Date:         Thu, 27 Apr 2000 01:23:32 EDT
Reply-To:     Ssittservl@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         S Sittservl <Ssittservl@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Radio Retrofit
Comments: To: scottse@microsoft.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

>  Date:    04/20/2000 1:22:49 PM Central Daylight Time
>  From:    scottse@MICROSOFT.COM (Scott Semyan)
>
>  I am on the verge of replacing our stock radio with a new Blaupunkt radio.
>  One of the features of the current radio is that it will play even when the
>  van it turned off. I would like to reproduce that functionality with my new
>  radio. The new radio, however has an LED clock that is on whenever the
radio
>  has power. This leads to my question:
>
>  Since my current radio is truly "off" when I turn it off, will my new radio
>  drain my battery if I hook it up for constant power since, because of the
>  clock, it is never really off?

Yes, but so slowly that it won't be a problem unless you let your van sit
unused for many weeks at a time.  (An in the many-weeks case, you
should probably remove the cable from the battery's negative post to
keep ANYTHING in the van's electronics from draining the battery.)

Clocks and LED's use very little power.  Even if your radio didn't
have one, it would probably be using some power to maintain the
station presets that you've programmed the buttons for, and possibly
some other settings.

Besides, a clock - by itself or in a radio - is a common factory
accessory for many vehicles, and isn't generally a battery-draining
problem.

So, you can put "LED radio clock" on your list of Things Not To
Worry About.

[If you really want to find out how long the radio would take to
drain your battery, see if the radio's manual specifies the current
draw (amps) in "standby" or "off" mode.  Then, check with your
battery's manufacturer to find out your battery's capacity in
"amp hours".  For a Vanagon starting battery, that's typically
about 30 to 50 amp hours.  Divide the battery capacity by the
radio amperage to get a rough idea of how many hours the
radio would take to drain the battery.  Example: battery
capacity is 35 amp hours, radio draws 50 milliamps.
35 amp hours  / .050 amps = 700 hours, or about 4 weeks.
This is only a rough estimate, since the real amp hour
capacity of the battery depends on a few variables.]

>  Scott Semyan
>  '85 Westie
>  Seattle
                                               -Steven Sittser