Once you solve the current problem, install a fuse at the battery for that new panel. You should install a fuse at the source not the load.
Tony
Tony
Why did this drain my battery (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter askeyey
- Start date
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hook everything up the way you had it. take your voltmeter, unhook the positive cable from the batt. put your meter in line with batt and cable(one lead on the pos terminal and one on the pos cable). this will tell you if you have a leak down in the truck.
whenever you charge a batt it will drop a little after it has cooled off. try charging it, checking the voltage an hour latter then then the next morning, its going to change a little but I wouldn't expect to see more the a 1.5v drop.
Sorry if I'm repeating, I didn't read every post.
whenever you charge a batt it will drop a little after it has cooled off. try charging it, checking the voltage an hour latter then then the next morning, its going to change a little but I wouldn't expect to see more the a 1.5v drop.
Sorry if I'm repeating, I didn't read every post.
Like another made comment on... you should have an appropriate rated fuse in-line on the pos cable fairly close to where the pos wire connects to the battery, not way down stream at the switch panel. Which is for protection and overloads... it does not explain the batter draining. Have you simply left the new wires unconnected and determimed if the battery is still loosing its charge?
Unless one of those switchs is on all the time, then I don't see how this modificaiton would cause the battery to drain, thus I think the battery is the problem. You can check for parasitic load as person above suggested.
Unless one of those switchs is on all the time, then I don't see how this modificaiton would cause the battery to drain, thus I think the battery is the problem. You can check for parasitic load as person above suggested.
- Thread starter
- #24
I checked for parasitic loads and have one a 2.48 amps. I'm in the process of trouble shooting that as we speak. The battery was completely isolated over night and didn't loose any more charge...so it's back in the charger now to get it to 100% and then off to autozone for a load test.
I think the sony harness to the head unit may have an internal short, so I'm going to disconnect the 12v supplies to the radio one at a time once everything is hooked up and see if the parasite goes away.
Before I do that though I 'm going to disconnect all the fusable links at the battery and connect them one at a time to see if I can further isolate the parasite.
I have everything striped out of the truck now and am checking for shorts along any strectch of wire I can find. So far nothing.
I think the sony harness to the head unit may have an internal short, so I'm going to disconnect the 12v supplies to the radio one at a time once everything is hooked up and see if the parasite goes away.
Before I do that though I 'm going to disconnect all the fusable links at the battery and connect them one at a time to see if I can further isolate the parasite.
I have everything striped out of the truck now and am checking for shorts along any strectch of wire I can find. So far nothing.
- Thread starter
- #25
Ok...The battery tests fine and I have isloated the problem down to the sigle wire fuseable link at the battery.
Just the 1.25B FL ALT white wire fuseable link has the parasitic load. So now I can continue to isloate systems and figure out the problem. From the wiring diagram the problem could be the:
-IG Main Relay
-the Alternator
-the 30A Heater CB system
- the tail light relay
-14A Door CB
-15A Door
-15A stop
-7.5A DOOM
Any sage advice..I'll start with the 7.5A DOOM since that links in to the radio which I think is suspect.
Just the 1.25B FL ALT white wire fuseable link has the parasitic load. So now I can continue to isloate systems and figure out the problem. From the wiring diagram the problem could be the:
-IG Main Relay
-the Alternator
-the 30A Heater CB system
- the tail light relay
-14A Door CB
-15A Door
-15A stop
-7.5A DOOM
Any sage advice..I'll start with the 7.5A DOOM since that links in to the radio which I think is suspect.
- Thread starter
- #26
well when I unhook the plug from the back of the alternator the parasitic load drops from 1.58 to .98 to I'm guessing that is significant.
I'll keep plugging away.
I'll keep plugging away.
MrMoMo
That's not rust, it's Canadian patina...
Sounds like you've got yourself a bad diode in the alternator... and something else going along with it!!
Oh - I just re-read that. You are only un-plugging the alternator? Try disconnecting the output wire from the alternator and see if it goes to zero.
or do all your wires disconnect through the plug (mine has a plug for the regulator, and a separate wire for the output)
Oh - I just re-read that. You are only un-plugging the alternator? Try disconnecting the output wire from the alternator and see if it goes to zero.
or do all your wires disconnect through the plug (mine has a plug for the regulator, and a separate wire for the output)
- Thread starter
- #28
Well autozone just confirmed the bad diode pattern so that's the first thing. I do know that there is something else at play here too.
I just unplugged the black plug with the white and two other wires coming out. That drop the parasite to less than 1amp. I tested just the thick black alternator wire at the battery side and that came up as 0 amps. Should I unhook it from the alternator side too and retest?
- Thread starter
- #29
Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So when I got back from Autozone with the diagnosis of a bad diade in the alternator I thought I'd disconnect it to test for the other parasitic load.
NOW THERE IS NO PARASITIC LOAD!!!!!!!!!! Nothing at all...not not in a boat with a coat, not in the flat with a cat....NOTHING!!!!!
WTF!!!!!!!!
