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Posted by ransley on January 31, 2008, 3:58 pm
What should the current draw be with a car parked, for the night, not
running, Volvo v40 with factory alarm but never activated. How do you
check this. In the morning my battery is low. Can I use a 120v digital
clamp on amp meter.
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Posted by on January 31, 2008, 4:16 pm
On Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:58:23 -0800 (PST), ransley
>What should the current draw be with a car parked, for the night, not
>running, Volvo v40 with factory alarm but never activated. How do you
>check this. In the morning my battery is low. Can I use a 120v digital
>clamp on amp meter.
No but you could use the Ma scale in series (disconnect the battery,
put the meter in line) but don't turn anything else on. You could
overload the meter.
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Posted by Simpson on January 31, 2008, 4:21 pm
ransley wrote:
> What should the current draw be with a car parked, for the night, not
> running, Volvo v40 with factory alarm but never activated. How do you
> check this. In the morning my battery is low. Can I use a 120v digital
> clamp on amp meter.
I use the amp meter on a digital car multimeter. Normally, when not
running and key off, a car pulls just enough current to keep the
computer and the digital stereo settings alive, which isn't much. I
don't know exactly how much but I would bet it's way below a half an amp.
In any case, to track down a current leak, attach an amp meter and start
pulling fuses until you find the one that is pulling excessive current.
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Posted by Jerry on January 31, 2008, 4:43 pm
>
> In any case, to track down a current leak, attach an amp meter and start
> pulling fuses until you find the one that is pulling excessive current.
Note that if you do this on a recent Honda, you'd better have the
radio security code before you pull all power to the radio. When the
power comes back on, you have to enter the security code to activate
the radio. If you don't have the security code, you need to take the
radio serial number (located, of course, on the back of the radio) to
the dealer for them to look up the security code. It has been reported
in several Honda forums that some less-than-consumer-friendly dealers
have been charging for this information.
Volvo may or may not do this also, I don't know.
Jerry
Jerry
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Posted by Pete C. on January 31, 2008, 4:30 pm
ransley wrote:
>
> What should the current draw be with a car parked, for the night, not
> running, Volvo v40 with factory alarm but never activated. How do you
> check this. In the morning my battery is low. Can I use a 120v digital
> clamp on amp meter.
You should expect a standby current of perhaps .1-.2A at most, composed
of the ECM, radio, alarm and any feature module standby demands.
A clamp on amp meter will only work if it is the AC/DC hall effect type.
Even then, the expected current draw is so low that a clamp meter
wouldn't work well. You will generally need to disconnect a battery lead
and connect the meter in series using the appropriate connections for
it's DC Amp range.
Something as simple as a failed switch on a trunk or hood light keeping
it on will greatly increase the standby current. If the standby current
looks reasonable then the suspects are the battery and the alternator.
Other more unlikely suspects would be stuff like air suspension
compressors running periodically due to a leak, or a power radio antenna
continuing to run after it's down due to a bad limit switch. I don't
know what a Volvo v40 has so no idea if any of those are applicable.
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