Galaxy Flattening Its Battery

[Peter Bell]

Son in law has a 51 plate diesel Galaxy which seems to loose the battery charge after being left standing for 4~5 days. It had a new battery last year, and the recent cold weather may be a factor too. We tried measuring the current drawn when standing idle and it's all over the place, generally between 0.08 to 0.24A tried a different meter with the same results. We pulled out most of the fuses in the dashboard box one at a time to attempt to find where the current was going but no joy.

Now I assumed the current draw would be pretty constant when everything was turned off, running the clock, alarm, immobiliser etc. but this is constantly changing, showing over 2 amps on occaision. Have I assumed wrongly (as usual?)

Thanks

[kevin the chicken]

Does it have a separate ecu or control module other than the one that controls the engine? The range rover mark 2 (land rovers fastest depreciating model ever!) suffers a similar problem due to the body electrical module not hibernating or even being woken up by Bluetooth, phone signals or other radio waves. It is a cause of battery drain and a flat battery causes fault codes on things that are ok, mine was showing gearbox fault the other day. I plan to leave a trickle charger on it all the time when I get an outside socket installed. Maybe this is a route your son in law will have to go down too.

[Guest 2b cruising]

It is advisable to fit the largest out put batteries on both of these vehicle. Not sure on physical size the Galaxy will hold but the Rangie will take a really good one. Even a cheep chilies battery would cost around £70 on fleabey. So don't expect to get a good aph battery for a little money. Look at owners hand book and see if you can get one better than they recommend. Cheaper in the long run.

[tractor]

I had same thing on my van I don't know weather I have cured it yet but if I leave it idle for two days only just enough power in battery to work central locking I have struggled to find the problem but I wanted to change interior bulbs cos they didn't last long so I got some led and when I fitted one to the cabin it was on sort of although it should have been off at that time on the courtesy setting so now I have manually switched light off but haven't left it idle for two days yet

[Guest Gargoil]

Have you tried disconnecting items that don't go through the fuse box? If the starter motor has a fault, that could draw a current high enough for problems but low enough to not seem like it is active. Is there a dramatic change in voltage with the battery connected/disconnected?

[Peter Bell]

I think there may be a couple of control units in It, or at least several aluminium boxes, the engine one when the fuse was pulled made no difference. Was going to try disconnecting the starter motor but it was difficult and cold! so abandoned it for the day, It was the constantly changing current though that worries me. He has had it for quite a while now and it has had a few odd electrical faults in its time. I think the battery is 80ampere hr.

[Dave R]

whats the main battery connector like ??

any main fuses in the vicinty that are permanent live ??

may be an easy place to try and split it up

[nicko]

I had a problem like this with my tin top. Eventually traced it to the radio, replaced it with another one and it's been ok for over 4 years.

only found the problem when I removed the stereo faceplate and the ignition key and music was still playing.

Nick

 

[tractor]

wouldn't you need an infinite power source to power a galaxy ill get my coat

[IanS]

Alternator dying can cause this.

Current all over the place can be power on inrush to the electronics chargeing the internal capacitors and doing self check. It should settle to a few mA given time.

[Steve49er]

Hi sorry to hear of your problems. If you need a New Battery I have always had success with thebatteryguys.com if I not got it correct google the battery guys. I had phenomenal service from them, always very helpful but only on the net.

 

My Daughter who is at University leaves her car sometimes for several weeks without using it and we purchased from Maplin a Solar Battery Charger/manager that she plugs in to the Cigarette Lighter Socket in the Car everytime she leaves it parked up. She puts the Panel in an area where it will collect any available light. I also use one Glued to the Wall of my Garage that I keep the Hood in and make sure battery is fully charged before leaving car for winter. The Solar Panel keeps Battery OK so far so good.

 

Hope this assists.

Steve

[Guest chris brown]

Hi sorry to hear of your problems. If you need a New Battery I have always had success with thebatteryguys.com if I not got it correct google the battery guys. I had phenomenal service from them, always very helpful but only on the net.

 

My Daughter who is at University leaves her car sometimes for several weeks without using it and we purchased from Maplin a Solar Battery Charger/manager that she plugs in to the Cigarette Lighter Socket in the Car everytime she leaves it parked up. She puts the Panel in an area where it will collect any available light. I also use one Glued to the Wall of my Garage that I keep the Hood in and make sure battery is fully charged before leaving car for winter. The Solar Panel keeps Battery OK so far so good.

 

Hope this assists.

Steve

good idea Steve but make sure cigarette lighter is still powered with keys removed lots aren't.

[Steve49er]

Cheers Chris its a Skoda Fabia 2003 and as far as we can see it seems to be working it is not a Cigarette Lighter but that type of Socket just an Auxiliary Skoda/VW put in which we previously used to power our Camping Lights whilst on holiday ! But if anybody knows any different please let me know. Thank You.

Steve.

Edited December 30, 2014 by Steve49er