9 replies to this topic

[Mattk668]

Hi guys and girls,

I had a problem with holding the charge in my 1987 Austin mini mayfair 1275 shortly after buying it, Constant 1.5amp drain on the battery, found out this was the battery earth strap, so sanded down abit of rust from the body and replaced the earth lead and this fixed the problem..

The previous Owner told me there was no Cd player installed but all the wiring was in, as it used to have one but he wasn't a fan of music so removed it.

After a few months a decided to install a CD player (simply just plugged in the leads from the cdplayer into the iso connector already installed in the car, and earthed it to a bolt to the body underneath the dash)

After 2 days of driving around with it in, the battery would be completly dead... iv disconnected the Cd player since and recharged the battery, and the car runs fine again (tested for just over a week before re-installing it)
Its a brand new battery and i reccently replaced the alternator for a 70amp one.

i'm at abit of a loose end now... i just want to be able to listen to music in my car .....

any Ideas or suggestions to what the fault could be would be great

Regards, Matt

[tiger99]

A rusty earth is a bad thing, and may cause difficulties with starting and charging, but it does not and can not cause a 1.5A drain on the battery. You need to look for some circuit which is energised all the time, when it should not be. If you measured 1.5A, it is leaking, not being restricted by series resistance. It can be a faulty alternator, as that is live all the time.

The CD player should be fed from a supply controlled by the ignition switch. If not, and it is permanently live, that may be the problem. Most likely, the previous owner wrongly wired the ISO connector.You should check where every wire goes.

[Bungle]

as above i would be checking is there a permanent live feed at the head unit

[Dan]

Check that the permanant live and the ignition live aren't switched at the CD player, the ISO standard isn't so much a standard in the discrimination between those two things. Why did you have to give the player a second earth? There should have been one in the ISO if it was fitted properly.

[Mattk668]

ok thanks i'll check to see where the live is comming from. well my cd player is a double din unit which plays dvds aswell and had a seperate earth cable on the back.

[Dan]

Are you sure it's an earth and not a handbrake switch connection?

[Cerberus]

or the aerial?

[Mattk668]

Could the handbrake switch or aerial be causing the battery to drain so fast?

[yousmeg]

It could be many things - does your cd player remember your settings after you turn the car off? (volume & bass settings etc.)

[Mattk668]

no, it resets itself every time "/