Battery draining - interior light?

[stephenpolhill]

Afternoon,
It is nice working on your car at the weekend but I can't find this problem..
Driving home in the dark on Friday, my interior light suddenly came on slightly dim. I have an LED one fitted and it was very dim so not annoying. It still turned on full brightness when you open the door/flick the switch but went back to dim rather than off. I replaced it with the normal bulb and that didn't dim at all, just on or off. I know LEDs pick up lower voltage (watt?) hence the difference.
This morning the battery was dead and I am guessing it is linked to the light as I havent had the problem with the new battery.
Has anyone any ideas how to check where the problem is, where a short is happening and how to solve it?

Cheers,
Stephen

[bmcecosse]

Sounds like a drain path through one of your door switches - perhaps due to moisture and/or rust particles lying on the switch inside the door pillar. Remove them and check.

[stephenpolhill]

Thanks. I have got a spare couple so might fit them. I wasn't sure where to start looking for the issue. Cheers

[beero]

Inside your light you will find three wires, purple - the live feed (always live,careful where you put it) black - the earth for the light switch and the other going to the door switches (could be brown/black or white purple) Disconnect this last wire and see if the problem goes away. If so look at your door switches, if the light is still dim could be the light switch at fault.

[stephenpolhill]

Thanks. I'll give that a try tonight.

[stephenpolhill]

Worked last night (obviously on battery power) & got in the car today only for the battery to be completely flat. I would've brought it to work but I didn't fancy being stranded on no battery power and not even being able to crank it (been there).
So what exactly am I looking for regarding it draining. At the moment the interior lighting is a suspect...?

[katy]

Remove the bulb and let the car sit overnight and see what transpires.
BTW, how old is the battery? Have you had it tested?

[stephenpolhill]

Hi Katy,
I'll try this tonight. The battery is new and not at fault - trouble is it takes a day or two to drain with this problem so will be a long investigation.
Cheers, Steve

[beero]

Remove the interior light as you already suspect that and then touch the battery connector to the terminal and see if you get a small spark. If so, you have another problem.

[lambrettalad]

hi did you cure the problem?