1995 Range Rover HSE - Some issues to overcome

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Valiante said:
Tell me if I'm doing this wrong... this is how I have it set (see attached) and it tells me where to connect the leads when they're not plugged in. I always plug the black cable into COM and the red cable wherever else it tells me to (in this case, mA).

Even if I have the cables backwards, it just gives me the same figure with a minus (-) symbol in front of it.
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Meter setting looks OK, you should see a couple of amps with a door open if all the interior lights and puddle lights are working.
10.5 volts is a totaly dead battery, that is why the readings are so low I suspect.
 
Datatek said:
10.5 volts is a totaly dead battery, that is why the readings are so low I suspect.
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I'm thinking of disconnecting it, bringing it indoors and sticking it on a car battery charger for a few hours. Any reasons why I shouldn't do that? Suggestions, pitfalls, perils? :p
 
That looks a useful meter!

That all looks fine - but I am still puzzled by the readings you are getting.

Current (amps) = Watts divided by volts

.....so you can check the reading you get with a known voltage and a known wattage bulb. You can then make sure that your display is showing the right reading. If you use a 12v source and (say) a 5 watt bulb, the reading should be around 400mA (0.4 Amps) so it would be above the 200mA range, so you would need to set your meter to the 10A setting and connect the cable to the left hand socket.

Pete
 
Valiante said:
I'm thinking of disconnecting it, bringing it indoors and sticking it on a car battery charger for a few hours. Any reasons why I shouldn't do that? Suggestions, pitfalls, perils? :p
Click to expand...

It could cause all sorts of havoc on a P38 but you should be fine on a Classic - but (depending on the capabilites of your charger) it would need more than "a few hours" to bring the battery back to life if it has gone that low. Probably 24 hours at least for get it fairly fully charged.

You may be better off taking it to a battery shop and getting them to test it properly for dead cells. If none are dead then they can advise on how best to charge it.

Pete
 
Pete The Biker said:
That looks a useful meter!
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Useful, but duff! Your suggestion of a simple test just proved that.

I have a small camping lamp which runs off a battery pack consisting of 4 x 1.5v D batteries. In normal V mode the meter reads 6.13V - all good there.

In 10A mode, the bulb lights up and I get a reading of 0.59A which by my calculations makes this a 3.6W bulb (if there is such a thing, it's not marked so I can't confirm).

BUT... if I put it in 200mA mode, the damn bulb doesn't even light up and the meter registers 0.000mA! So I'm thinking the fused circuit in the meter is up the swanny.

Pete The Biker said:
It could cause all sorts of havoc on a P38 but you should be fine on a Classic
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Sadly, this is a P38, but the battery's been disconnected several times already so I guess another stint overnight won't hurt.
 
As long as you have the EKA code in case of problems you should be OK disconnecting the battery. I've had mine on and off a dozen times in the last few days with no problem. As for your meter, you have probably blown an internal fuse if you overloaded the 200ma range.
 
Isn't 0.59A more than 200. ie 590ma.

Meter ain't bust.
If battery is now disconnected,what voltage is across it.If it still reads 10.x volts then its dropped a cell. Car shop will test it for you.
 
Datatek said:
As for your meter, you have probably blown an internal fuse if you overloaded the 200ma range.
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Confirmed. Probably my fault for using the wrong mode.. having misread that other forum post, thinking I was looking for a 0.3mA load (I really know nothing about this stuff), I stuck it on 200mA which is probably when it went pop. Just took it apart and indeed there's a little 315mA fuse in that circuit which has blown.

I guess I should go back and re-do all my tests using the 10A mode to detect the draw on the battery, after charging it overnight of course.

/sigh again
 
Valiante said:
Confirmed. Probably my fault for using the wrong mode.. having misread that other forum post, thinking I was looking for a 0.3mA load (I really know nothing about this stuff), I stuck it on 200mA which is probably when it went pop. Just took it apart and indeed there's a little 315mA fuse in that circuit which has blown.

I guess I should go back and re-do all my tests using the 10A mode to detect the draw on the battery, after charging it overnight of course.

