Quiescent Current - Battery Regulator

[mhill]

Anyone able to shine any light on this?

Address 61: Battery Regul. Labels: 1K0-907-534.clb
Control Module Part Number: 7E0 907 534 HW: 7E0 937 090
Component and/or Version: Batt.regelung H80 0736
Software Coding: 330B1A73
Work Shop Code: WSC 02739 790 00000
VCID: 68DFF4329B73977ED6-803D
1 Fault Found:

02256 - Quiescent Current
001 - Upper Limit Exceeded - Intermittent
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 00100001
Fault Priority: 7
Fault Frequency: 50
Reset counter: 78
Mileage: 0 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2016.05.11
Time: 02:34:39

 

[Pauly]

Have you had anything connected to a towbar ??

 

[mhill]

On & off but only my tipper trailer lately which doesn't pull any charge.

 

[Pauly]

I have seen the same error on mine, it was related to the towbar

Yours is from 11th May and hasnt come up again so i wouldnt worry about it too much, was that when you had the bar fitted by anychance ?

 

[mhill]

It's a factory tow bar.

Strange one, got a few trailers all are 13pin but lighting only so can't se how they would over load the alternator.

 

[Pauly]

I dont think mine was overload i though it was related to putting a draw on the battery while engine was off, quiescent meaning standby current ?, the westfalia oem kit has a permanent supply timer thingy built into it to stop flat batteries from connected trailer loads

 

[Dellmassive]

I Had this come up when i forgot to remove my OBDII Bluetooth socket dongle from under the dash,

basically saying that there is an excessive/unexpected power draw from something, somewhere, from the main starter battery.(when the van goes to sleep) (monitored from the "shunt on the neg terminal of the starter battery")

 

[Pauly]

Since this original post i have seen this come up on dozens of vans with varying specs, i think its just one of those things ?

 

[Dellmassive]

It's a very valid diagnostic data parameter.

02256 - Quiescent Current (metered current after all modules gone sleep, should be below 50mA)
001 - Upper Limit Exceeded - Intermittent( (intermittamt implying that thst it is now a current issue but has occured x many time in the passed time frame) and (upper limit implying the monitor has detected more than the expected 50mA or say 70mA pid trigger level and power 9s being drained somewhere.)

It's basically logging parasitic power draws. Invaluable to a diagnostic tech.

And In my case it was spot on every time.

Detecting power being drained by a GPS radar detector and obd2 bluetooth dongle being left plugged in, that effectly would have run the battery dead flat after a few days to a week. (Obd port and 12v socket are connected direct to the battery so will drain battery if left plugged in and switch on)

 

[mmi]

This is a real “fault” and actually a kind “useful” one. As above the battery monitoring circuit tracks currents in and out from main battery, also when the van is “asleep” - the doors and the bonnet closed and the van locked. By “useful” I mean that for a healthy van without any add-on consumers the fault won’t be triggered. Also the trigger level, presumably 50 mA as above, leaves not too much headroom for any significant leaks in the electrical system to go unnoticed.

Unfortunately the freeze frame data doesn’t have a lot useful information for tracing the culprit or even magnitude of excessive current. Though the fault frequency counter would tell if the excessive current is of permanent nature. However seems that the counter is stepped up only once during each standstill.

The fault is used by VW garage to “prove” the van itself is healthy. Without any add-ons there shall not be the fault. However, the current monitoring seems to accumulate several hours for excessive current before reporting the fault. For example having just a VCDS cable connected the fault is usually not reported before 6-10 hours after locking the van.

Normal housekeeping current in T6 is less than 40 mA (measured about 30-35mA). Energywise it means about 1 Ah/day. (24h x 0.04 A = 0.98Ah). Presumably the consumers are the battery monitoring (module 61) itself, door lock/unlock receiver (presumably controlled by central electrics, module 09), Webasto remote receiver, alarm system, possibly the Car-net (not sure if it is alive on T6 when ignition off). So there is not much headroom for additional consumers like dash cams, etc.

The T6 module 61 typically reports available main battery charge of 30-40Ah after engine shut down for a 75Ah main battery. It seems that reported available charge “0” is at about one fourth of battery’s nominal capacity – thus at the edge of entering to deep discharge. Anyways, based on the calculations about a month takes the main battery down to level where charging is definitely necessary.

 

[mmi]

A couple of seemingly innocent battery drainers - USB-plugs. Not draining battery overnight but in addition to van’s own housekeeping activities (as above) – in a few weeks at worst .


These two together already double van's own standby current. I do hope there are better ones...

 

[Dellmassive]

Weve got some Anker USB chargers . . . . . . ill have to meter the standby current as its not listed on the specs.


(though having said that half are on a ignition switched supply, and the others are on a 24hr AUX battery supply) - so doesn't trigger the above "02256 - Quiescent Current "


Car Chargers - Anker


weve got these:

48W 4-Port USB Car Charger
48W 4-Port USB Car Charger


PowerDrive 2
PowerDrive 2


PowerDrive 5 Ports
PowerDrive 5 Ports


5 Port Car Charger
5 Port Car Charger


[UPGRADED] Anker PowerDrive 2 Elite
[UPGRADED] Anker PowerDrive 2 Elite

 

[mmi]

A couple of seemingly innocent battery drainers - USB-plugs. Not draining battery overnight but in addition to van’s own housekeeping activities (as above) – in a few weeks at worst .
View attachment 28040
View attachment 28041
These two together already double van's own standby current. I do hope there are better ones...

There are better ones - even among the cheap ones. Wish I could strip the blue LEDs off


As a bonus contribution have measured current draw of a few OBD-dongles when left into the van without activity on them:

• Carista 40 mA
• Viecar 40 mA (an universal OBD-dongle, similar appearance to Carista dongle)
• OBDeleven 35 mA ("old" generation dongle)
  
• VCDS HEX-V2 cable (without PC) 70 mA

Interestingly only VCDS HEX-V2 cable eventually (typically after 6...10 hours since locking the van) triggers the fault. The others didn't trigger the fault in 3 days - end of the test .

The measured current is sum of currents through pins 4 & 5 (GND's) into T6 OBD-socket. Was measured the wires off to pins 4 & 5 using a clamp meter.​

 

[Robert]

There are better ones - even among the cheap ones. Wish I could strip the blue LEDs off
View attachment 58034

As a bonus contribution have measured current draw of a few OBD-dongles when left into the van without activity on them:

• Carista 40 mA
• Viecar 40 mA (an universal OBD-dongle, similar appearance to Carista dongle)
• OBDeleven 35 mA ("old" generation dongle)
  
• VCDS HEX-V2 cable (without PC) 70 mA

Interestingly only VCDS HEX-V2 cable eventually (typically after 6...10 hours since locking the van) triggers the fault. The others didn't trigger the fault in 3 days - end of the test .

The measured current is sum of currents through pins 4 & 5 (GND's) into T6 OBD-socket. Was measured the wires off to pins 4 & 5 using a clamp meter.​

Impressive effort, as usual