[V8] High Current Drain

[Ingo Rautenberg]

Scott,

Interesting.  Good baseline to check from, Scott.  I know my '91 5- 
speed drains the battery quickly (over more than three days), whereas  
the '93 has no drain problem whatsoever.  Do you have any issues with  
either of your instrument clusters?  I replaced mine because of that  
pegged water temp gauge and have a feeling that was the cluprit.   
Haven't let the car sit long enough to tell, though.

Ingo

PS - I thought I understood that circuit tester, but am not sure  
now.  Could you explain.  Specifically wrt the Fuse socket.  I would  
have thought the banana plugs to the blown fuse would have been  
enough to check current drain?

On Apr 16, 2007, at 1:07 PM, S_Matus wrote:

> This weekend I decided to investigate why my cars batteries were  
> alway loosing charge.  I do not drive my V8s everyday and often  
> find the batteries drained, barely able to start the car.
>
> I made this simple tester with a Fuse Socket, Banana Plugs and a  
> blown fuse -
>
> http://picasaweb.google.com/scott.matus/CircuitTerster/ 
> photo#5054064481260063250
>
>
> Findings -
>
> The readings on the '90 Auto and the '91 5-sp were almost  
> identical.  I read the current drain with my new tool on every fuse  
> (all 30) in the car after the interior light illumination shut  
> off.  I have the connector for the cell phone removed.
>
> Fuse       Description                           Amps
> ____      ____________________        _______
>
>  4          Interior Lights - Misc               5.3 mA
> 19         Central Lock, Lock Heater       21 (5-sp)  0.2 mA (Auto)
> 25         Power Seats                          0.1 mA
> 27         Engine Motronic                     1.4 mA
> 28         Instrument u-Processor           190 mA
>
> Other fuse positions read 0.0 mA - nada!
>
> I know a lot about battery technology, if you have this HUGE  
> current drain on a battery continuously your battery will not live  
> very long.  I have to put the battery on a float charger overnight  
> when not driving the car.
>
> Questions -
>
> Why is the instrument cluster micro-processor pulling 190 mA?   
> There is nothing going on in the car for that much current drain.   
> Is this baseline for all v8s?
>
> Has anyone on the list experienced this drain on your battery?  Can  
> anyone confirm their car is pulling 190 mA on fuse 28?  I would  
> feel better knowing that my cars are no different then any other V8  
> and I have to live with it.
>
> Thanks,
> Scott
> '90 V8
> '91 V8 5-sp
> '03 RS6
> '04 Phaeton (Cheap mans A8)
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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