Quiescent current draw
- Thread starter BlackICE
- Start date
Empty Pockets
ex-GT Owner
This is the current draw from the battery that the car is using even when turned off. The larger the number the faster your battery will die if you don't drive the car to recharge the battery. I think you have some experience with this with your wife's BMW and probably your FGT since you never drove it.
Empty Pockets
ex-GT Owner
Thanks for all that (!), but, what I was getting at by the "??????????" was - why that particular info completely out-of-the-blue?! lol!
Xcentric
GT Owner
I was just installing a new battery and I also have an easy to turn switch on the ground wire. I was always curious how much power the car drains, so I hooked up an ammeter across the switch and then opened the switch to measure the current.
11mA isn't bad at all, but with the alarm on 85mA is a bit bad for sitting around a long time.
e.g. assuming you have a 40A hour battery 85mA would completely drain it in 19.6 days. I wouldn't recommend discharging the battery more than 25% that would mean having the alarm on for 5 days max assuming a fully charged new battery!
The alarm is set whenever you lock the doors with the remote. I don't know if the same holds true just using the key.
jbyrnes
FORD GT OWNER
Xcentric
GT Owner
When it's battery replacement time, get a DieHard Platinum. It is a deep cycle battery, made by Odyssey, and it is built to withstand repeated discharge/recharge cycles. The Sears branded Odyssey has one year longer warranty than the Odyssey branded, and is generally a little less expensive.
analogdesigner
GT Owner
-ICE,
Thanks for measuring that as you saved me the trouble. About six years ago I did post the output voltage characteristics of the factory battery charger/tender. Maybe it's still on the forum. Back then I had prototyped a wireless battery charger/tender which is nice since there are no wires to deal with. I am not sure if anyone would buy this. Jay
Thanks for measuring that as you saved me the trouble. About six years ago I did post the output voltage characteristics of the factory battery charger/tender. Maybe it's still on the forum. Back then I had prototyped a wireless battery charger/tender which is nice since there are no wires to deal with. I am not sure if anyone would buy this. Jay
2112
Blue/white 06'
How do you charge the battery w/o connecting wires?
Are you Nikola Tesla Reincarnated? :biggrin :wink
Are you Nikola Tesla Reincarnated? :biggrin :wink
Induction, basically using a transformer where the primary coil is on the ground and the secondary coil is on the bottom of the car. Park the car to align the coils and you have a transformer. Of course you will need a rectifier and voltage regulator on the car side too.
I lot of cordless tooth brushes use the same technology.
2112
Blue/white 06'
So if you pass your hand thru the space between the two, would you feel current? (or get shocked?)
The two coils should be insulated so you won't feel anything unless you can detect a magnetic field with your hands.
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the Wizard
GT Owner
The problem is in the dimension of the air gap, I think it needs to be REALLY small to work well........
analogdesigner
GT Owner
The system that I designed several years ago works up to 6 inches away. I had designed the pickup (receiver) module so that it would fit into the hollowed section of the front chin spoiler closest to the driver's front wheel. A hockey puck sized transmitter coil is positioned on the garage floor. So I drive the car into the garage until the front wheel touches a wheel chock which contains this coil. This gets the transmitting coil positioned underneath the pickup coil in the car. It needs to be positioned within two inches from the ideal position. The receiver module takes the RF energy and converts it to DC. This circuit provides a maintenance charge for the battery. The maximum output current is ~100 mA, so it can keep up with the additional power consumption of the alarm system. It is also temperature compensated so that it provides a more ideal charge for the battery throughout the annual seasons. The circuit operates at 13.56 MHz. You cannot detect the presence of the transmitter because the power level is so low, about 1 watt. Putting your hand in between the transmitter and receiver coils does nothing. If I was going to build a production version of this, I would of put some LED indicators on it so that you can tell from a distance whether the system is working and what the state of the battery is (the LED could pulse at a certain rate to indicating the condition of battery). Anyone interested? Jay
the Wizard
GT Owner
I know the electric vehicle folks have been working on this at least since the early 90s.....might want to check there to see if anyone has a sellable product.....I'm sure there must also be many patents on the idea since it's so obvious. Is your prototype still operational? On your FGT? Must have been a fun project.....