out of the circuit and stop it charging, but it's also possible it will leave the charging circuit engaged and just set a logic state to tell the tracker not to use the backup battery for power. So that test may not prove anything.

That's quite a high current draw if it's not the charging circuit. Do I remember you saying you've got an external shock sensor? I wonder if that draws any current.

[CJH]

As a test you could try switching the backup battery to off ....

Oh wait - you did that already. My money's on the shock sensor then (at least until you tell me you haven't got one of those).

[greasemonkey]

I checked mine recently and it was 130mA (also with tracker) so not far off your readings, so probably about right once the trackers battery is charged up.

Think it's just something you have to accept with trackers. Mines on leisure battery though, so with the leisure also wired into fuse 3 the draw on the sarter is effectively zero.

[keith]

Thanks for the info chaps....might reroute mine to the starter battery.....either that or pray for lots of sun in January

[keith]

I do have a shock sensor too......might try it without that connected and remeasure.

[kevtherev]

I too have discovered this issue.
I aim to employ the Dax's motorcycle battery instead of the trackers battery.
But this is just diverting the issue.
I see it as payment for having peace of mind

[keith]

I have a few good 12 volt mini batteries Kev.....from burglar alarm systems...brand new if you want one.

Would your plan be to take it out and recharge it every couple of weeks ?

[CJH]

I see it as payment for having peace of mind

I agree. And with a solar panel in place it's only a problem for a few months - for the rest of the year the panel easily keeps up with the current draw.

Would your plan be to take it out and recharge it every couple of weeks ?

How big is a motorcycle battery? 10AH? It won't last a couple of weeks if it's being used as the main supply for the tracker. If the tracker's drawing 150mA then that's 3.6AH in a day. The motorcycle battery would be all but flat after two days. If you hook it up via a split charger then you'll need to drive the van every couple of days to keep it charged. Of course, that's assuming you're going to use the motorcycle battery as the main power supply. If you want to leave a vehicle battery as the main supply but use the motorcycle battery as a replacement for the internal lithium battery, then I think you'd need a DC-DC converter - I don't think the lithium battery is 12V (I could be wrong, I haven't checked, but I think it's the same sort of spec as a phone battery). And if the voltage isn't the same, then the tracker's internal charging circuitry won't charge the motorcycle battery.

So having rambled on, maybe I finally get what you're planning:
- Hide a small motorcycle battery somewhere in the van.
- Connect it up with a split charger so it gets topped up whenever the vehicle battery is being charged (e.g. alternator, solar).
- Connect a DC-DC converter so that the output of the motorcycle battery matches the tracker's internal lithium battery and can be used as a big replacement for that lithium battery.

So now the tracker will continue to run off it's main power source (the vehicle battery), but if that goes flat (or is disconnected by a thief) the tracker will still operate for a couple of days off the motorcycle battery (and keep in mind it'll send you a text when the main supply dies).

I'm not sure what effect the tracker's charging voltage will have on the output of the DC-DC converter - probably nothing. Perhaps Ghost can answer that one. And would you replace the internal lithium battery, or put both in parallel? If they're in parallel, I think there'd be a risk of that lithium cell being damaged by overcharging (from the motorcycle battery) and that could end in tears (i.e. 'flames').

[syncroandy]

I would be looking at the device itself as that current seems high for a device like that on standby, is it within the published spec ? It may be better to simply replace it after purchasing one with lower power consumption.

[keith]

Too complex for me....

[keith]

Does anyone operate their tk103 in sleep mode ?.....supposed to half the battery consumption.