/sigh again
Click to expand...
My cheapo meter has a 4 digit display. On the 10 amp range therefore it gives 2 decimal places. So the 30ma you you should expect on the P38 with everthing off, doors shut would read 00.03A on the 10 amp range. anymore is possibly a problem, less is OK. Just looked at the photo of your meter, it appears to have a 3 digit display. Look to see where the decimal point appears on the 10 amp range, if it gives 2 decimal places it will do the job, if it only gives one decimal place it's not a lot of use for checking 30 ma:D
 
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An earlier post mentioned a test set-up reading of 0.59A so it looks like the display will be OK for these purposes - presumably it goes up to 9.99 on the 10 Amp range i.e. always two decimal places.

Now that you know that the lower range is bust, the diagnostics will hopefully be simpler now!

Pete
 
Ok - after charging all night (from about 5pm yesterday) the battery's now reading 12.86V before I've attached it to the car, so I'm thinking it's not a duff battery or a dead cell.

I'll reattach when I get a chance today and re-do the tests in Amps, not mA, and on a full battery, not a flat one. I'm supposed to be working though, so I'll have to steal the odd 5 mins here and there to go out to the car.
 
Just took the beast of a battery back out to the car, connected the negative terminal, stuck the multimeter on Amps and put it between the positive terminal and positive cable. Initially got a reading of 0.95A (950mA) then after about 10-15 seconds it dropped to 0.70A (700mA) and held, I'm guessing after something went to sleep.

So, is 700mA too high a current draw for an idle car with a fully charged battery?
 
When my Tracker was faulty the constant drain was about 330mA and this would completely drain the battery in a week.

Batteries are rated on Ampere Hours i.e. how long they will deliver a certain current. They are usually around 50Ah, so 50 divided by 0.7A gives approx 70 hours = about 3 days before your battery is completely drained.

An idle car (e.g. when its parked) should draw no more than about 50mA (0.05A)

Pete
 
Valiante said:
Just took the beast of a battery back out to the car, connected the negative terminal, stuck the multimeter on Amps and put it between the positive terminal and positive cable. Initially got a reading of 0.95A (950mA) then after about 10-15 seconds it dropped to 0.70A (700mA) and held, I'm guessing after something went to sleep.

So, is 700mA too high a current draw for an idle car with a fully charged battery?
Click to expand...

When the BECM goes to sleep, I think from memory you should be looking a a max of 30ma. 700ma is way too high, disconnect your alternator and see if it drops.
 
I tried removing every fuse again today, but no joy. I even "replaced" each fuse on the front seat fusebox with the multimeter, to see how much current was being drawn through that circuit. The only one which came close to 700mA was the interior light circuit, (fuse 15 I think) but that was only drawing a current while the door was open. Removing that fuse still didn't affect the draw on the battery when the doors were closed, so I'm thinking it's not the interior light(s).

Datatek said:
When the BECM goes to sleep, I think from memory you should be looking a a max of 30ma. 700ma is way too high, disconnect your alternator and see if it drops.
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The alternator could be drawing power from tha battery when the engine's not running? I'd never have thought of that. Just need to figure out how to disconnect the thing now... :D I've suspected the alternator since the test drive, given the funky grinding noise it makes!
 
Valiante said:
I tried removing every fuse again today, but no joy. I even "replaced" each fuse on the front seat fusebox with the multimeter, to see how much current was being drawn through that circuit. The only one which came close to 700mA was the interior light circuit, (fuse 15 I think) but that was only drawing a current while the door was open. Removing that fuse still didn't affect the draw on the battery when the doors were closed, so I'm thinking it's not the interior light(s).


The alternator could be drawing power from tha battery when the engine's not running? I'd never have thought of that. Just need to figure out how to disconnect the thing now... :D I've suspected the alternator since the test drive, given the funky grinding noise it makes!
Click to expand...

If a diode has gone down in the diode pack, it will allow current to drain back through the alternator. Failure of the regulator can also cause odd current drains:eek:
 
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