Parasitic draw acceptable amount

[richieski]

Hi all, been trying to diagnose slow cranking for a while.
So decided to test the draw.
After leaving the car locked etc with meter connected it draws 140mA or 0.14A.
Is this acceptable?
Last Saturday battery was 12.5v.
Left alone for 7 days battery at 11.89v
So is this drain too much or is the battery weak?
V70 d5 2005 163
Thanks.

[Roy V70 850]

140mA seems high. Mine is around 40-50mA which would take 3weeks to get to the stage of your battery. But an older battery could also be a contribution.

I went through this process of charging the battery, using solar cells because I leave the car on the drive for 2 week periods. One day I was in a car park and left the side lights on for 1/2 hour. It barely turned the engine over. I got a new battery the next day and haven't had a problem since.

However I would investigate the 140mA draw first.

[richieski]

Thanks. I did read 50mA is average just was not sure on the V70.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by richieski

Thanks. I did read 50mA is average just was not sure on the V70.

it depends , anything more than 50 ma is wrong but typically they are half that todays modern Volvos are even less. I would look first at anything you have fitted which is non standard..

[marcb]

I would double check you are measuring the drain correctly - the excellent Simon has a video on this:

https://youtu.be/ZCMQE2tgRSE

But the battery is often the problem. I messed about with trying to identify drain but gave up and replaced the battery (which was a Volvo OEM one only 3 years old) and the cheapish Exide I bought has been brilliant - like day from night.

[richieski]

Originally Posted by Clan

it depends , anything more than 50 ma is wrong but typically they are half that todays modern Volvos are even less. I would look first at anything you have fitted which is non standard..

I have a grom Bluetooth fitted and a towbar. Could be 1 of these. I will isolate and check again.

[richieski]

Originally Posted by marcb

I would double check you are measuring the drain correctly - the excellent Simon has a video on this:

https://youtu.be/ZCMQE2tgRSE

But the battery is often the problem. I messed about with trying to identify drain but gave up and replaced the battery (which was a Volvo OEM one only 3 years old) and the cheapish Exide I bought has been brilliant - like day from night.

I put my meter inline, locked the car with boot open which was latch shut. Left for 30 min . Should have been long enough for things to settle down.

[Auldgit]

As you may recall I've been having similar problems for a long time. When I checked the parasitic drain it was 20mA, which is negligible, but the battery will still go from 12.7v to 12.3v overnight sometimes. I've come to the conclusion that there must be something intermittently switching on and off, but I've absolutely no idea what it is.......tried isolating the usual suspects, but all to no avail.

Battery is nearly new and good, checked by Halfords twice, generator fine, but still it persists.

Just once or twice it has almost failed to start even when it's been connected to an Optimate trickle charger all night.

Never a dull moment.............!

[richieski]

I have fitted a new battery last Sat. Working away this week so will start it when i get back. I will measure voltage 1st.
I am hoping the Bosch S5 i fitted previously was not great.