Battery draining

[Zob]

Good evening fellas,

since I installed a quite few accessories e.g( winch, spotties, Uhf, Bluetooth) on my ride but haven’t installed twin battery setup and not driving car per fortnight sometimes, but the battery has drained 2 times and have to jump start. Is this because of load on the battery or battery is week or twin battery setup compulsory OR should I disconnect winch when not going for off-roading.

 

[Albynsw]

Fitting a winch etc will not effect your battery unless you are using them
Either one of you new accessories is drawing power when you are not using it or it is just coincidence and your battery is on its last legs.

 

[Swaggie]

You may want to look up earth leakage...

Relying on one battery can be stressful on it, no doubt you run a fridge off it also when camping, when out bush you need to know that if one battery dies you can crank off the aux .

Until you sort out an auxiliary, buy a solar panel and charge the battery when your not driving it, if you have a carrport put it up on the roof, if not u could take the battery out and charge although stuffing around...

 

[Colly18]

IMO fitting winch, spotlights, UHF 2-way etc should not drain your battery; if done correctly. What is going on with your Bluetooth is beyond my current knowledge .
I believe modern vehicles draw a fair amount of power from the battery with normal standby (vehicle not in use) functioning. So in these Covid-19 times, if you are not using the vehicle regularly, or are just doing short trips, I wouldn't be surprised if the battery gets low on voltage within a fortnight- 3 weeks.
Simple answer, get the battery tested at a trusted battery sales outlet. I've found they will do it for free in most cases. If the battery checks out as OK then look for a leakage issue from any additions/mods, or elsewhere, as Swaggie suggested.

 

[CTL]

C’mon, let’s address the elephant in the room. It is a LR !!!!

 

[billolga]

@Zob How old is your Battery?
Winter is the time they drop dead.

 

[Zob]

@Zob How old is your Battery?
Winter is the time they drop dead.

I am not sure how old it is, i think its time need to be replaced.

 

[Zob]

Just got a picture

 

[billolga]

I am not sure how old it is, i think its time need to be replaced.

Duck in to any Battery place & they will test it for free.

 

[CTL]

I can see three small and one larger accessory wire coming off your positive terminal but no fuses. Where are the fuses?

 

[Triton14]

If you ask me its normally 2 things, a bad cell(or 2) or earth leakage.
I once had a car that did the same thing, I then replaced the stereo & its it stopped happening.

So the only conclusion I could make is the stereo was drawing down the charge somehow.

If you just installed a UHF I will guess & say that could be the issue.

There are probably better ways of doing it but to check if its the battery I would disconnect all things from it after its fully charged & get a volt meter & keep checking it over the 2 weeks the car is parked, if its not losing much charge then I would be looking at what you have installed.

Im not that well versed on 12V problem solving but if the battery is ok then reconnect everything & with the ignition off use the volt meter to start checking id the items are drwing any current.

 

[Zob]

I can see three small and one larger accessory wire coming off your positive terminal but no fuses. Where are the fuses?

Hey the fuses are there uhf radio fuse is inside and spotties fuse is on wirring harness

 

[CTL]

Fuses should be as
close to the battery as possible. They are to protect the cable.
Where is the wiring harness from?

 

[cookie64]

Hi Zob,
as others have said, make sure your fuses are right next to the battery as if the wire rubs through it can burn your vehicle to a crisp, split tube is also good to provide a hard barrier against wires rubbing too. Considering the number of wires coming off you might be better off installing a small fuse block.

The big thing I would move to a ignition powered circuit is that Bluetooth device, it will be constantly pinging and trying to send / receive data.

cheers

 

[Petunia]

Do you have a basic multimeter? If so, get 2 copper wires about that long, [ two inches], wind them on your probes to make two 'disposable' probes.
Whip the caps out the top of the battery, first put the red on the +tive terminal and the black into the first cells liquid, it should read about 2.12 volts maybe?
Then shift the black into the next cell and the red into the first cell, again it could be 2.12 volts.
Repeat until you get the black on the -ve battery terminal and the red in the last cell. [dipping probes in acid, is why i make disposables]
It is not imperative that all 6 are 2.12V, but all 6 are all the same voltage/or near to. If one cell shows a marked difference to the others it is a sign of a weak cell.
One could buy a hygrometer to do the same, but who does that, thesedays?
The next thing I look at is the ends of the battery, if they bulge out its has had serious flattening at some stage.

 

[Zob]

Fuses should be as
close to the battery as possible. They are to protect the cable.
Where is the wiring harness from?

hey mate
UHF was already installed when I bought the car and I installed spotties and harness was from 4wd supacenter.

 

[Zob]

Replacing battery next week. cuz planning for short trip to mount hotham Camp ground 2nd week of june before track closures.

Spoke to supercharge batteries its costing $300 I think is the best.

 

[Triton14]

Replacing battery next week. cuz planning for short trip to mount hotham Camp ground 2nd week of june before track closures.

Spoke to supercharge batteries its costing $300 I think is the best.

A new battery doesn't mean your problem will nessacarily be solved as you don't know what the discharge problem is!!

 

[CTL]

Righto, the more info you provide, the easier it is to offer help.

As @cookie64 suggested, if the Bluetooth is connected directly to the battery, and not connected via an ignition activated relay/circuit, then that is most likely your culprit for the battery draining. I totally missed that possibility.
Otherwise I would checking that 4wd supercentre spottie wiring harness. They have been known to be incorrectly assembled and to cause issues.
Good luck.

 

[Zob]

Righto, the more info you provide, the easier it is to offer help.

As @cookie64 suggested, if the Bluetooth is connected directly to the battery, and not connected via an ignition activated relay/circuit, then that is most likely your culprit for the battery draining. I totally missed that possibility.
Otherwise I would checking that 4wd supercentre spottie wiring harness. They have been known to be incorrectly assembled and to cause issues.
Good luck.

Thanks mate will do everything professionally checked before replacing the battery