How many amp draw? and?

[yomama]

I have three questions I could use a little input on. Oh yea, I did "search" and I can't even remember what I used as key words and the next thread I find is "Who shaves their nuts". I read the first page laughing my ass off. I will return tomorrow to read that and hopefully get some input on this;

1. I woud like someone to take a couple of readings for me of their rig using a volt/amp meter. If you would disconnect your negative terminal, hook the meter between the negative terminal and the negative battery connection and give me an amp reading, then take one connection loose and wait like 30 seconds then make a connection and tell me what the spike reading is? I have a constant .28 amp draw, but I spike close to 11 amps when I wait the 30 seconds.

2. Random misfire, only under load could be caused by plug wires?

3. I have a odd noise, when I am turning left I get a sound like something hitting under the shifter or near the gas pedal. I have looked under there and don't see anything loose, any ideas what that could be?

Thanks,

Yomama

 

[RavenTai]

If you pull the fuses for your alarm, clock, radio, and EFI then what is the draw? Remember to close the doors

I would check mine but I blew the fuse in my DMM long ago and have not been able to find a replacement, I forgot to switch the probes around before checking for voltage

Edit* BTW .28A would fully drain a 50AH battery in about a week, it would not be able to start sometime before that

 

[Riley]

>> then take one connection loose and wait like 30 seconds then make a connection <<

Do you mean break the connection on the neg side of the battery for 30 seconds?

>> I spike close to 11 amps when I wait the 30 seconds. <<

Wow... that can't be right. That's a lot of draw to charge up what... the capacitors in the EFI or radio ?

If you clarify what you are disconnecting for 30 seconds, I might try this tomorrow if I can find the time. I think something is really wrong. Even at 280mA discharge with nothing on is wrong.

Like Raven said, is everything really off?

 

[RavenTai]

is this still the same problem from this thread?

https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=1887


Try unhooking all the aftermarket stuff and see what the draw is,

Do you still have the 1 farad capacitor? Some large capacitors have a discharge resistor, don’t think it could soak up .28A but could be part of it, that would also explain the high amp draw on reconnect as the capacitor is re-filled, does the 11a draw level off?

 

[mabrodis]

Good point Raven, any large cap will draw in current as fast as it can until it's full, but that should not be very long at all, maybe one reading on your meter then the rest of the readings should be way below that.

I would disconnect everything, pull all fuses, etc to narrow it down. I have the same chore in my 40, the battery just goes dead after like a week, and when I connect it I see a little spark, when there shouldn't be anything on, I have no radio, so it can't be that..

Raven, what DMM do you have? I might be able to find you a fuse. Yeah I know what you mean about not switching the leads back..doh, just blew another fuse like a week ago, damn good thing that stuff is fused..

 

[yomama]

Thanks for the replies,

Riley - What I meant was take your probe from the volt/amp meter off one of the connectors and wait 30 seconds then see what kind of spike reading you get. The meter needs to be between the disconnected battery terminal and connector to take readings.

RavenTai - Your memeory is too good . Apparently it is the same problem and I am willing to bet that it is a combination of things, my son flipping all my flipping switches . I did find two of my toys left on

Mabrodis - The draw does level off back down to the .28 I mentioned after the spike reading.

The capacitor that is a possibilty. At least for that spike as high as it is. I guess I had a different impression as to how a capacitor is supppose to work. I thought once it was charged, it would hold its juice till you turned on the stereo/amp. Is that thing drawing amps ALL the time? I will disconnect that tonight for sure. I need to rewire some of my stuff so it has a centralization and I can disconnect all the toys with one switch or relay it to the ignition ON!! Guess I know how my weekend will be spent.

No answer as to the misfire or that odd noise?

Being as I had just gotten off the bus from work and the truck didn't start and I had to be at daycare in 20 minutes I was slightly.... Thankfully some guy in a Toyota T100 stopped and gave me a jump. The thought of a new vehicle did cross my mind.
Curious what you guys think my vehicle would be worth? After I get her running right again. Now take into consideration it has a salvage title, it has around 56k on it, it has about 13k in accessories.

