Hi Folks,
My MH is draining battery overnight...... (2005 244 Ducato)

Some background:
New battery 6 months ago..
A few weeks ago, battery light came on. Some investigation found loose positive terminal. I tightened and all seemed fine, no lights. Charging at 14.5 v when running.

I drove around a bit then parked up, Battery died overnight.. down to 9v !

Used smartcharger to charge battery, reinstalled and again it drained.

With my multimeter between earth and battery, I measured 3 Amp draw with everything off and doors closed

I pulled every fuse, one by one ....only one that fixed the draw was the battery mounted fuse, (100a F71 (I think...)). I temporarily reconnected fuse and took it for a run, and the battery light came on again...

Is my Alternator dead? Can a faulty alternator drain battery, even when key is out??

Confused....

3 amps is quite a hefty current so it's no wonder your battery is discharging so quickly.

A failing diode could cause this but, under certain circumstances, still manage to charge the battery. I suppose the most obvious thing to do would be to disconnect the alternator leads at the alternator terminals (The large current carrying leads will be live even with the key out of the ignition so disconnect battery neg first) then reconnect the battery (don't let those alternator leads touch any body parts will you!) and see if you've still got a drain going on.

Do let us know how everything turns out won't you
Good luck
Jock

Cheers Jock !

i'll need to pick a moment when the rains stops to have a look.....

(Gerry, Coatbridge )

Looks like F73 to me which is for the body builder to connect to so probably connected to your habitation electrics, charger, pump, fridge etc. start flipping switches / pullin fuses on your control panel / electroblock.

Hi Corcai,

As part of the exercise yesterday, I went through all of the fuses I could find on the Habitation side, none fixed the issue....I'm looking for the conversion manuals to see if there is a wiring diagram.

Cheers
Gerry

48POP said:

Cheers Jock !

i'll need to pick a moment when the rains stops to have a look.....

(Gerry, Coatbridge )

Click to expand...

Glad to try and help a fellow Scot! Know what you mean about the rain though. I need to do a couple of rear wheel cylinders on Becky but just can't quite get up the enthusiasm yet!

Kind regards
Jock

Check under the bonnet for a Extra relay to supply the fridge and leisure battery when the engine is running I'd this sticks open it could easily drain the battery overnight

9v is not good for a 12v battery, in fact it’s probably permanently damaged in my experience. I’d charge the battery up again using your smart charger and then leave it rest for 24 hours if possible, it it’s under 12.6 after a good rest it’s time to replace. 3A is quite a draw however so you’ll want those wiring diagrams

corcai said:

Looks like F73 to me which is for the body builder to connect to so probably connected to your habitation electrics, charger, pump, fridge etc. start flipping switches / pullin fuses on your control panel / electroblock.

Click to expand...

Sorry, but I cannot agree. My Ducato is a 2006 x244 2.8JTD. Fuse F73 is the third from the left in the OP's photo. Original rating 70A, brown. As 48POP suggested Fuse F72, fourth from the left, is the alternator fuse. eLearn shows F72 as 100A (blue) for 2.0JTD engine.

48POP,

Is it possible that the converter or others have connected the habitation electrics directly to the alternator B+? This could be due to an attempt to improve alternator charging, of your habitation batteries. You could then have the situation suggested by chris3234, but the fridge relay would have to stick closed, not open. However if this were the case, I would expect to see considerably more than 3A.

It may be significant that 3A would be a reasonable alternator field current. Is there any possibility that your D+ and B+ are in contact?

Hi Folks,

Thanks for all of the input so far ! Much appreciated

Its probably going to be Friday before I can get back out for a look....The van lives on the street and the weather up here in Scotland has been very, very wet for, it seems like, the past 3 months !

Its a Trigano Tribute, Ducato 244 2.3. I found the wiring diagrams for the habitation side, but sadly, they don't mean anything to me (!)
I'll attach here for reference.

I found another thread on the interweb, that seems very similar and the conclusion is failed alternator......https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/electronics/737412-ideas-3-amp-parasitic.html

When the weather improves, I'll get under and disconnect alternator and measure again...




THANKS !!
Gerry

Gerry,

Please do remember that the alternator B+ is just what it says. Disconnect the starter battery negative, before working on the alternator connections.

Perhaps false hope, but silicon diodes as used in the alternator usually fail catastrophically. That is they either go open circuit, or short circuit. An open circuit diode would not cause the described symptoms, while a short circuit diode would probably allow a larger current to flow.

Communicator said:

My Ducato is a 2006 x244 2.8JTD. Fuse F73 is the third from the left in the OP's photo. Original rating 70A, brown. As 48POP suggested Fuse F72, fourth from the left, is the alternator fuse. eLearn shows F72 as 100A (blue) for 2.0JTD engine.

Click to expand...

Nothing is straightforward in Sofim land. As anyone trying to follow wiring colours will know.

My ducato is 2005 2.8jtd and F73 is the fourth from the left, fuse was populated but not connected from new but is also sometimes completely unpopulated on panel vans and chassis cabs as below.

The OP says his vehicle is 2.3jtd which according to the handbook and elearn would be 125A but clearly its not in this case. look up the part number and you'll see thats incorrect.

Either way the wire to the alternator is very short so it will be easy to verify which is which.

Sooooo, just to close this out....

I didn't do any more testing, I took it to my local reconditioning place yesterday and asked them to check it......Confirmed that Alternator was gubbed and the fitted a new, matching, high capacity unit.

https://www.shandonelectricalltd.co.uk/

(proper old school, looks like something from the '60s but I've had a few alternators, rebuilt there, good service and recommended )

Please let us know if it was a proper fix when you are happy, been following this out of interest in case it happens to me. In fact there are likely others too. Hope it HAS sorted things for you!

Well, the job was finished at 17:00 yesterday, I checked when I got home and there was no untoward current draw. Battery voltage was around 12.9v. This morning at 09:00 was 12.85v....
(and this is my old battery.....I'm still monitoring the new battery for damage ,on the bench, I installed it 6 months ago but drained it to less than 9v last week....)

So, fingers crossed all is well, I'll measure again tomorrow morning.

Cheers
Gerry

PS New battery got a 24hr smartcharge, and has been sitting on bench, holding voltage fine over past 96hours, so hopefully survived the catastrophic drain....

Ok, I'm going to call this fixed.....

Voltage this morning is 12.75v (and this is still my old, (at least 10yrs), battery). I've not got around to putting my new battery back in.

Cheers everyone for input !

Gerry