Clementine's Garage
Clementine the Cat
 
Image of flower
Yellow R4
 
Réparateur d'automobiles

Battery draining

charlesa

Enthusiast
Messages
64
Location
Hampshire UK
Good morning all,
I wonder if you can help.
The battery ( new about 18 months ago) on my 1985 1100c 4GTL has started draining alarmingly quickly, as in from fully charged to virtually zero in 48 hours.
Please could I have some advice on checks I can make ?
I am afraid that I am not very technically minded and that is an understatement !
Many thanks in advance,
Best wishes
Charles
 
A faulty radio/CD can deplete a battery (although perhaps over days, rather than hours). You could try disconnecting a cd/radio, if you have one.
 
Thank you jjad, yes there is an aftermarket radio/cd fitted.
I will disconnect and report.
Best wishes
Charles
 
There are few tutorials on youtube how to test and find battery drain.

one example

If it is to technical for you maybe it is best to find car electrician who can check for you.
Personally hate electricity and approach to it very carefully and methodically not to make bigger mess than it is.
And again, more than changing bulbs or fuses, connection speakers is issue for me.

R4 has simple electrical net so should not be many devices that can drain battery

good luck
 
I LOVE CAR ELECTRICS! The multimeter shown in Petak's picture (or one like it) is an absolute must! You'll need to be able to measure amps (up to 10 A) and volts (up to 20) so buy one first!

O.K., here goes... If your battery is running down there are 2 possible reasons:
1/ Some electrical item is using up the electricity, or:
2/ The battery is knackered. To confirm this you need to do a "capacitance test" which shows how healthy the battery is.
(To eliminate no. 2, disconnect the battery and it it's still runs flat after 48 hours, you need a new battery!)

Assuming it's only no:1 above, proceed as follows:
1/ Having made quite sure everything in the car is switched off (including the radio) disconnect the "+" wire from the battery. Leave the "-" wire connected to the battery.
2/ Using your newly-bought meter, set the selector to AMPS and connect the wires to the meter as per the meter instructions (usually this means putting the RED lead to the AMPS plug and the BLACK lead to the COMMON plug, but not all meters are the same)
3/ Now connect the RED lead to the "+" terminal on the battery and the BLACK lead to the wire that had been connected to the battery's "+" terminal. You might find some crocodile clips useful to do this.
4/ The circuit is now complete and the meter will show how many amps are being used. The reading should be NIL or at a very low level. If you have a modern radio/CD player that has a back-up memory these use approximately half an amp on stand-by. Any reading over an amp or so is worrying and the cause needs to be found. Remove and then replace one fuse at a time and note the change in the reading, if any. If the removal of a specific fuse causes the amperage to drop then you have isolated where the power is leaking to. You then need to ascertain what items are controlled by that fuse and investigate further.

That's enough for the moment-report back to the forum with news....
 
Another cause for battery drain in a Renault 4 is the alternator. Mine drains the battery in a week or two, so I disconnect the battery when I'm not using it. Of course you can also check if the alternator is charging at all when you drive. With the engine off the battery voltage should be around 12V. With the engine on it should be about 14V.
 
Thank you guys, I haven't had a chance to look yet as away from home. I will report back.
Best wishes
Charles
 
MMM strange I'm not sure it is the CD/Radio which I have disconnected.
I have been charging the battery today for ages using a CTEK charger that I have used successfully before.
However today it charges up to step 3 or 3 lights only. The instructions say that the car will start at 4 lights onwards (fully charged is 6 lights).
I tried to start it at 3 lights but it wouldn't so I had to use my new toy, a fantastic Jumping Jack instant starter.
I'll keep it on the CTEK overnight and see if it fully charges it or not and I'll report back.
I haven't had time to try any of the other suggestions above yet but I will so that you for all the input everyone.
Best wishes
Charles
 
Might I suggest a capacitance test? I mentioned this in my earlier post, so let me explain: A simple voltmeter will show the voltage across the battery's terminals and will probably show you 12 volts when you measure the voltage. The problem is that this doesn't measure what the battery can do under load. What the capacitance test does is show how much the battery can deliver when stressed and this reading is the critical one. Normally it should read 9.6 volts or higher and this is the voltage the battery should be able to deliver when powering the starter motor.

You're in Hampshire and I'm in Barnet-not too far away... If you want to borrow my capacitance meter I'm happy to pop down for coffee & petrols money, if you're stuck!
 
Thank you Andrew what a kind offer. I think I have a friend near home with a C meter so let me try him first. As I mentioned above I'm away from home a lot so I think I am not able to do this until next weekend. I'll revert again.
Best wishes
Charles
 
Sorry for being late coming back to you but I was finally home yesterday. I checked through my motor related file and found the receipt for the battery, a 1048 350A Yuasa battery.
It was only 18 months old so I jump started it and took it back from whence it came. They attached it to their equipment and told me that the battery was knackered but, not to worry, still under warranty.
So I know have a new free battery, bingo !
Thanks as always for everyone's help on here, particularly Andrew,
Best wishes
Charles
 
Back
Top