Battery drain
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Battery drain
The battery in my truck discharges over a week or so. The first time it happened I checked the charging system, charged up the battry and ran a bunch of errands. No problems. The second time it happened I figured the battery is 6 years old it must be time.
I put a new battery in it a couple of weeks ago and yesterday it was dead again after sitting about 2 weeks. I charged it up and then disconnected the neg cable and put my multi-meter between the batt and the cable on the 10 amp dc setting. It showed a drain of 0.4 amps.
The only thing that should be on was the memory for the stereo,would it pull that much and would that drain be enough to drain the battery over a week or 10 days.
This is an old kenwood that I had laying around, I put it in when the old radio went bad. This is the only thing new or different electrically I've done to the truck.
I didn't have time to seriously troubleshoot this yesterday, any good ideas on where to start looking for this drain if it is not the stereo?
The truck is a '69 with almost nothing stock about it.
Thanks for any ideas you guys may have,
I put a new battery in it a couple of weeks ago and yesterday it was dead again after sitting about 2 weeks. I charged it up and then disconnected the neg cable and put my multi-meter between the batt and the cable on the 10 amp dc setting. It showed a drain of 0.4 amps.
The only thing that should be on was the memory for the stereo,would it pull that much and would that drain be enough to drain the battery over a week or 10 days.
This is an old kenwood that I had laying around, I put it in when the old radio went bad. This is the only thing new or different electrically I've done to the truck.
I didn't have time to seriously troubleshoot this yesterday, any good ideas on where to start looking for this drain if it is not the stereo?
The truck is a '69 with almost nothing stock about it.
Thanks for any ideas you guys may have,
Senior User
Joined: Jun 2006
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From: Vacaville, Ca
Starter solnoid, inside the solnoid will develop a green film like you see on cooper pipes & this will allow current drian, I have a RV with 2 optima batteries & the one on my charging system would drian those batteries in 24 hrs, changed out the solnoid haven't had a problem since
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If it were me I would connect the multimeter again, the same way you did. Then I would start by unplugging the stereo since you are suspiscious of it. Then check the reading on the meter to see if the drain is gone. I think 0.4 amps is too high for just the clock and station memory, IMO should be more like 0.04 amps or less. Anyway, if you still have a current drain after you unplug your stereo I would suggest pulling one fuse at a time from the fuse box while checking your multimeter until you find out which circuit is draining your battery. Hope this helps.
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I will try fe cruzers method this weekend. This truck has only about 4 fuses in the fuse box, the wiring is a mess with stuff added and moved around,2trailer plugs rotted almost off. If it weren't for a bunch of other stuff going on right now I would just order a new wiring harness and be done with it.
Or maybe I should just drive it more.
It was dead on monday and I charged it up. Went out tonoght and it started on the second or third rotation and ran like a champ. I am beginning to think it is cold blooded too, it would barely run when the temp was in the 20s. Of course I put new plugs, points, condenser, and rotor since then and it seems to run much better.
Thanks for the replys,
Mike
Or maybe I should just drive it more.
It was dead on monday and I charged it up. Went out tonoght and it started on the second or third rotation and ran like a champ. I am beginning to think it is cold blooded too, it would barely run when the temp was in the 20s. Of course I put new plugs, points, condenser, and rotor since then and it seems to run much better.
Thanks for the replys,
Mike
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