Checking battery power drain
 

My 03 Sti has had an ongoing problem of flat battery if left for more than a day. It's had a new battery and still no luck. I got multimeter out today and disconnected negative battery terminal and put one wire to negative terminal on battery and one to earth. Was showing 12.6v. Am I checking it right? As i pulled out every fuse in turn and no luck showed 12.6v all time.

Nope.
To measure drain you need to measure Amps with the meter connected in series with the circuit. The voltage is good thought.
Check that while the engine is running with the sidelights on, the voltage across the battery is approx 14v, that ensures that your charging circuit is working.

dipster

Also always drive with the sidelights on, otherwise the charging circuit may not be enabled by the ecu. I looks at various inputs, but sidelights always gets it charging.

dipster

Cheers dipster. I'll check amps then. I drive with sidelights on for that reason. Its just when I leave it for more than a day battery is dead. Have to put trickle charge on all time if it's stood more than day. I use it every day so not too bad but sometimes I leave it at work and when it's moved into workshop at end of day it starts next morning then flat at night. Any ideas common problems?

also could be your tracker battery is flat so its taking charge from your normal bat and killing it had it with mine, thats quite common fault on bugs dont know about blobs though

I have a similar problem on mine. Battery and alternator both tested fine. I suspect its the Tracker, but I don't know where its located to disconnect it. Can any one give me any pointers?

03 plates where prone to the rac trackstar units not going to sleep properly, You need to measure the current draw in amps with a multimeter when the car is locked up and see what it is

2003 on sti's should of had the updated tracker pcb fiited by IM, this allows the unit to go to 'sleep' and reduces battery drain.

dipster

yeah They should have:thumb: My old car got missed out :cry: flat battery every 3 days

Yes its a common problem with the tracker not going to sleep properly or thats what subaru told me. I had on both of mine 03 and 55 plate sti. Had to buy a trickle charger for when it was left for more than 2 days.

Do you do a lot of short journeys?

Doesn't matter if I do long journeys or not. Can charge battery not use it and still goes flat.
I've found tracker was shoved behind heater blower behind glovebox. Checked amps and was showing 0.26. Disconnected it and showing 0.03 which I believe is about normal. Hopefully problem sorted. I'll let you know in few days.

0.05 is the maximum I'd ever expect to see even with the tracker connected, so you've found the problem, if you are paying the subscription to trackstar then maybe worth giving them a Ring and explain the situation then they should upgrade the unit foc & put it somewhere else lol now you've mentioned to potential criminals where it was lol

OK. Mine's now sorted. :thumb:

Don't pay subscription insurance not specified one. It can stay disconnected. If someone pinched it at minute they would be doing me a favour amount of problems I keep getting lol

mine has the same issues, i was told it was the alarm it drains the battery, then was advised to get a solar panel charger, so far its helped, but will check out if the tracker whether the tracker goes to sleep properly?


VJ

my sti bug 02 has the same issue
are these fitted as standard with a tracker ??
if so will have to go hunting to unplug it

my bug wrx was

Just an update. 3 days stood been out this morning and no flat battery. Fired straight up so it was tracker draining it. problem sorted. Cheers for info everyone.

Having the same problems on my 98 type r, dont think it has a tracker in it tho. Battery is brand new and charging system is working fine, got a cobra alarm tho , could this be the problem? Also thought it cud be my prosport gagues as theyve been playin up recently. How would a go about measuring drain on my alarm? Battery is currently flat , would this need to be fully charged to get accurate readings? Cheers