Parasitic draw from Driving lights / UHF?

paffoh

paffoh

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Joined
Sep 3, 2008
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Location
Canberra, A.C.T
Members,

Got my new lights and CB installed on Thursday and went away fishing for the weekend. By Sunday morning my battery was cactus and had to get a jump, got back to canberra and got a battery test which showed 6%. It was then mentioned to me that I might have a parasitic drain or short, would explain the funny buzzing sound I heard from outside the car while I was packing my gear ( Radio playing ).

Luckily it was during a fishing comp and a mate drove from town to jump start... I am trying to build me car into a dependable state and I had to get saved by a Surf! ( A nice looking one though ). Will take the car back to place of install when I can and get some tests done, in the mean time will replace the battery as it appears to be the original ( Over 5 years old ).

Any comments or experiences?
 
I have & carry a battery jump starter with me in the car at all times. Never had to use it to start my car yet & it has additional sockets on it which have come in handy for other things. I.E Recharging my cameras etc.

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
Five years is a very good run for a car battery - so I dont't thing you can complain about having to replace it.

I understand that one of the common ways to wire in a UHF set it of have it connected direct (ie on all the time regardless of the key position) so that is can be used as a base station when the car is not running. Maybe yours was left on all weekend and with the battery near the end of its life it ws easily flattened.

Cheers

Brian
 
Thanks guys, I agree about the battery life!

Yeah I could have left it on, it was hard to tell when the battery was flat. I will have to keep a good eye on these things ( Ie : check to see they are off ) before exiting the vehicle. The lights were installed with a mouse toggle switch which is clicked to turn on, clicked to turn off. Unfortunately there is no small light to tell if they are actually on or off, the only way to tell is to switch the high beams on and check. If on toggle switch once to turn off, turn high beams off, turn lights off and exit the vehicle. Maybe the noises I heard are only audible when a battery dry pumps, it sure alerted me to a problem at the time.

I will go buy a booster pack from Super cheap and keep it with my recovery gear at all times. When I get my rear bar done ( About a year ) I will get a tyre carrier / fuel carrier and keep all the gear tucked in the spare wheel well... All sounds good in practice.
 
I wired my CB radio to only operate when in the accessories or on positions. I know what I am like and would leave it on all year otherwise. With my driving lights, I wired them so they were switched on with high beam via a relay. So much easier and quicker to use.
 
Yeah I figure thats the way they wired themn up, got a new battery anyway so will keep an eye on it, might try powering up the cb when the car is switched off to see if it still works ( I doubt it ) and will do the same with the lights. Thanks heaps for your help fellas, most of my fishing trips are solo in rugged bush so would hate to get a flat and hike 30kms out... Thats why i bought a CB!
 
Hmm, CB can be powered on when the car is off and key is completely removed. Might be the exact reason I got a flat, will have to make a sticker visible inside the car that reminds me to double check before exiting... Why didnt they do it the other, especially as I am a noob with no idea?
 
i dont know what the norm is, but that is how i wired my CB up. i wanted it to work when everything is off. if you wanted to pull over for a rest or were waiting for someone it would still work with everything else off and the keys in your pocket if you had to rest outside your car. if your heading out to the bush a second battery or a jumper pack is a good idea anyway.
 
Rally said:
With my driving lights, I wired them so they were switched on with high beam via a relay. So much easier and quicker to use.
Click to expand...

Rally, I'm not sure where you're located in oz, but I know in Vic its illegal not to have a switch to turn the relay to the driving lights off while you have your highbeams on... This is how I have my hellas setup and its never a problem - i turn off my standard highbeams and the driving lights turn off too. When I leave the car they are off as well.

If you're subi is turning the driving lights on when you turn the ignition off it means that the relay has been wired for an old school "positive switched" vehicle. Subi's these days are Negatively switched - meaning they "turn off" the earth in the system, not the power.

If you, or anyone else needs a wiring diagram for this let me know, I have a dodgy "5 year's old" computer drawing of one cos I suck with a mouse in paint...

Cheers

Bennie
 
El_Freddo said:
Rally, I'm not sure where you're located in oz, but I know in Vic its illegal not to have a switch to turn the relay to the driving lights off while you have your highbeams on... This is how I have my hellas setup and its never a problem - i turn off my standard highbeams and the driving lights turn off too. When I leave the car they are off as well.

If you're subi is turning the driving lights on when you turn the ignition off it means that the relay has been wired for an old school "positive switched" vehicle. Subi's these days are Negatively switched - meaning they "turn off" the earth in the system, not the power.

If you, or anyone else needs a wiring diagram for this let me know, I have a dodgy "5 year's old" computer drawing of one cos I suck with a mouse in paint...

Cheers

Bennie
Click to expand...

i think Tony meant that the extra hi-beam spots only came on when he flicked the standard hi-beams. mine do the same but with an over ride switch. the over ride switch controlls the relay. i'm sure Rally had the same set up.:) yes your right the the hi-beams are NEG switched. if you POS switch them they will come on when you turn the engine off. (if you have an over ride switch turned on straight from the battery.)
 
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Eden is correct. That is how I wired my car

Putting in the over ride switch would be straight forward and would make it legal, but I did not want to do it that way.
 
yeh i just wired mine so when the high beams are on so are the spotties, naught of me, but i just turn my highs off when needed. people will let me know pretty quick if they're on!

why not run the cb off your accesories? like it uses no more power if you turn off the radio, if you want to leave your car with acc on just get a key cut $5, but because it doesn't have the chip in it no-one can flog your car, that's what i've done, it's good for running the fridge too while i'm away from the car
 
Rally said:
I wired my CB radio to only operate when in the accessories or on positions. I know what I am like and would leave it on all year otherwise. With my driving lights, I wired them so they were switched on with high beam via a relay. So much easier and quicker to use.
Click to expand...

Same here....

The CB actually powers off the back of the cigy lighter... Accesories only.
 
The plain keys are good if you have to lock your car while you're doing watersports - hide the electronic key in the car and use the plain one to lock the car, then just put it on a cord around you neck - doesn't matter if it gets wet.
 
yeh that too, also a good place to hide your keys is in the strut top, ike at the bottom of the spring
 
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