I hope someone can help. I changed my battery thursday afternoon because my old battery was totally discharged that morning. Yesterday morning I was going out and found the new battery was totally discharged also 0 volts ( a new battery fully charged and ready to go). I then put it on charge with a smart charger @ 3.5 amps from the afternoon and overnight, this morning I checked it and the charger is reading 0 volts and there is not enough power to light the dash board lights. I've checked that the light in the back and cab light is not staying on.I've checked the alternator which is giving 14. 25v at tickover, 14.3v @ 2000 revs and 14.4v with lights and radion on. The van's a Scudo 2.0 JTD 2006.
I haven't added any thing electrical to the van recently and this is the first time I've had electrical problems.
There must be a huge parasitic drain to cause this to happen anyone with any ideas?

A battery that is completely discharged needs a bit of a push to get the charge going. A small charger designed to keep batteries topped up is unlikely to do it. This could be the reason why it won't now take a charge. Or it could be that the 'smart' charger is not as smart as it could be. If the battery shows nothing, the charger thinks it is fine, so does nothing.

You've checked the interior lights for a drain. Other likely causes are radio, so pull its fuse or disconnect it. Even if off, they can drain the battery if they've gone wrong inside. This affects some Pandas, well reported on here. Alternator itself could also cause a drain. Whilst it can output enough to charge a battery, the diodes sometimes fail and allow a discharge when not running.

Once you've got a charged battery in place. When connecting it there should not be a spark at the terminals. You might need to pull all the fuses, then refit each one and see which circuit is draining the battery. A potentially long and tedious operation, but only costs your time.

Good luck.

Thanks Portland Bill for you reply, I'll try some of those tips tomorrow.

A update on the van, I did as Portland Bill suggested (thanks again for the advice) checked all the fuses -found no leakage and disconnected the radio and it still discharged. I took it to a local garage with the battery charged up, he left it overnight and checked again - the battery was OK. A friend said it could be a relay sticking on, is that possible? Anyway it's been fine since with the radio connected i.e. no battery discharge.

I've not heard of relays sticking on, they normally fail by either not working, or the contacts get dirty and don't pass the current they should.

With it having 'cured' itself, this one could be difficult to track down. It may never happen again. Meanwhile, I'd suggest a good set of jump leads, or membership of a breakdown organisation. Like a talisman, these things will ward off the evil spirits and keep it trouble-free.

Fred Scudo said:

A update on the van, I did as Portland Bill suggested (thanks again for the advice) checked all the fuses -found no leakage and disconnected the radio and it still discharged.

A friend said it could be a relay sticking on, is that possible? Anyway it's been fine since with the radio connected i.e. no battery discharge.

Click to expand...

with electrics.. ANYTHING is possible..

glad it's behaving..give it another week, then reconnect the radio,

good luck..and do let us know how it goes,

Charlie

2 weeks since the problem - everything is fine now. Thanks for your interest and advice.