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Table of Contents
1. Revisions................................................................................................................................. 1
2. References............................................................................................................................... 1
3. Introduction............................................................................................................................. 1
4. Testing Car Battery Charging Function.................................................................................. 1
5. Testing Car Battery ................................................................................................................. 1
6. Testing Car Battery Quiescent Current Draw/Load................................................................ 2
1. Revisions
2012-05-29 Version 01: Original Document
2. References
The references were the BenzWorld Forum and the Star Diagnosis System (SDS), Xentry,
Workshop Information System (WIS).
3. Introduction
The W220 is particularly prone to large quiescent current draw, often called parasitic current
drain through it’s proliferation of electronic circuits some of which are constantly activated.
Sometimes the electronic circuits can develop issues and become heavy continuous users of
battery power. When the car has been locked and has fully gone to sleep (takes at least twenty
minutes) the quiescent drain from the car battery must not exceed 0.05A or 50mA.
If you find that the battery is constantly going flat or the unlocking system seems to take a long
time to respond, it could be that you have a low voltage battery caused by excessive quiescent
current draw. The following tests will help determine which components are causing the
problem.
It is a good idea to start with the obvious and first test the car battery charging function and the
car battery itself, before embarking on the more detailed quiescent current tests.
You can also test the battery itself with a hydrometer or by performing a load test. Either will
show a battery that has outlived its usefulness. There is a pretty good tutorial on batteries at:
http://www.batterystuff.com/tutorial_battery.html and another one for the hydrometer test at:
http://autorepair.about.com/library/.../aa101604c.htm. There's a "poor man's load test" video at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viltQBg2jOQ
If testing at individual fuses each fuse quiescent current should be no more than 0.020-0.030A or
20-30mA.
The first task is to make the current sense resistor out of scrap workshop materials. I used about
250mm of light gauge (1.3mm dia.) galvanised twitching wire. Wind this around a broom
handle to make a crude coil. Clamp the ends in an electrical connector block. Make two
connecting wires out of two pieces of heavy gauge insulated copper wire with alligator clips
soldered to one end and the other end stripped, tinned with solder, and placed into the electrical
connector block. Leave about 6mm of these wire ends exposed so that you can clip on your
DVM. This will read the very small voltage drop which occurs across the twitching wire when it
is inserted into the circuit, and once calibrated, will give you the actual current draw.
Leave the sensing coil exposed because it may get slightly warm with large currents such as 20A
flowing and be careful where you place it so that it doesn’t burn anything.
It is not necessary to electrically insulate the sensing coil if you insert it into the negative or earth
end of the car battery. Just be aware that it is conducting electricity and try to avoid letting it
touch any parts of the car chassis at 0V or earth potential. Of course once connected, do not let it
touch any higher voltages.
Figure 2 Current Sense Resistor With DVM Connected (Red & Black Clips)
What I did was use a variable power supply, (if you don’t have one of these a car battery or
otherwise will do), connected to about a 1W load such as a car dome light globe or parking
globe. Insert the Current Sense Resistor into the circuit as well. Measure the current draw using
a DMM or an ammeter whilst simultaneously monitoring the voltage drop across the Current
Sense Resistor using another DVM if possible. If you can’t beg or borrow a second DVM it is
OK to first measure the current and then remove and measure the voltage. The result will not be
as accurate but we are not chasing a Gold Medal here. In my case I measured 0.144V or 144mV
for a 1.97A or 1,970mA load.
Using Ohms Law we can calculate the actual resistance of the Current Sense Resistor:
0.144V divided by 1.97A = 0.0731Ω or 73.1mΩ.
Then using Ohms law again (in a spread sheet is a good idea) calculate the equivalents for some
round number values of mV and mA. This way when you make a measurement you can get an
approximate idea of how much current is being measured by quickly checking the Conversion
Chart. A more precise value can be calculated later.
You can see by inserting the Current Sense Resistor into the circuit only a 1V voltage drop is
caused by 13.7A flowing. Or 10A will cause a 0.7V drop. Even for these large currents the car
will not really notice the voltage drops, (remember the battery varies from 12.4 to 14.2V
anyway). For a quiescent current of 0.050A or 50mA the corresponding voltage drop will only
be 0.0037V or 3.7mV.
If you lock/unlock the doors and the car decides to run the PSE Pump while you have the Current
Sense Resistor installed, and complains of low battery voltage, just wait until the large currents
drop back to quiescent values again.
It is important to wait at least 20 minutes for the vehicle to completely go to sleep after locking.
If any circuit is activated then deactivated, wait at least another 20 minutes before retesting.
Several simple methods are available but note withdrawing any fuse and reinserting it or
inserting a test device will mean that the circuit is deactivated and then reactivated and you may
need to wait at least 20 minutes before retesting this particular circuit. The Navigation is a good
example and once reactivated after a fuse pull will draw approximately 0.8A or 800mA for 20
minutes, until it again reaches a standby current (quiescent) of less than 0.020A or 20mA. The
Radio will also consume about 0.24A or 240mA for a short while after being reconnected.
Reference: WIS.
FUSE RATING FUSE RESISTANCE
5A 17.3mΩ
7.5A 10.3 mΩ
10A 7.4 mΩ
15A 4.6 mΩ
20A 3.07 mΩ
25A 2.33 mΩ
30A 1.77 mΩ
40A 1.3 mΩ
Then all you do is individually pull fuses and insert the Dummy Fuse with inbuilt Current Sense
Resistor with the fuse protection into the circuit. Wait the 20 minutes for the car to settle and
then monitor the voltage drop across the Dummy Fuse and calculate the quiescent current. The
result should be less than the specified value of 20-30mA in each circuit. Be careful that the
Created 24th May 2012 Page 7 of 7
exposed coil of the Current Sense Resistor does not come into contact with any metal parts as the
coil will be sitting at elevated voltages near 12V.
With the boot/trunk lid closed the measurement immediately dropped to 23mV, which is
equivalent to 0.315A or 315mA.
Five minutes later the measurement had dropped to 3mV, which is equivalent to 0.041A or
41mA.
After another five minutes the load had dropped to 2.0mV, which is equivalent to 0.027A or
27mA.
After another ten minutes (ie at the specified 20 minutes after locking the vehicle) the reading
was basically the same and fluctuated from 1.9mV to 2.3mV which is equivalent to 26-31mA.
The average is 29mA.