I wanted a real-time booking system for my website — something that would talk to a live calendar and show available slots in my workshop on the fly.
Running my sites on WordPress means having access to a massive plugin ecosystem. But while there are plenty of off-the-shelf booking tools I could have shoehorned into place, I hated the compromises they forced on me. They were either bloated, rigid, or didn’t handle data the way I wanted.
The only real solution was to build one from scratch — right now, I have the luxury of time while preparing to open my new workshop. Ordinarily taking on a project like this wouldn’t have been an option.
What’s the goal?
My requirements were straightforward, a customer should be able to book their vehicle in for a service or repair seamlessly, without needing to pick up the phone. They should automatically receive a confirmation email, complete with a secure link to make amendments or cancel if circumstances change.
This is a story about a Honda Civic with a parasitic battery drain that would deplete the battery to below eight volts in about two days. That’s a massive drain!
Attempts by other workshops to fix the problem were ineffective — real shot in the dark stuff to be honest — including installing a larger battery, randomly disconnecting lights and other accessories, and disconnecting the battery when the car was left idle for an extended period. And showing the customer how to do this so they could still use the car (insert rolling eyes emoji)
Oddly, no one performed a parasitic drain test with an ammeter to pinpoint the faulty component.
Initial Testing
The first step was to verify the customer’s complaint. I carried out a health check on the battery, which it passed – it was new. Then I checked the draw using a clamp meter to see what level of current I was dealing with. This isn’t the most accurate test, but it told me the size of the draw.
The draw on the battery was around 300 mA, which is quite substantial and should be easy enough to find. But as I continue testing, I noticed that the draw was intermittent. That can make it a little trickier — and maybe why previous attempts were unsuccessful.
Getting some real readings
At this point I connected an inline ammeter on the positive battery terminal. I used the Snap-On Vantage Pro because it has an amp graph — which I like — and it has a mini 10A blade fuse in case I turn the ignition on or whatever and pull too many amps — it’s easier to change this fuse than on other tools I own so I like the set up.
I noticed the 300 mA draw would come and go, so using a graphing meter can be helpful to show a full trace and if there’s a rhythm to the on/off or is it just a fault with no repetition. This method also allows me to lengthen the timebase and see what’s happening over a long period.
This is a section of the SST 1500 manual on fuel injectors, their waveforms and some general information. These are photos of the pages — I am starting to scan them to create a PDF — but someone wanted me to send them this info so i’ve put it here for that reason.
I love that one of the pages has hand written info in ballpoint pen from the previous owner.
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Trying to take photos of this screen is tricky; I assure you it looks fine to the naked eye, but my camera/phone is not happy taking them.
There are ways I could take it by setting my camera to manual mode and adjusting settings, but that also would require a tripod. I’ll set it up when I have it finished.
This is my “grab ‘n’ go” Pico setup, it works very well. Less set up time and easy to hook up for quick tests.
What about this on top of the Sun SST cart and have an all in one diag set up for the workshop? And will just clip off when need elsewhere. The same clip/integration would hold the Verus too.
