[ani_meher]

I have a 2011 beat diesel with a brand new Amaron battery. Last week the battery was suddenly drained. Got it recharged, it was drained again in 24 hours. Got it checked by Amaron who tested the battery for 2 days and said there was some parasitic charge that was draining the battery.

Got the car checked at Bosch Service centre, Kharadi. He saw that the test lamp was fluttering when battery was disconnected. But after testing for a day, he said he couldn't find any such charge, and the battery didn't drain overnight. He asked me to use the car normally, but it is generally a huge hassle in the battery gets discharged.

I am at my wits end here. I am using the car by removing the negative terminal every day. I have an upcoming trip planned in a few days and getting the car to Chevrolet is very hard before that trip.

1. Any suggestion in this case?
2. Any good car electrician in Pune who can hunt down this parasitic charge, if at all present?

[GTO]

Originally Posted by ani_meher

Any good car electrician in Pune who can hunt down this parasitic charge, if at all present?

These are always the most annoying to solve and require a patient + expert mechanic. Why don't you try out this garage? Has good reviews from BHPians.

[ani_meher]

Originally Posted by ani_meher

1. Any suggestion in this case?
2. Any good car electrician in Pune who can hunt down this parasitic charge, if at all present?

An update to this case:

The battery voltage dropping was a headache to cure. I gave the car to Kalewadi service center but they could not find the problem. Same case with a FNG at Kharadi (twice). Finding an auto electrician worth his salt in Pune is near impossible. Nana peth filled with dicey looking guys with suspect knowledge. Same case with many FNGs. One even suggested to remove accessory one by one and see which one stops the draining of battery the next day. What if the battery gets depleted? He said 'push start it and bring the car to me'!

Suddenly a new problem crept up. The car would suddenly detect a door open and would start shouting its buzzers. I woke up at 4am in morning to find this out! I got stinky eye from all the neighbours the next day :( Even when all the doors were shut tight, still the interior light would come on and the sirens would go off. So I had to disconnect the battery every time I locked the car. The battery problem was getting worse and worse. I gave the car to Kharadi FNG hoping that there would be some problem with door closing sensor, but they were fine. The problem persisted.

Fed up of searching for an auto electrician, I gave the car to Swargate Chevrolet service center with zero hope. Surprisingly, they found the culprit! My beat has glowing footboards installed 6 years ago. Rear door's footboard was acting up, eating up the battery even when not in use. I was ready to burn all the four footboards, but the electrician changed some wiring, and voila! Beat is back in business.

I suspected the dash camera was eating up the battery, since it is not hard wired, but rather powered by the 12V socket. But it is not so. I leave it in that socket forever now, and there is no effect on battery.

Hope this episode proves useful to someone in future.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by ani_meher

I suspected the dash camera was eating up the battery, since it is not hard wired, but rather powered by the 12V socket. But it is not so. I leave it in that socket forever now, and there is no effect on battery.

Remember the socket is no powered, unless you are in the accessory position at least. So I am not surprised.

[TorqueyTechie]

Originally Posted by ani_meher

My beat has glowing footboards installed 6 years ago. Rear door's footboard was acting up, eating up the battery even when not in use. I was ready to burn all the four footboards, but the electrician changed some wiring, and voila! Beat is back in business.

I suspected the dash camera was eating up the battery, since it is not hard wired, but rather powered by the 12V socket.

I am also having a similar issue. I had installed footwall lights on my car sometime back and recently added a dashcam as well. Dashcam is hardwired to the HU. Now I am facing battery drain though not as much as you. My car still starts fine 8/10 times but the rest 2 times it is a problem. And the 2 times it occurs it always will be either in traffic or when I am about to start back from my errand outside.

Thanks for updating the solution of your issue. I will get the footwall lights and the dashcam connection rechecked and see where the battery leak is happening.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by ani_meher

An update to this case:

I suspected the dash camera was eating up the battery, since it is not hard wired, but rather powered by the 12V socket. But it is not so. I leave it in that socket forever now, and there is no effect on battery.

Hope this episode proves useful to someone in future.

Lucky you, the bug showed itself. Alo, the socket is not powered unless you are in the Acc or higher setting. So (unless someone has fiddled with the wiring) that should not be a cause.

[StrangeWizard]

Couple of weeks back I was also facing a battery draining issue in my Chevrolet Beat. The battery would just completely die if the car was unused for 1-2 days. I got it charged fully and the next morning, it was again dead.

Then I again got it charged and checked each and every accessory. The audio system seemed fine but the after-market central locking system was behaving a bit funny (not locking all doors, alarm not working sometimes) so I just removed the fuse for it and decided to watch.

Next day, the car started properly and post that I haven't faced any battery issues. I now need to get a new central locking system fixed though!

EDIT - It's a 2 year old SF Sonic battery which I believe is still in warranty.

[rohank024]

Hi guys, My 2011 Volkswagen Vento Petrol Trendline is having battery troubles for over a week now. One fine day, the engine won't start as battery was completely drained, which was surprising because the battery is only about 18 months old.

Called a mechanic, who jump started the car using an external battery and i drove to office. Even at office parking, i kept the car engine on for 10-15 minutes to charge the battery. After switching off the engine and while getting out of the car, i realized that my stereo lights were still on (though the stereo wasn't working). In the evening, managed to drove back home but next morning had the same problem.

