A couple of weeks ago I was puttering with the 53. I tidyed up a couple of wiring runs shortend a wire or two and rewire tied a couple of bundles. nothing in depth, just cosmetic. The following day the battery was dead.
I didn't think much of it and recharged the battery. The following day I started the truck, everything was fine. Next day dead battery.
Sounds like a short to me. I have re checked all the work from the first day.
nothing. Tell me if I'm thinking right. the short must be in the primary or unswitched wiring. The battery drains with the switch off. Does anyone know of a small clamp on or other device I can use to show current draw.
God knows I don't want to untie my whole wire harness and hand over hand it.
I should tell you it's a 12 V system with 1 wire alternator. built in V.R.

 

What kind of truck is this? 6v original or 12v alternator?

The quick wasy to see if it's a drain is to disconnect one battery cable, and hook an ammeter between it and the post.

If you had a dead short I think you'd smell the smoke. It could be something like a regulator that's stuck, putting current thru the generator.

 

It might be the cutout relay in your voltage regulator sticking closed. I think it's the relay on the drivers side of the regulator. Its purpose is to disconnect he generator field coils when the engine is shut down or until the generator is revving fast enough to produce power.

Almost all volt meters have a function to measure current up to about ten amps.

Craig

 

Don,
I follow your logic (for whatever that's worth). I have a clamp on ammeter, but it only works with AC. I know there are DC clamps out there, but I would imagine they are not cheap and you will probably be monitoring a current draw in the milli-amp range.

The first time I did a "one wire" setup, I followed some poor advice and jumpered the "batt" terminal to the feild "excite" terminal on my 10SI, with nothing hooked to the idiot light. This setup would drain the battery in a week or two. After I rebuilt the alternator with a true one-wire VR, I no longer have the battery drain problem.

Like Albuq F-1 mentioned, if you have a multimeter, put it in the ammeter mode, disconnect the negative battery cable, and clamp the leads onto the cable end and the battery post. Polarity really doesn't matter, unless you're using an analog, in which case some have a zero pin that stops movement in the negative direction. You are just looking for any current flowing. If the ammeter indicates current, start unhooking endpoints on the un-fused side of the system. There shouldn't be too many, ignition, starter, headlights, etc. Anything that will work without the key. Whenever you unhook a wire that stops the current flow, you've got it isolated and can troubleshoot that circuit from there. Don't forget to hook everything back up when you'rre done!

Good Luck and let us know what you find out.
Kent

 

Hello Don! If you are still trying to solve this problem and you don't own multi-meter you can also try this step. Take a 12 volt test light and hook one end of it to the battery cable and the other end to the battery terminal. If the lamp glows then you have a "draw" or a slight short in circuits. The brighter the lamp glows, the bigger your draw or short is. Then just start pulling fuses until lamp goes out. Now you know which circuit to trace further. Like others have mentioned, your problem is probably with the regulator inside the altenator. Un- plug altenator and check test lamp for draw. Also have seen problems with relays like headlamp, door-locks, fuel pump etc., also could be radio or alarm memory. Good luck!

 

Let us know what you find. Thanks!

 

I ended the life of an analog meter (two right angles in the needle) by hooking it in series with my battery. The draw was significantly more than 10 Amps. It turned out to be a bad joystick on a power seat that caused the motor to draw current.

Without any diagnostic tools you can check for a draw by disconnecting the battery ground cable from the chassis. In dim light carefully touch the cable to the chassis, looking for a spark. The bigger the spark, the bigger the currrent draw. I suggest disconnecting the chassis end rather than the battery end, so you are not making sparks on top of your battery. Then follow the instructions given by others to isolate the source. You will likely find something going to ground. Check all places where wires run across or pass thru metal (the firewall).

 

Don--
I've had this kind of problem before, and gone the "test-light, fuse pull" route to figure it out. The only thing I can recommend beyond what has been said is: Disconnect anything that continually draws from the battery BEFORE searching out the short. In my case this means disconnecting the stereo (it constantly draws from the battery to maintain clock and presets). If you don't do this first then the test light will glow because the stereo is pulling from the battery, and you will likely pass up the circuit with the short because the test light never went off.

Oh, and one more thing...if the short is on the battery side of your fuse box, pulling the fuses won't interrupt the shortcircuit, so if you get through all your fuses, your "constant draw" items have been disconnected, and the light never goes off, you know your short is on the battery side, which should narrow the search by about two thirds.

Happy hunting.

 

Do not use battery cable/spark procedure to look for draws because you will get a spark when ever you hook up battery cable if you have altenator, large stereo, computer,etc. It is not a good technique and will give false readings most of the time. Just my proven advise, go get a test light or amp meter and do this properly. Good luck!

 

I prefer checking for a spark because the current draw may exceed the current capability of the tool. It killed my ammeter, and unless you buy an electronic technician grade multimeter, you won't get a fast responding circuit breaker. Same goes for a test lamp. The alternator won't cause a current draw and I know that his 53 does not have a computer. This is a proven method and requires no special tools.

 

Stev8, You are giving out very old type of "backyard mechanic" procedures to these peole and there are proper ways of doing things. Your way might work but is definately NOT the right way. He may not have a computer in his 53 Truck, but you don't know that do you? Many people have put newer systems in their vehicles! And Any electric multi-meter will take any voltage or amperage given, the worst thing you could do is blow a fuse in your meter. You may have lots good knowledge about things, but this is not one of them. When some one gives better advice you should listen and learn. Sorry if this hurts, but it's true.

 

buy the way, an altenater sparks everytime you reconnect battery(integral regulator).