Battery drain cured

[superbdreams]

You will find plenty of topics where I berate the superbs ability to keep power in the battery.

Mine has been appalling from new and has had plenty of visits to the main dealer who never cured it.

 

By chance I seem to have. Two months back I upgraded the firmware on the Columbus and have not had to jump start the car once since that.

 

I have even tried to flatten it and still it has survived.

It is a shame you have to use firmware that allows VIM but a small price to pay to have a reliable car..after all I don't have to have the tv on whilst driving.

[Razzertrevor]

Just been to my car this morning flat battery it's a mystery on charge at the moment a real head scratcher 

[chimaera]

On 20/7/2017 at 20:43, superbdreams said:

You will find plenty of topics where I berate the superbs ability to keep power in the battery.

Mine has been appalling from new and has had plenty of visits to the main dealer who never cured it.

 

By chance I seem to have. Two months back I upgraded the firmware on the Columbus and have not had to jump start the car once since that.

 

I have even tried to flatten it and still it has survived.

It is a shame you have to use firmware that allows VIM but a small price to pay to have a reliable car..after all I don't have to have the tv on whilst driving.

 

Are you able to share what firmware you used?

[Razzertrevor]

The only thing I used now I remember is the heated front seats it's the only second time I have used them 

[Razzertrevor]

Is there any apps available to see if I have a a electrical problem 

[superbdreams]

unfortunately my battery has flattened itself this twice week so either it was a massive co incidence or perhaps the firmware is corrupting.

I can think of no other change (apart from a new phone) that could have caused it.

 

Read posts by rustynuts to locate the correct firmware for your Columbus.

[CombatWombat]

If you don't already have a digital voltmeter and don't mind spending £28 on getting one, this has a DC current clamp that will help in finding how much the battery is draining, whilst you remove fuses etc. to isolate circuits.  That is assuming that you are looking whilst the drain is actually happening - i.e. not intermittent.  You can do all this with a normal DVM, but you have to fit that in series with the cable, then remove it when you've finished (and before you try to start the car - which will massively overload it).  You don't have to concern yourself about that with the one in the link.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/UNI-T-UT210E-Current-Meters-Capacitance/dp/B00O1Q2HOQ

 

The current clamp allows you to measure what is going into and out of of the battery without having to disturb any connections.  You  fit the clamp (about the size of your thumb and forefinger closed) around the battery cable.

 

You are looking at a drain of about 50 milliamps when everything is turned off, as being OK.

Edited 14 November, 2017 by CombatWombat

[superbdreams]

On ‎13‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 15:10, chimaera said:

 

Are you able to share what firmware you used?

I used RNS510-5274-C6-josi

But of course I checked that this one one was compatible with the rns model fitted.

Moot point as it turned out not to be a long term fix.

there are sites that list which firmwares can be applied to which units and the saviour "rustynuts" knows everything!

[superbdreams]

On ‎14‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 10:21, CombatWombat said:

If you don't already have a digital voltmeter and don't mind spending £28 on getting one, this has a DC current clamp that will help in finding how much the battery is draining, whilst you remove fuses etc. to isolate circuits.  That is assuming that you are looking whilst the drain is actually happening - i.e. not intermittent.  You can do all this with a normal DVM, but you have to fit that in series with the cable, then remove it when you've finished (and before you try to start the car - which will massively overload it).  You don't have to concern yourself about that with the one in the link.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/UNI-T-UT210E-Current-Meters-Capacitance/dp/B00O1Q2HOQ

 

The current clamp allows you to measure what is going into and out of of the battery without having to disturb any connections.  You  fit the clamp (about the size of your thumb and forefinger closed) around the battery cable.

 

You are looking at a drain of about 50 milliamps when everything is turned off, as being OK.

Yes I am aware of these and your information  "50 Ma " is helpful (quite sure mine draws more) but I would also need to know current draw against time figures.

for example, I would expect there to be  higher draw for some minutes after locking and dropping to the lower level after period X

I have a slight memory of seeing this information somewhere but I don't recall where.

 

Most posts about this problem point to the Columbus so I am debating fitting a power switch inline so I can easily turn it off when parked.

 

[Nedge68]

You should follow wombatcombats advice, I have done the same to my in laws car once and found a faulty door lock motor, the electrical systems are so complicated you need to narrow the fault down.

[superbdreams]

I have done a lot more research on this as the problem became intolerable.

The correct way is to measure the voltage drop across each fuse and there is a chart available to convert the voltage drop against fuse type which will tell you the ampage drain.