Called the mechanic again who jump started and he also figured out that stereo lights were on even after locking the door. Now the battery is again dead. I guess, i can safely conclude that stereo is drawing power even when engine is off and that's what is draining the battery.

Can someone suggest a DIY way to fix this? I am a little hesitant giving this to mechanic because of 2 reasons - he will come up with a huge bill and secondly if all he is going to do is to replace the fuse, i don't know if he would have genuine one. I stay in Khar(w) so any suggestions either in terms of right repair shop/mechanic or some DIY approach will be extremely useful.

[R2D2]

Is this an OEM/factory stereo or an aftermarket one? Sometimes car stereos malfunction but you need to be absolutely sure it is the stereo. Believe me it may be cheaper to fix a new battery than repair an OEM stereo.

So pull out the stereo's fuse from the box. Consult your manual for the location. Use the car without the stereo and check the state of the battery in the morning.

I do not believe there are any user serviceable parts in the stereo whether OEM or AM. Unless you are familar with uninstallation and electronic repair just leave well enough alone.

Once a fault is confirmed you will need to take it to the service centre (for OEM) or your audio system dealer for a check. There may be a a power switch malfunction or similar that prevents a power off. It should normally power off when the ignition switch is locked and key removed. So this behavior is very strange indeed.

[OSH]

This stereo that you are talking about, is an aftermarket fitment, right ? Then the first thing that comes to mind is that your installer has messed up the wiring of the HU.

According to me, he has not wired the red wire of the HU to the switched power source of your car and that's the reason your stereo remains ON all the time. A switched power source is linked to the ACC position/ignition of the car and is responsible to turn OFF the HU when you pull out the key. The switched power source should show 0 volts when the car's keys are out and show 12 volts when the key is in the ACC/ignition position.

In your case, the installer has most probably wired the red wire to a constant power source which keeps drawing power from the battery irrespective of the car being ON/OFF. A constant power source will show 12 volts at all times.

This is a very basic thing and even the inexperienced installers don't do this mistake, but that's the only thing that came to mind when I read your post. BTW, the red wire of the HU which I mentioned above is what powers the HU. The HU's manual will have a wiring diagram just have a look at that and see if they use a different colour instead of red for that specific unit, mostly red is only for power.

Here's a video of Pioneer's wire colour codes.

Pioneer wires colour code

[rohank024]

Originally Posted by R2D2

Is this an OEM/factory stereo or an aftermarket one? Sometimes car stereos malfunction but you need to be absolutely sure it is the stereo. Believe me it may be cheaper to fix a new battery than repair an OEM stereo.

So pull out the stereo's fuse from the box. Consult your manual for the location. Use the car without the stereo and check the state of the battery in the morning.

I do not believe there are any user serviceable parts in the stereo whether OEM or AM. Unless you are familar with uninstallation and electronic repair just leave well enough alone.

Once a fault is confirmed you will need to take it to the service centre (for OEM) or your audio system dealer for a check. There may be a a power switch malfunction or similar that prevents a power off. It should normally power off when the ignition switch is locked and key removed. So this behavior is very strange indeed.

Actually it is OEM stereo, but the thing is almost 7 years old now. I will do what you suggested, which is to take out the stereo's fuse and then see for a day if the battery still shows issues. Will keep everyone on the forum posted.

[rohank024]

Originally Posted by R2D2

Is this an OEM/factory stereo or an aftermarket one? Sometimes car stereos malfunction but you need to be absolutely sure it is the stereo. Believe me it may be cheaper to fix a new battery than repair an OEM stereo.

So pull out the stereo's fuse from the box. Consult your manual for the location. Use the car without the stereo and check the state of the battery in the morning.

I do not believe there are any user serviceable parts in the stereo whether OEM or AM. Unless you are familar with uninstallation and electronic repair just leave well enough alone.

Once a fault is confirmed you will need to take it to the service centre (for OEM) or your audio system dealer for a check. There may be a a power switch malfunction or similar that prevents a power off. It should normally power off when the ignition switch is locked and key removed. So this behavior is very strange indeed.

Turned out it was the battery problem, as was unable to jump start the car to drive to the stereo guy. Got the battery replaced, and things seems fine since then..thanks R2D2 and OSH

[kalpeshc]

It's been a year and I have changed batteries too but I am still not able to figure out what the problems are with the drain. Even the service center is clueless.

One local mechanic claimed that the 'Main RLY' under the fusebox is heating up even after the car is switched off for 24 hours and that may be the culprit. But fuses/relays are not supposed to consume power right? They're only supposed to break the circuits if something is consuming additional power than required.

Should I just go ahead and get this fuse/relay replaced?

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by kalpeshc

But fuses/relays are not supposed to consume power right? They're only supposed to break the circuits if something is consuming additional power than required.

Fuses and relays are two different things. Fuses protect a circuit from higher than specified current draw (which can cause a fire) while relays are electromagnetic switches that conduct or interrupt the flow of electricity to a circuit.

Should I just go ahead and get this fuse/relay replaced?

There's only a small chance your relay is the cause of drain. They do not consume any electricity unless activated. It's easy to replace a relay most are plug-and-play plus & with a few exceptions are not expensive.

[kalpeshc]

Is there a source apart from the service center from where one can procure these relays?