Battery problem

[rum4mo]

Well, 4 months on, my late 2009 Ibiza is still behaving itself after finally being given a BCM J519 software update/patch, even leaving it at the local airport for 9.5 days worked out okay as it started fine when we returned from a break in Italy.

 

One trick it did have under its sleeve was, on the way to the airport, it suffered a broken front driver's side road spring, still okay enough to get us there and back, but it did cause me a bit of concern when under pressure to make it to the airport!

 

Anyway Clunkclick, any new news on your car's problems?

Edited 15 May, 2017 by rum4mo

[AndyPandy]

There are DC Current reading Clamp meters around now that are quite capable of reading 50mA on the maximum 4A full scale range, with jaws capable of clamping on a 30mm cable,and they dont need to be a Fluke. I much prefer this type of  meter rather than trying to 'stab' the +ve battery post,and hold it steady for 20 minutes.On a multimeter,it is very easy to blow the 200mA meter fuse on current ranges lower than the 10A max range,which is no fused.Also a multimeter resistance on its lower current ranges is quite high,which can give inaccurate readings.A DC clamp meter does not add any series resistance in use.By using a Clamp meter you can watch the current drain over an hour if you wish,and turn loads on and off.

Edited 16 May, 2017 by AndyPandy

[sepulchrave]

56 minutes ago, AndyPandy said:

There are DC Current reading Clamp meters around now that are quite capable of reading 50mA on the maximum 4A full scale range, with jaws capable of clamping on a 30mm cable,and they dont need to be a Fluke. I much prefer this type of  meter rather than trying to 'stab' the +ve battery post,and hold it steady for 20 minutes.On a multimeter,it is very easy to blow the 200mA meter fuse on current ranges lower than the 10A max range,which is no fused.Also a multimeter resistance on its lower current ranges is quite high,which can give inaccurate readings.A DC clamp meter does not add any series resistance in use.By using a Clamp meter you can watch the current drain over an hour if you wish,and turn loads on and off.

 

Are you completely nuts, a decent quality Fluke Clamp meter only has a resolution of 100mA at 1000V DC, this extrapolates to 1A at 100V DC or 10A at 10V DC. Frankly I'd be surprised if you'd even see anything on the display. I know my RS Isotech clamp meter says 0.01 which means "There's something there, but I haven't a clue what it is". If we're talking mains AC voltages then a clamp starts to make sense and resolution is decent because the EMF is actually strong enough to induce current flow in the clamp, with DC you're relying on inducing a tiny voltage which is just too small unless there's decent current flowing.

[Breezy_Pete]

I have a feeling you two have had this argument before, possibly even in this thread.  No way I can be bothered wading through page after page of Nick's mental drool to check though.

Edited 16 May, 2017 by Wino

[sepulchrave]

12 minutes ago, Wino said:

I have a feeling you two have had this argument before, possibly even in this thread.  No way I can be bothered wading through page after page of Nick's mental drool to check though.

 

Possibly, he started it though with a pretty outrageous claim of stupendous accuracy from a low-quality clamp meter.

 

I want you to imagine the scale of the EMF emanating from a 12VDC wire with 50mA running through it, the cosmic background radiation is more detectable, neutrinos are more easily detected, we're talking science fiction levels of sensitivity without any shielding, just a bloke with his arse hanging out of his trousers waistband bending over a car engine bay with a cheap Chinese clamp meter trying to figure out if his alarm is drawing 50mA or 100mA.

 

Insanity, this thread is a magnet for drooling insanity.

[rum4mo]

Ha, maybe I should have left this alone!

 

Over on a SEAT forum, someone is having trouble with a rear hatch lock, and was wondering if wrong fuse rating fitted to his car could be causing this problem, I had to point out that the wrong fuse ratings were a red herring and all down to SEAT printing rubbish in their owner's manual as my daughter's late 2009 Ibiza has the same "wrong" fuse values as he had plus another in 8 fuse positions, typical VW Group "oops sorry" - maybe safer if they made the statement that VW use in the current Polo owners handbook "talk to your local dealership"!

 

Edit:- this thread has made it to 11 pages though, though maybe the end is in sight?

Edited 16 May, 2017 by rum4mo