The same fuesable link that had a 1.58 amp load before the drive to autozone now has a .02 load...completely normal
And with everything on the positive side hooked up normal, including the alternator...I tested for the parasitic load on the Negative side and it's completely normal too...0.02 amps.
AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So when I got back from Autozone with the diagnosis of a bad diade in the alternator I thought I'd disconnect it to test for the other parasitic load.
NOW THERE IS NO PARASITIC LOAD!!!!!!!!!! Nothing at all...not not in a boat with a coat, not in the flat with a cat....NOTHING!!!!!
WTF!!!!!!!!
The same fuesable link that had a 1.58 amp load before the drive to autozone now has a .02 load...completely normal
And with everything on the positive side hooked up normal, including the alternator...I tested for the parasitic load on the Negative side and it's completely normal too...0.02 amps.
AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MrMoMo
That's not rust, it's Canadian patina...
Wiggle something when you took it apart? Maybe something dirty was lightly contacting a + connection somewhere and draining it... Something somewhere has moved.
- Thread starter
- #31
I must have...I jsut went back out there to test it again and now there is a small load...like .09 amps. The only good thing now is that when I disconnect ALL the wires from the back of the alternator to load goes completely to 0. Could it be that the loose wire is actually inside the alternator? The alt looks original and I have shaken the truck up a little on some snow trails in weeks past.
If you disconnect the alternator harness and it goes away- that's it. You could very well have something loose inside the alt causing a low-amp short. Or it could be a few crusty strands from on wire in a plug that have pushed their way across to the next wire over. If you pull the plug(s) apart again, hit it with some electronic cleaner spray. I think they'd have that at Autozone? If not, just inspect the plug as best you can. I know it's not easy to see in the engine compartment! Just to save you the cost of an alternator replace/rebuild. Or sometimes a connector with a bare spot can rub against another. If you can't see anything and you're sure you haven't disturbed anything else, it's got be inside your alt.
Glad to hear your new battery is ok! Didn't think it was bad, but most people assume that a new battery is always good and that isn't always true. It'd be a shame to go thru all the hair-pulling you just did to find out it was the battery. But it seems you've done it! With DC issues, start at the easiest things to check and slowly eliminate things one by one. Keep an eye out on the wiring as you deal with the alternator to be sure there's nothing funny going on there. And at the end of the day you'll have the satisfaction of knowing you figured it out! Let us know how it turns out!
Also- your battery voltage dropping slightly with the charger off is ok. It will develop a higher "surface charge" that will go away when a load is applied or on its own over a short period of time. No worries there. When it drops to 10.5vdc overnight, that's when you need to get excited. And as someone wrote earlier- get fuse protection at the battery, not just the panel. The panel fuse will protect you panel and electronics (or whatever is wired to the panel), but will allow your 8awg cables to burn for a while if they rub thru against the firewall, etc. Electrical fires- bad! Good luck!
Glad to hear your new battery is ok! Didn't think it was bad, but most people assume that a new battery is always good and that isn't always true. It'd be a shame to go thru all the hair-pulling you just did to find out it was the battery. But it seems you've done it! With DC issues, start at the easiest things to check and slowly eliminate things one by one. Keep an eye out on the wiring as you deal with the alternator to be sure there's nothing funny going on there. And at the end of the day you'll have the satisfaction of knowing you figured it out! Let us know how it turns out!
Also- your battery voltage dropping slightly with the charger off is ok. It will develop a higher "surface charge" that will go away when a load is applied or on its own over a short period of time. No worries there. When it drops to 10.5vdc overnight, that's when you need to get excited. And as someone wrote earlier- get fuse protection at the battery, not just the panel. The panel fuse will protect you panel and electronics (or whatever is wired to the panel), but will allow your 8awg cables to burn for a while if they rub thru against the firewall, etc. Electrical fires- bad! Good luck!
MrMoMo
That's not rust, it's Canadian patina...
Get your DVM back out, and unplug the alt. Meter between each pin (on the alt side of the plug) and ground. One of them will give you whacky resistance. FSM should list what the resistance should be (I would think?) Maybe someone else here can chime in, as my alternator is completely different (3B)
- Thread starter
- #34
Good tip. I'll check that in the morning. Either way..I went ahead and got a new duralast from autozone. I figure the original alt (which I am almost positive I have) could use a rebuild after 270k miles. I order the parts from Cdan and keep it as a spare.
- Thread starter
- #35
Just to close this out...thanks for all the help. I put the new alternator in today. Charging system went right back to normal. I'm sure I had a short somewhere in the dash also, but I cleaned up all that wiring and soldered and shink tubed all the connections. (the PO's radio install was a rats nest).
Now I can get back to the original project which was to put that panel in and start wiring my 12v accessories.
Thanks.
Now I can get back to the original project which was to put that panel in and start wiring my 12v accessories.
Thanks.
Get the OEM rebuilt because you might need it. At the very least, make sure you save your receipt to get warranty replacements. My experience with AutoZone/Checker Auto/etc discount auto stores starter/alternator rebuilt units is not good. I hope yours it better.
