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Lupo Battery Drain Ideas???


eyechronic
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cool thanks i`ll have another look and see if i can get it removed to see if that stops the drain, it is on an arosa tdi s so could be different but the symptoms sound exactly the same even down to the timings of the drain,

also it has had a auto electrician look at it for a couple of days and he found the drain was mainly on the central locking circuit, which when this fuse was removed did help the problem, but not cure it, we had another look on the fuse board and i think 26 had a picture of snowflake, window and key, which i assume could be the ccm so i`ll try that next although with it removed it just stopped the electric windows.

thanks again

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The drain reduced from I think it was 50mA to about 10mA with the fuse removed. I didn't run the car with the fuse out though.

The auto elec removed the fuse and said drain was reduced significantly but not enough to make the battery last for 24 hrs.

I was wondering if removal of the CCM unit would cause the existing drain to go completely. In other words something within the CCM is still being powered by another fuse and thus the faulty CCM is still draining the battery even with it's main fuse removed?

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I left the car for a week with the CCM removed completely and the battery lasted the whole time. The CCM controls the electric windows, remote central locking all that sort of stuff but for a new unit to be fitted the remotes have to be reprogrammed as well. There was a siginificant drop when the fuse was out but there was still a drain. With the new module in place there is no drain at all.

Hope that helps you. If there is anything else feel free to ask it might take a while to repsond though as I'm an electrician so driving around quite a bit from job to job :)

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I find it very hard to believe there is no drain at all on the battery when the car is off.

50ma is about right for the lupo. If you think of the capacity of a battery, 50ma is going to do sod all over 18 hours. you will find that the alarm/immobiliser/central locking uses about 40ma. If it had no power going to it, it wouldn't sense you trying to open the car, i would think that it was more of a window switch/ccm unit issue, but thats my guess.

Most standard car batteries are rated in the region of 30Ah, which is in theory 30 amps for a hour, 3 amps for 10 hours, 300ma for 100 hours, or 30ma for 1000 hours. so with that 50ma drain your battery at a complete guess should be lasting 850hours which is 35 days.

Now robgti has this issue and his battery was lasting a few days then it would be dead, same sort of symptoms that was mentioned as in this thread.

What we found was that the cable from the alternator had been touching the exhaust and eventually melted through the insulation to the core cable, this was touching the manifold and was discharging the battery. It made a small hole in the manifold too! and it wasnt really that noticeable.

Also the sense wiring to the voltage regulator, was melted through and had no continuity this would also lead to battery drain issues.

Just something to help other people if they experience this issue. If its solved you problem john then that great.

John

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Everything you listed is a possibility and believe me I went down all those routes before ending up at the CCM, however this was definitely what caused the problem 100%.

The CCM is a passive device and yes you are correct there will be some type of drain to run say the Clock in the car however it may be minuscule and not showing on my multimeter. The CCM draining the battery is common on other VWs such as Golfs and Passats. I went through through an exhaustive list as you can probably see throughout this thread so it's not like I just plucked it out the air.

And your calculations on Battery life (Which coincidentally most batteries are more like 50Ah upwards) etc - I have been there worked it out and got a big T shirt saying it. But the drain before the CCM was changed meant it was lasting for 18 Hours the Drain after means I can leave the car for 2 weeks and it still starts OK. I can tell you there was no Window Switches changed so words like '50mA over 18 hours is sod all' is a little bit disrespectful to a thread which was only kept up to help others with similar problems. I certainly don't go into your build threads and make blaise comments about your supercharger builds etc.

Sorry if that seems a bit harsh but end of the day it's an informative thread and whilst the majority of your post gives others indications of what else to look for the first part just seems a bit off and makes out like I know FA.

Edited by John West Bear
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Where did i say you know FA? Think you might have got the wrong end of the stick by the way i write some things, it seems a few people do. No biggie.

50mA drain from a battery over 18 hours is sod all though, a three cell block of AA batteries can sustain longer than that. If that sort of information is going to be in a thread readers who don't know much need to know its not a big drain. I would be more concerned if it was 5 amps, as that would make more sense to 18 hours flat.

My car with the emerald fitted drained 80mA in the off position, 2 weeks and the car could still be started.

The CCM holds the memory for the auto window functions, i was not talking about the switches. maybe there was a problem with your CCM memory that caused the drain, if the window doesn't think its all the way up it could keep the motor energised?

Now you can choose how to read that post, but i mean no "disrespect" laugh.gif

John

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thanks for the help guys, its very strange that the problems are pretty much identical to johns even down to the timings that the battery depletes and the difference with the fuse out, i am going to remove my ccm tomorrow if i get the chance before work and see what that does,

thanks again

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 6 months later...

HI MATT THANKS FOR THE ADVICE, DO YOU KNOW IF ALL 2003 LUPOS HAVE A BLACK BOX ON TOP OF BATTERY WITH 3 FUSES INSIDE OF BATTERY ? IM GONNA BUY A NEW BATTERY THIS WEEK BECAUSE IVE NEVER HEARD OF AN ALTERNATER GOING WITHOUTH BEING DRIVEN AND JUST BEING CHARGED TO KEEP IT TICKING OVER ONCE A WEEK,, REGARDS MATT, JOHN....

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  • 7 months later...

Good post guys, hope all is well, i have an alternator problem here a 1.0L on a 03 plate.Battery don't hold a charge for 2 days ,it was in the garage for last year in a half, but always started once a week, the battery light wasn't coming on at ignition now its coming on when driving and flattens battery after a a day or 2 ? AA guy passing said brushes can seize on them give it a thump with a bit of wood lol. any ideas why it wouldn't come on at ignition and it comes on when i start it ? I need help guys and would a 1.4 s lupo alternator fit as i have the chance of 1 , put a new battery in and flattened that too. any ideas guys ?????

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  • 7 years later...

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