Yomama

 

[RavenTai]

I wish my memory was that good, I searched for “parasitic draw” and found that good article you posted in the other thread.

A simple capacitor will take a charge and stay charged requiring no more power as long as the voltage stays constant, but some capacitors have resistors in them to slowly bleed off the power so that it will be safe to handle shortly after it is removed from the circuit, if your capacitor has a bleed resistor it would account for some of the “parasitic draw”

As for being empty after unhooking the source for 30 seconds, the capacitor is discharging into whatever is draining your battery, the .28A, and is empty when you hook it up again drawing amps until it matches voltage with the battery

Your battery sounds weak; you went to work for 8 hours correct? 8 hours x .28A = 2.24AmpHours, even a small battery should have 30AH of capacity, even my weak battery holds out on that kind of load

Is the alt working OK? How old is the battery?

Mabrodis, I have a Fluke 73 series II (about 10 years old) it takes an odd oversized tubular fast acting fuse that I have not been able to find anywhere

 

[mabrodis]

Raven, hmm, shouldn't be hard to find. I know my stepdad has two Fluke DMMs here, a 8060A and some bench one, both ~20 years old, and we have no trouble getting any parts, or them serviced, or calibrated, so I wouldn't think your's would be that hard.

This page here says that your DMM takes a fuse #892583, which it doesn't appear they have, but this place does, almost $8 for one fuse, and who knows if they 'really' have it, but hopefully can get it.

Good Luck..
Mark Brodis

 

[yomama]

Your battery sounds weak; you went to work for 8 hours correct? 8 hours x .28A = 2.24AmpHours, even a small battery should have 30AH of capacity, even my weak battery holds out on that kind of load

Is the alt working OK? How old is the battery?

RavenTai - Actually it sits for about 11 hours, but still. This is now the 4th battery the cruiser has killed. My battery seems to last about a year, then I notice it is turnig over just slightly slower then when the battery was new, then like yesterday, instant death.
I thought for sure even with some draw and trickle charging frequently that the battery would last, it was an Optima 34D (I think) the biggest Optima out there. It is a marine/start battery and I paid almost $200 for it. I will do some tests over the weekend to try and figure out what is going on......
I hope the Mean Green alt is working ok I don't think it would have ran after the jump without the extra juice.

Yomama

 

[mabrodis]

yomama (I love that login btw), what actual voltage is the battery sitting at with the engine off? With the engine on, idling? With the engine revved to say 3000 rpms? I ask this because it would be shocking to me that whatever you do, you could kill that many batteries. So check the voltage, it could be the alt is charging the battery very high, which will damage batteries in not alot of time, especially if you have a beefy alt. Or charging low, which shouldn't actually hurt the battery you'd just never fully charge it and get full capacity out of it.

Just on a hunch here, disconnect the alternator entirely, see if you still have this current drain with the vehicle off.

Keep us posted..
Mark Brodis

 

[yomama]

I think all is....Almost good. I think my juice problem is fixed.
I need to do more driving, but replacing the plug wires/plugs seems to have fixed my misfire.
Still have that odd noise near my feet.

I still need to look into the capacitor thing. Probably next weekend, for now, no radio...

Yomama

 

[Scamper]

Does that hitting noise happen only when you're driving? I ask becuase I had done some work on my truck a while back, and pulled off some of the plastic thingys that hold the rubber wheelwell "curtain" or whatever that thing is that keeps crap from hitting the engine. When I drove, it would start to make this twacking noise as the wind made it move back and forth. Just re-fixed the thing and the noise went away.

 

[yomama]

The noise happens only when turning left while driving. Sounds like a hammer would sound as it swings into the body pan by my feet when I turn.

Yomama

 

[cpg]

How did you fix this problem?

What is the normal draw for a 96 FZJ 80 all turned off?
I get 23 ma with the key out doors shut alarm not activated.
2002 camry gets 14 ma
Pull dome fuse goes to 14ma
Pull ECU "B" goes to 9ma

Does that sound normal?