Hi all.
What's the acceptable battery drain when the car is OFF ? ,doors closed,alarm off,tracker disconnected .Car is a 2003 STI
Also, what is the lowest voltage i should see on the alternator, when the car is running, and the lights are on (HID) ?
Many thanks
Jan.

 

Mine lasts about 10 days when sat in the garage.

 

Volts will normally be Circa 14.1 and drain around 2/300 milliamps (0.030) iirc, some cars will sit higher at 6/700 milliamps per hour (sometimes more), normally big luxury cars with lots of gizmos which is the higher end of the "said" recommended limits iirc, think max from memory on something fully loaded should not exceed 1200 milliamps or there abouts, my Audi cab when locked sits at 1.6/7 for the first 2 mins until comfort module goes to sleep, I then get it bouncing between .03-.06 with the alarm

 

Thank you both for quick replies.
My battery goes flat overnight unless i pull the clock/room fuse out.
Had the battery strain tested yesterday and it fell below 7v ,so i guess its dead , (still under warranty though)
Craig, can you confirm 300ma = 0.030 ? i thought 300ma = 0.3A - which is what i'm getting at mine (well actually 0.22) - but without the fuse above it drops to 0.02a

 

That's correct.

JohnD

 

Thanks for confirming JohnD
so, now on to the next question , is 0.22A drain acceptable ?

 

About 4 months ago I fitted a Bosch S4 Blue battery and recently went on holiday for just over 2 weeks. Car started no problem when I cranked it over. I didn't realise that a sitting battery will lose its charge when connected to the car.

Will the battery stop losing its charge if its disconnected or even removed from the car altogether?

 

If i take the clock/room fuse out ,and leave the car for two days it will start no problem, never had a chance to leave it for longer than that as i'm using it to get to work

But ,yes i would imagine ,it will lose some charge even if disconnected

 

it shouldnt no. But never store a battery on a concrete floor in a garage or shed etc. On a piece of wood is best. Cant remember the tech reasons. College was 20+ years ago lol. But storing on a concrete surface ruins batteries.

 

I think this only applied to the old style hard rubber cased batteries.

 

Sorry bud my mistake yes your correct as John said, so .22 is nothing to worry about theoretically but if the battery is dead for what ever reason and you do alot of stop start driving over short periods then the battery is not getting a chance to replenish and as a result every time it goes flat it will kill off cells within the battery, so if its going flat regular then chances are the battery is taking charge but can't sufficiently store enough or replenish fully, if its still under warranty get it off and send it back, not sure if it will have to go back to where it was bought, or if it can go back to a distributor of the battery, you would have to ask somewhere and find out.

You will always see a drain no matter what you try as the alarm on that car is monitoring all sorts and the led flashes so you will never see a true 0.00 reading

 

Thanks Craig !! Lets hope i can use a local distributor like you said, as the new battery will cost less than the petrol i would use to take it back to place of purchase lol

 

Ironically I got bol*ocked off my old man a couple of weeks ago for putting my battery on the concrete shed floor to charge it, he couldn't remember why but he reckoned it kills batteries sharpish lol

Mick