2 minutes ago, sepulchrave said:

How does this CAN thing fit in with the failed windows and the changed door loom?

It doesn't, if it is that then they are red herrings

2 minutes ago, sepulchrave said:

Why doesn't the OP get these slow punctures repaired?

His choice

2 minutes ago, sepulchrave said:

Why not just disconnect the radio, put the fuses back in and see if the problem continues?

a logical step beyond removing the fuse and will prove it decisively.

my car has a history of slow punctures, I think it must be the wheels as there is no sign of  punctures as such.

I don't know if the windows have stopped working because the battery has been low, will put the fuse back in for them tomorrow.

I will disconnect the radio at the weekend and put the fuse back in and see what happens.

Windows don't stop working because the battery is low, they just slow down a bit.

Slow punctures like that are usually bad valves.

my tyres are not the issue, I only mentioned that I had been using a tyre inflator more than you normally would.

so if a low battery wouldn't stop the windows working maybe I have a short in the passenger door loom that I fitted.

22 minutes ago, craigsvrs said:

my tyres are not the issue, I only mentioned that I had been using a tyre inflator more than you normally would.

so if a low battery wouldn't stop the windows working maybe I have a short in the passenger door loom that I fitted.

 

Unplug the passenger door loom and see if the drain persists.

Will do

I am 110% sure the problem is the head unit that was not installed properly.

I will take the head unit out and have a look, ta.

hi all,

 

just found out that the guy that has fitted the head unit also fitted a parking brake bypass to allow videos to be shown when driving.

it is supposed to be wired to the handbrake somehow according to manual.

would this trick the car into thinking it needs permanent power?

going to remove it at the weekend as I only listen to music in the car.

My car has an aftermarket alarm fitted which draws about 50mA with the alarm turned on or off,that is why in my case I quoted 150mA!. The amount of current  being taken by the fault will not be in the 15mA {or 4mA to 20mA)  range.We are not trying to find an exact  very low current .Therefore a  'Cheap' DC clamp meter will be able to show a useful reading allowing us to investigate further!  As an example an interior light will take 0.5A when left on.

Having worked for a UK Instrument Company my view on Fluke hasn't changed.Very much overpriced, paying for the name.The electronics inside will be like any other meter.

I thought the purpose of this forum is to help each other.Unfortunately  there are members who  have forgotten this,and like to voice there opinion,and correct other members  almost on every post.

 

 

Edited 31 January, 20206 yr by AndyPandy

I am not voicing this to correct you Andy but to share knowledge and inform you should you choose to take it on board together with all the other contributions.

 

By chance I have just spent the afternoon measuring the parasitic drain from my 2006 Octavia with an aftermarket head unit and updated Canbus gateway, it did initially have discharge problems, I thought I had corrected them but wanted to double check as the battery has been damaged along the way.

 

I started with the meter on the 200ma range with the car locked, bonnet catch microswitch closed by screwdriver and battery lead removed, the initial current exceeded the 200ma range so I used the 10 amp range, sure enough it dropped back to around 40ma after a few minutes but that was hard to read on the 10 amp range.

 

So I laid the battery clamp on the battery post to make the connection, connected my test leads to the clamp and the battery using the 200ma range and waited, removed the clamp after a few minutes and it was drawing +/- 40ma, left it like that for a couple of hours and checked it regularly, it fell off to around 28-30 ma but the readout was constantly fluctuating between the two figures, perhaps the rain sensor or the ultrasonic alarm sensor.

 

So I would say your target is around 30ma and not the 15ma I stated, I could not recall what the exact figure was (VAG say less than 40ma) and had assumed that your 150ma was a typo.

 

I can see that your aftermarket alarm is adding a very significant current drain, perhaps it too will drop off after a while? My vehicle initially had an additional 17ma (if my memory serves me) discharge from the trailer wiring relay which Wino kindly advised me about.

 

Let me know how succesfull you are with the clamp meter and what range it is set to, VAG speak of using a specific workshop clamp meter but I would guess its a very expensive one, for me I found that the 10 amp range of my directly series connected meter could only indicate to the nearest 10ma but that would certainly be enough for finding loads like the interior light or your alarm.

 

I would be very interested to know if a cheap DC clamp meter can really accurately sense this level of current as I would buy one, doing my testing today I have lost the long range fuel consumption figures from the maxidot and the trip meter which I would not have done by using a clamp meter.

 

I am sorry that you percieved my posting as criticism or correction, I am pretty sure I asked you if it was a typo, it was only intended to help and inform you and others as is this posting, all I can do is try and be clearer.

