I need any of you electrical guys' help. Here's the situation, if my Jeep sits for a couple days, the battery is dead .. solenoid only clicks .. Nothing that I know of is wired direct to the battery to be killing it, especially in a couple days time. When driving, the alt is charging fine at 14 volts, so I know it's not that. I don't know where to start tracking things down that could be causing this and that's where your help comes in. I would write it off to a bad battery, but it's relatively new, less than a year (interstate gel cell) and the same thing was happening to the old battery which wasn't that old either when I replaced it.

So, what could be causing this power drain and where do I start looking for the problem? Keep in mind, I only know the basics of vehicle electrical. I don't know what should be hot and not when the key is off or where to even check it. Any help would be appreciated on this.



BentMetal

83CJ7 definitely broken this time

Try this=
http://bbs.off-road.com/wwwthreads//...collapsed&sb=5

Greg

The only time I didn't do a search first ... Thanks for the link amigo, answered all my questions. Now on to grovel to the BBS gods for not doing the search. I'm sure my penance will be ultra slow bbs times for a week or more

Thanks again for the link.

BentMetal

83CJ7 definitely broken this time

A sacrifice MUST BE MADE!!!!! hehehehehe!

Greg

To track the drain on battery. With the battery charged, pull out all the fuses (mark where they all go) Now, with all fuses out, let it for a couple of days or whatever you think is long enough, replace the fuses and see if you still have juice. If you don't have power then you know the drain is BEFORE the fuse panal. If you do have power then replace half of the fuses and wait again. (i think you see where i'm going) Keep repeating this process until you have tracked down which circuit it is causing the drain.
Good Luck.

'79 CJ-5

To track the drain on battery. With the battery charged, pull out all the fuses (mark where they all go) Now, with all fuses out, let it for a couple of days or whatever you think is long enough, replace the fuses and see if you still have juice. If you don't have power then you know the drain is BEFORE the fuse panal. If you do have power then replace half of the fuses and wait again. (i think you see where i'm going) Keep repeating this process until you have tracked down which circuit it is causing the drain.
Good Luck.

'79 CJ-5

Before you do ANYTHING ELSE...
If you didn't install or change anything before the first battery started doing this...
Take your vehicle or alternator to a parts store with an alternator tester. Have the diodes in the alternator checked.
If you have a diode out, the battery will go dead in a couple of days, but the alternator will still charge when the engine is running.
----------------

If that test comes up good, then take the negative battery cable off, and let the vehicle set a couple or three days, and see if the battery goes dead or not.
If it does, it's the battery. If it doesn't, it's the vehicle.

Put a digital multi-meter (volt-ohm meter, $20 at Radio Shack or Wal-Mart) set on DC Volts in between the battery negative cable and the negative post on the battery.
You are looking for under 1 volt passing through that connection.

If you have more than 1 volt showing, start pulling fuses one at a time, check the meter, pull another fuse, check the meter, ect. until you find the load.
If you have pulled all the fuses and you are still showing a load, then it's time for some specific instructions, come back here and ask again.

Bookmark your thread so you can find it again... I'll watch for it...

So many cats, so few recipes...

does a typical multi-meter measure amps also?

http://www.csupomona.edu/~sdmiller1/jeep.htm

Nope.
Typical multi-meter only does milliampere...
You need a full on battery or alternator load tester to do amperage anyway...

You can get one of those little cheap (under $10) amp gauges meant for your dash at an auto parts store if you need to check anything under 50 or 60 amps...


So many cats, so few recipes...

Well, here's the low down. I charged the battery to full capacity with a charger and left the ground wire disco'd. It's held a charge above 12 volts for over a a day now, which is used to not do.

I then put then put my multi meter in line as suggested and started pulling fuses. With the fuses pulled, it's still showing a draw of 12+ volts. I'm assuming there is a bad ground somewhere, everything looks intact and in the loom.
This isn't to say that there isn't a ground in the wire loom, but any of the exposed areas look alright.

BTW, I checked the fuse block with the meter and the only circuit showing 12 volts was the clock which was used for my radio, but has since been disco'd trying to figure this out.

Should I just get a battery disconnect switch? If that's the consensus, can someone point me to a key operated one. I'd like to put it in the dash and would make for a tiny bit of security.

Thanks

BentMetal

83CJ7 definitely broken this time