[Khranok]

I am experiencing a drain on my battery at the moment, sometimes killing my battery over night. I have narrowed it down to my roof mounted spot lamps. I have re-sleeved all the wires behind the switch on the dash and it's still draining. Where is the most common place to start? The wiring job behind the actual lights looks a little shabby.

 

[major truma 2]

its most like , how its been wired ,ie how much cable have u got from battery to light bar

have u put two wire from posative to the switch
in short the best thing to do is put a switch on the seat box , to break the circuit from the battery to your other switch , this will stop your battery from draining

 

[Khranok]

It was fine a couple months ago, after my engine died a month back and I got it replaced it has been bleeding from every orifice and causing me no end of problems. The battery died as it was on my drive and has not been right since.

Unfortunately I have an alarm fitted so can't turn off the battery while parked up.

To be fair the battery drain is probably a completely seperate problem from my engine dieing, pretty are it's then spot lamps though, had them disconnected for a week, had no trouble. Reconnected them after fitting some new hid lights and it goes flat first night.

its most like , how its been wired ,ie how much cable have u got from battery to light bar

have u put two wire from posative to the switch
in short the best thing to do is put a switch on the seat box , to break the circuit from the battery to your other switch , this will stop your battery from draining

 

[major truma 2]

sorry mate i did not make it clear ,
the switch is to the spots only , install the switch on the spot light feed from the battery , mount it on the seat box
the reason for the drain could be the amount of wire you have from the battery to the spots or spot switch ,

 

[Khranok]

Thanks for the suggestion I will do that if I can't find a fault in the wires, I have a few things up to that battery, winch, lamps and alarm

sorry mate i did not make it clear ,
the switch is to the spots only , install the switch on the spot light feed from the battery , mount it on the seat box
the reason for the drain could be the amount of wire you have from the battery to the spots or spot switch ,

 

[major truma 2]

have you got a isolater on you winch ? if not that will cause battery drain
good luck anyway and remember land rover is a way of life , and just as complex
enjoy it while it works
love it when it don't

 

[jai_landrover]

You have a wiring issue its wired wrong it needs sorting Fitting a switch as suggested is kinda like trying to make a chocolate kettle work by turning the gas off.

it must have a faulty component or is wired wrongly. Best be would be to remove the live from the battery until you have time to sort it once and for all.

 

[jai_landrover]

Do you have a decent rating DVM? Can you pull the battery live off and measure the Amperage assuming its not a massive current draw (most meters are rated at 10A max)

Check the raring its taking while sitting idle, then remove each accesory wire you have fitted one at a time until you find the source of the main current draw. if you have door activated interior lights then they may affect your readings. May I suggest you start with the lamps you mention.

 

[mundungus]

I'd go down the same lines as Jai_landrover.

Another good way of narrowing things down is to make sure everything is switched off. Pull each fuse, one by one, and whilst the fuse is out, put your DVM across the terminals (in DC current measuring mode) to see what circuits are drawing current. Obviously this only will detect faulty things that are on those fuses though. If you have a lot of additonal wiring modifications that aren't fused by the fusebox, the Jai's way will help you narrow those down.

 

[Khranok]

Looks like I may have to get a new battery, not even enough juice in it to trickle charge it and that was only over one night, I drive it fairly regularly.

Don't fancy jump starting it, already blown my old HID kit once doing that!

 

[mundungus]

Looks like I may have to get a new battery, not even enough juice in it to trickle charge it

What do you mean? Is your charger one that turns itself off if there's not enough juice in the battery it trying to charge. Or your trickle charge hasn't put enough juice in to start the engine?

If it were me, I'd jump start it from a running car. Check the alternator is kicking out 14v. Give it a bit of a drive to charge it up a bit, then back on charge overnight.

If its not a maintenance free battery, make sure the levels are topped up with distilled water.

 

[gas]

might be the battery

i dunno

 

[Khranok]

Disconnected the spotlamps for now, I boosted it from another car, gave it a charge and then used the trickle charger to get it up to max. Will have to see if it dies with those spotlamps unhooked! Still pretty sure its them, don't really need them anytime soon however so will save it for a rainy day!

 

[Alistair032]

Hi
I seem to be experiencing the same Problem with my 2008 Freelander 2 S..My Battery Goes Flat Overnight or when it spends over 7 hrs stopped.Battery is Brand new and Alternator is giving the right charge.
I have connected amp meter and it showing 3.7 amps.I started taking out fuses,For the Fuses under Hood the car was unlocked .For rest of car It was locked.Only when I removed the Bluetooth fuse amps went down to 2.65.Still I think this is a lot.
Any one has got tips ??

 

[Kwakerman]

If you cant get the current to drop to a reasonable level by pulling fuses there is a good chance that the alternator is duff as that is directly connected to the battery. Just because it gives out 14/14.5v when running doesn't necessarily mean it is ok. Try disconnecting the heavy gauge cable from the alt (be aware that it has full battery voltage on it when the battery is connected - even with ignition off). If the current draw drops right down then that is a good indication the alternator is bad.

 

[Alistair032]

Hi Thanks for the reply..Unfortunately even by disconnecting the alternator I still get a 3 amp drain

 

[Kwakerman]

Hi Thanks for the reply..Unfortunately even by disconnecting the alternator I still get a 3 amp drain

That's good in a reverse logic sense as it means no expensive alternator change. If its drawing 3A then that works out as 36 Watts, safe to assume that you would notice if it was being drawn by the lights as that is enough to get even a main headlight glowing / noticeable in the dark. It would also be enough power to generate a bit of heat / warmth in whatever was drawing it. Have you pulled the radio (as they have two feeds (1 switched , 1 permanent) and also any remote amplifiers?

 

[Alistair032]

I have checked all that might be lit..I have also disconnected radio..Still nothing here.almost 3 amps of drain..Is it possible that this can t be figured out b connecting a computer.As this is what I was told by L/R mechanic,also electrician said he would need to keep the car and it might take weeks for him to figure out problem!!!!

 

[Kwakerman]

I have checked all that might be lit..I have also disconnected radio..Still nothing here.almost 3 amps of drain..Is it possible that this can t be figured out b connecting a computer.As this is what I was told by L/R mechanic,also electrician said he would need to keep the car and it might take weeks for him to figure out problem!!!!

A decent auto electrician should be able to quickly identify where the issue is by isolating different supply cables, certainly wouldn't take a couple of weeks!