Of course you need to con the car into thinking the doors are closed and you need to wait two hours for all modules to shut down.

There are some excellent videos linked to from the vcds site so I wont repeat all the info here.

 

One day I will find the reason / fault but right now I am of the mind that disconnecting the battery completely and reconnecting is enough to cure the fault for quite some time.

Three weeks ago I put the original battery back on that was removed at 8 months use and kept trickle charged. At the time of removal the car was draining all the time.

Right now the car is starting perfectly and I am even leaving climatronic, auto lights and auto wipers on to stress the system more.

Hence my opinion that a complete removal of power has reset something.

 

[Nedge68]

You will really struggle to work it out this way the voltage drops will be very difficult to measure you will also need the circuit resistance to calculate the current using ohm’s law.

[superbdreams]

You measure each fuse of known value and of course you know the maximum and with an intermittent you can find the quiescent value often enough.

With a canbus monitored circuit you are going to see a drain (tiny as detailed in the videos) so it will be very evident when you find one that is drawing more.

Any parasitic drain finding is going to be time consuming by its very nature but if you watch the videos you will see how this method is the most effective and precludes the need to break into the circuits.

[Nedge68]

Are you using VCDS to give the current reading?

Unfortunately I don’t have VCDS, I have a multimeter and an electrical engineering background.

[Breezy_Pete]

There are published tables giving mV across each value of each size of fuse per A or mA of current. This is the basis of the method.

Go here:

 

[superbdreams]

18 hours ago, Nedge68 said:

Are you using VCDS to give the current reading?

Unfortunately I don’t have VCDS, I have a multimeter and an electrical engineering background.

No just a multimeter

search for "humble mechanic parasitic draw test"

Should be a doddle with your background,

[SuperbTWM]

18 hours ago, Wino said:

There are published tables giving mV across each value of each size of fuse per A or mA of current. This is the basis of the method.

Go here:

 

This is by far the easiest and best way IMO. I wouldn't do it any other way after finding that TSB a few years ago

[chimaera]

So for those of you who have carried out that test, which systems were causing the excessive current draw?

[SuperbTWM]

12 minutes ago, chimaera said:

So for those of you who have carried out that test, which systems were causing the excessive current draw?

 

Dodgy aftermarket stereo

[Nedge68]

I have had a look at the “parasititic draw” video, it is very interesting, but it does mean your fuses have to have exposed contact points.  Bear in mind you will need a good meter and test probes the fluke used will set you back the best part of £200. I haven’t had to use this method before as the cars I have diagnosed have been much older, but I may use this method in the future.

[Breezy_Pete]

Fuses are rather cheap if bought in reasonable quantity, easy to convert to contact point types if they aren't already.

I use a £25-30 test meter with no difficulty.

You don't need high accuracy, as you're just looking for something taking current when you expect it to be taking little or none. The exact number doesn't matter. Virtually any meter with 3½ digits or more (i.e. 0-199.9), and a 200mV dc range should do.

 

The only tricky bit with this method is to make sure that access to the fusebox isn't causing something to be awake, e.g. because the driver's door has to be open to get there. May need to make allowances for this and expect some things to be more awake than in the ideal test scenario.

 

 

[DEL80Y]

9 minutes ago, Wino said:

 

 

The only tricky bit with this method is to make sure that access to the fusebox isn't causing something to be awake, e.g. because the driver's door has to be open to get there.

 

If I do this sort of test I lock the doors closed while they are open with screwdrivers used to close the catches.
I could lock the bonnet with a screwdriver on my old Superb 1 never had to do it to a 11 so dont know if it can be done

[Breezy_Pete]

Neat idea.

[jim_d]

On 20/07/2017 at 20:43, superbdreams said:

You will find plenty of topics where I berate the superbs ability to keep power in the battery.

Mine has been appalling from new and has had plenty of visits to the main dealer who never cured it.

 

By chance I seem to have. Two months back I upgraded the firmware on the Columbus and have not had to jump start the car once since that.

 

I have even tried to flatten it and still it has survived.

It is a shame you have to use firmware that allows VIM but a small price to pay to have a reliable car..after all I don't have to have the tv on whilst driving.

this is really useful info, thank you for sharing this. i will give this a go. have MkII superb and it is a FANTASTIC vehicle. bought it last week. smooth, high MPG acres of space, but keeps draining the battery. alternator seems OK, battery is brand new. i will give the firmware upgrade a go.

[bigjohn]

If bought a week ago - can't you take it back to be sorted?