I wasnt able to see your original posting while composing my reply but have gone back a page to read it again:

 

You will need to leave the meter connected ,and allow 10 minutes for the alarm,widows,etc to go to sleep. Normal lowest current drain is  up to about 150 mA ( 0.0015 Amps)

 

I can see why I thought you had made a typo, your figure in brackets of 0.0015 amps is 1.5 milliamps and not 150 milliamps, I knew that it was too low so thought you meant 15 milliamps because with the greatest of respect and please dont take this the wrong way normal lowest current drain should be up to 40ma (50ma for the Phaeton) and not 150ma, if its that high even with your extra alarm you will have very little autonomy.

quick update,

I removed the head unit to take out the handbrake bypass and left it out for a couple of days, I had replaced the fuses for the windows.

up till now there has been very little battery drain, so it must be either the handbrake bypass or the head unit to blame.

windows still don't work, pulled fuses out and replaced, passenger side will work until you switch ignition off.

I have checked wiring in bellows, all ok. it looks like I will have to bite the bullet and buy a new drivers motor/ecu unit. £163 = vat from TPS!!!!!!

During last spell of really cold days I was using my heated seats and blowers on max for the 5 mile drive to work and the same on the way home. After about a week both my front windows stopped working. I swapped fuses around, but no joy. 

 

Went on a long drive to go away with the wife at Christmas and they worked every now and again. 
 

Since the weather has changed they’ve stopped playing funny (likewise, I’ve stopped the high consumption of electric) and they’ve not missed a beat since. 
 

Not sure if it’s related to the high battery drain, but I have read a suggestion that it’s possible??

thanks for that.

 

I have had my battery on charge overnight, windows still not working.

Fairly sure that it will be the head unit, you will know when you reconnect it.

 

If it is that then changing the canbus gateway to a leter revision number will stop the battery drain.

how easy is it to replace it?

which one do I need?

Search the forum via Google and you will find all the info, I cant recall the revision numbers, I have the old one so could tell you what not to fit 😀

 

If you have VCDS then it will give you the part number and revision status, you then search Ebay using the part number and only consider the ones with the revision letter needed or later.

 

Mine was tucked under dash, easy to remove & replace, I coded the new one with VCDS but have perennial error codes stored where it cant find the old radio (no surprise) but also cant find things which were never fitted like Bluetooth which must be an error in my programming.

 

Everything works and the standby discharge is now an acceptable 28-30 milliamperes

In a mk1 Fabia the gateway is a submodule on the same circuit board as the onboard supply control unit (often referred to as BCM). As such it can't be swapped out other than by replacing the whole module. I'm not sure whether these circuits play up on a mk1 Fabia. 

 

While you have the headunit out, can you take some photos of the wiring?

In the factory loom there are two permanent 12V feeds, and one feed that is switched on/off by the ignition key being inserted/withdrawn from the barrel. Getting these all correctly wired into an aftermarket unit may be where things have gone wrong.  If you go to the Fabia Guides section there's a sticky thread about the OEM wiring of the radio connections; check against that to see what you have.  

will take some photos tomorrow.

 

head unit never turned on without key in ignition though, as It was first fitted with the wiring the  "other" way round. i.e. it wouldn't hold station memory.

wiring diagram of head unit states that positive wiring may need to be reversed on different vehicles.

Wino to the rescue once again!

 

Please disregard my comments and follow Winos advice, thankfully it sounds like your vehicle is simpler and does not have the complications that later ones do and hopefully will be simpler to resolve.

 

I did initially try to resolve my problems by re-assigning 12v feeds but it was having none of it

On 28/01/2020 at 22:51, sepulchrave said:

Windows don't stop working because the battery is low, they just slow down a bit.

Slow punctures like that are usually bad valves.

Slow windows- in mine it's tired old limbs 😁

Could be bad valves- try removing cap, place bit of spit over valve hole and look for bubble. If bubble it could be bad valve or the unwanted attention of the local clever kid - look for slice of matchstick or similar. if not, it could be ( especially on alloys), muck on the seals. Easy way to check is ( once you are certain there's no problems with tread)to get tin of tyre gunk , apply a little and check for problems. if they go , consider if it's worth having tyres taken off and inner wall cleaned and sealed  as the gunk is only said to last for a short distance. .

battery drain looks like it was connected to radio video bypass as I took the bypass out and it now seems ok.

fitted new window motor/ecu and windows are now working again, just need to set them up.

On 28/01/2020 at 16:39, sepulchrave said:

 

You are basically correct, DC clamp meters use the hall effect rather than AC induction but they are much too expensive to be a DIY tool and they simply won't reliably measure such small quiescent currents unless you buy a REALLY expensive one and have it calibrated regularly.

I've made this point before and faced substantial argument so I've given up trying.

 

If you have given up trying why have you posted??

 

2 minutes ago, AndyPandy said:

 

If you have given up trying why have you posted??

 

 

Because duff advice clouds the issue, when contributors insist on making it a binary issue of right or wrong they do the thread a dis-service instead of correctly focusing upon a realistic solution.

Nobody here has such an expensive DC current clamp available for diagnosis, certainly not the OP so the advice needs to reflect that.

I'm trying not to be argumentative.