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Florida Flat Battery Help/Advice Needed

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Chappy View Drop Down
Vanorak
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Chappy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Florida Flat Battery Help/Advice Needed
    Posted: 04 Feb 18 at 21:24

It's not often that I ask for help for the old Florida on here as she's always so bloody reliable!

BUT..... here's a curious problem....

Came home from work on Thurday afternoon and all was well, she started no bother and drove fine as usual.

Had to go back into work to see our nightshift, went to the van and nothing.

Zero electrics - not even a flicker. It was like somebody had nicked the battery.
I tested the battery with a meter in the van and it was zero volts.
Then I removed the bettery to test it, and got 3 volts.

Charged it overnight - got it back up to 12.5 volts and put it back into the van this morning. As soon as I connected it back up, it lost a volt and a half, so I guess something is drawing on it - fairly heavily too.

Just been out now - and it's zero volts again. Absolutely flat.

Battery is 8 months old. I'm making a reasonable assumption that the battery is good - so wondering about glowplug relay. It'd have to be a hefty drawdown to flatten that battery, it's huge!

Any thoughts/experiences from the LT brother and sisterhood??


By the way, she's a 1991 LT28 Florida, 2.4 TD.










Edited by Chappy - 04 Feb 18 at 21:29
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robbydoo View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote robbydoo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Feb 18 at 09:35
Presuming this is the van battery and not the leisure battery?
Do you have a split charge relay in there?
 
If its the van battery I cant see it being the glow plug relay as it auto switches off unless its fused itself together.........
 
You sure you haven't left something on, they are big batteries but can drain in a matter of hours.
 
RW
1985 LT40 2.4TD Coach built Pioneer Diamond
1983 1.9DG Autosleeper
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Chappy View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Chappy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Feb 18 at 10:36
You got it bud - it's the van battery, rather than the leisures (there are two of these in the back and they're both fully charged and all normal in that respect).
They charge via the van system, so there is a split charge system, but I can't detect any anomaly in that circuit.
 
There's nothing on thatI can detect - the only things that run off the vehicle battery are are instruments, heater fan, vehicle lights etc.
 
There's no interior light to be left on either.  Time to start pulling fuses I think.
 
First job tonight though is to charge the battery and see if it'll hold charge over a 24 hour period.....
 
 
 
 
 
 
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robbydoo View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote robbydoo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Feb 18 at 13:58
Originally posted by Chappy Chappy wrote:

 
 
First job tonight though is to charge the battery and see if it'll hold charge over a 24 hour period.....
 
 
 
Good plan........if there is anything pulling that much power the terminals will spark when you reconnect, you could use this as a basic test and pull fuses until it stops?!
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Chappy View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Chappy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Feb 18 at 17:24


UPDATE:

Original battery now on charge in the house.

Back up battery installed to the van (from my old Landy - terminal the wrong side, but managed to rig it up temporarily).

Connected the battery - and experienced the expected sparks as the connection was made. Something drawing a fair bit of power (battery dropped from 12.6V to less than 11v when connected).

Put a meter across the glow plug circuit and it's energised - ignition off, and key out. Circuit remained energised (didn't go off after the time you might expect the relay to knock it off).

Relay then?


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote The Dogbot Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Feb 18 at 19:02
Not up to speed on VW specific wiring BUT.......

No way should the pre heat system be energized with ignition off on any engine.

Doesn't matter if it's a wheelbarrow, a multi-million-pound yacht or a VW lol

If what you say is truly the case then it could be more than just a relay but that is the first place to look

If you can pull the relay and check its open circuit with no power going to it. 
If that checks out then check it with power to it but no load. I doubt if VW is clever enough to sense load so those simple checks will confirm if relay shorted out or not.

Having either eliminated or replaced the relay check the rest of the circuit including the plugs (someone will have the correct resistance for the glow plugs used)

Finally, trace back the wiring from the relay to the power to determine why it is receiving power without the ign being on.

Personally, I don't like timing relays as they can prove to be a bit unreliable but hey ho we have what we have

Hope this helps

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Chappy View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Chappy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Feb 18 at 21:57

Relay ordered!

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote robbydoo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Feb 18 at 14:42
Happy days..........
1985 LT40 2.4TD Coach built Pioneer Diamond
1983 1.9DG Autosleeper
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Chappy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Feb 18 at 22:14

Fixed!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote robbydoo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Feb 18 at 08:28
Happy days fella   Smile
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote LTCamper89 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Feb 18 at 11:59
See you in two years then LOL
1989 LT28 2.4D    Saviour of 6Music, well one of them. Now playing http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/bbc_6music

VW LT Camper not Cramper

....at least the roof is not rusting away....
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Chappy View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Chappy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Feb 18 at 19:47


   
It can't have been that long surely!!
The old girl must be more reliable than I thought!

However, I suspect I'll be making more regular visits in 2018 as I've got to resurrect the Winter Florida Fettling thread - she's getting a body refurb over the winter so we'll be taking the opportunity to fix/update/upgrade a load of stuff


Edited by Chappy - 13 Feb 18 at 19:50
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Chappy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Feb 18 at 19:52
Back in the slow lane, yeah!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote LTCamper89 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Feb 18 at 12:08
I still point people in this direction though, in particular your three-point seatbelt installation.Thumbs Up
1989 LT28 2.4D    Saviour of 6Music, well one of them. Now playing http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/bbc_6music

VW LT Camper not Cramper

....at least the roof is not rusting away....
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