# Battery drain issues can anyone help



## youboughtwhatatt (Mar 20, 2014)

Ok so wife's TT drains it's battery in about 5 days so having been diagnosed as faulty alternator by one garage and another wanting to rip bits off to find drain it's at the Auto electricians where it has been identified as having a drain so it is not
1 dashboard pod
2 aftermarket stereo
3 alternator diode
4 faulty alarm ( has got aftermarket toad alarm in its place) original is unplugged 
Can anyone advise if the wires to original alarm are corroded can this still drain even when disconnected 
Or any other possible drains it's a 2001 225 roadster with original Bose and stacking cd still in situ. It has been sat with the auto electricians for a few days they are really good at what they do but the obvious is/are not the culprits any help nudges in right direction appreciated as need it back in use for work next week 
Additional issue is we are in Spain and car is in uk


----------



## FRAX (Jul 21, 2013)

A wire going no where will not drain your battery if it is insulated and not in contact with any metal.
If the wire however is a twin core and the cores are touching this could drain your power over time.
An auto electrician should be able to tell which system is pulling power when the car is not running.


----------



## lotuselanplus2s (Jun 18, 2012)

Not sure if it helps, my radiator fans were knackered & they managed to drain the battery for some weird reason.

Or put another way, if you have other issues that use /involve electrical power then it can drain power.


----------



## youboughtwhatatt (Mar 20, 2014)

Thanks for the replies the auto spark is methodically working through everything the post was in search of that light bulb moment. I as and when we get a result I will post it for info


----------



## youboughtwhatatt (Mar 20, 2014)

So another day of the auto spark disconnecting bits and still no further forwards the drain is 1.2 milli amps dropping to 0.3 milli amps when the big wire is disconnected from the battery so culprit is powered by this feed - will keep you updated I am currently thinking of putting a switch in situ to disconnect either this wire or the whole battery (as in 1970 rally cars might be quite sweet NOT) 
Thanks for the 2 replies it's not the fans and the corrosion has not tracked down the alarm wire 
Having to discuss the issue over the phone from Spain at least there's San Miguel !!!!!!!!


----------



## outdoor stevie (Nov 24, 2013)

Always trickey tracking down these leaks especially when they are so small, only thing that springs to mind would be the after run pump which stays on for about 10 mins after you switch off the engine, it is almost silent in operation and pumps coolant around to cool the engine down you can hear it near the alternator whirring away sometimes, yours may be staying on all the time and consequently pulling current. Sorry can't be more helpful.

Stevie


----------



## spen (Jun 10, 2014)

Try this method.

How To Perform a Parasitic Draw Test - EricTheCar&#8230;:


----------



## spen (Jun 10, 2014)

Try this method.

How To Perform a Parasitic Draw Test - EricTheCar&#8230;:


----------



## youboughtwhatatt (Mar 20, 2014)

Thanks the video describes perfectly what an auto electrician does to find a current draw unfortunately the tt is not only full of standard electrical items (many of which stay on after we switch our cars off) so what the auto spark is trying to find is either an incorrectly wired item such as an aftermarket alarm or radio or a defective electrical part which is not switching off. Will update him re the silent fan/pump as he is confident it is now a defective part. Just for info of anyone else who watches the video most modern cars take at least 20 mins to settle down ie all pumps and alarms settling to minimum current draw to be on the safe side most people double this so you need to isolate door switches alarms etc so the car thinks it's 'asleep' ah bless it then you can search for a parasitic drain - hence such a long process and why forums like this are such great places for useful pointers will update you if he finds what the flop it is !!!!!!!


----------



## youboughtwhatatt (Mar 20, 2014)

Update phone call on Monday from auto electricians and a point to note when trying to find a drain on your TT they had one by one removed each fuse and unplugged the usual suspects as listed in the tital so on Monday they took all the fuses out and put them back in one by one (keep with the story there's a happy ending and a point) when one fuse was outback the amp drain appeared but puzzled by this they continued the process and on replacement of a further fuse the drain was there again !!!! So on checking what these fed it was found to be the comfort pack !! So as an alternate when trying to find a drain don't forget more than one fuse can provide power to a module or other item in your car. Posted just in hope this helps 2nd had module on its way if it cures it I will not repost as I think this is about method not actual final result. Hope this helps someone else


----------



## forker (Jul 20, 2012)

1-2 milliamps (from 23 Oct post) can't be an issue; modern cars seem to have ~20ish mA current when asleep, for alarms, radio memories, & whatnot.

F


----------



## youboughtwhatatt (Mar 20, 2014)

Sorry only being given data by auto sparks on the phone and in fairness they could have told me it was being stolen by the electric pixies that we're living in the boot so it must have been a 12 milli amp draw reducing to 3 milli amps when sorted whatever the measurements it was sufficent to flatten the battery after 3 days plus and once identified sufficemt not to flatten battery. Posted originally looking for help and as said in last post posted in the he if someone is trying a DIY job it helps hope the post does that for someone good luck in your search


----------



## crono35 (Dec 27, 2013)

I had a similar drain that ended up being the stock bose amp. Audi tends to wire quite a few things together on one fuse though.

On my allroad I had a interior lighting fuse blow, which caused the windows to not work, the central locking to not work correctly, and 3 doors to always show open on the dash...


----------



## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Just to put things in perspective; with a 60 Amp/hour battery fully charged - to drain it in five days with the car unused would require a drain of 60/(5x24) = 500 mA (half an Amp). With an older battery the Amp/hour capacity could be less of course.

The last time I measured static drain on a car it was ~30mA. The battery would also have internal leakage of a few percent of capacity per month depending on temperature and condition.

As far as I'm aware, the last significant drain having turned off the ignition and closed the doors is the run on pump which is switched off approximately 10 minutes after turning the ignition off on a timer and the alarm on the TT goes into sleep mode once the door light starts to flash slowly having locked the car.

The alarm connector could case drain if the contacts are corroded so badly that there is a metallic film of electro-plated deposit bridging the contacts.

Glad you got to the bottom of the problem.


----------



## Amey443 (Jan 19, 2015)

crono35 said:


> I had a similar drain that ended up being the stock bose amp. Audi tends to wire quite a few things together on one fuse though.
> 
> On my allroad I had a interior lighting fuse blow, which caused the windows to not work, the central locking to not work correctly, and 3 doors to always show open on the dash...


Hi what did u do about the fuse that went for the light and messed up the windows because I have a similar problem 
Thanks
Amey


----------

