Date:         Sun, 12 Sep 2004 12:55:24 -0700
Reply-To:     Ari Ollikainen <Ari@OLTECO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Ari Ollikainen <Ari@OLTECO.COM>
Subject:      Carat fluorescent fixture causes battery drain...
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

        In my continuing saga to trace and eliminate parasitic current
        consumers in our '91 Carat it now appears that the culprit and
        the cause of the chain of events leading to this point is the
        fluorescent light fixture which someone switched (or attempted to
        switch on ...) almost two weeks ago when the Vanagon was used
        to move some stuff from one abode to another. After that point:

        1. Squealing alternator belt on startup developed into mostly
           continuous squeal. First fix - replace belt.

        2. Squealing returned... adjusted belt.

        3. Squealing returned... removed alternator and checked brushes...
           brushes worn past max wear point. Replaced regulator. Squealing
           disappeared.

        4. Wouldn't start after several short trips. Examined battery...
           plenty of water, but dead. Replaced alternator with known good
           one with working regulator. Jump started. Ran fine...drove it
           for an hour on the freeway to charge battery.

        5. Wouldn't start after sitting in driveway for 4 hours. Replaced
           battery (previous was 7+ years old DieHard).

        6. Several days later wouldn't start after a round-trip drive to
           SF plus around town trips. Obtained battery charger and used
           it overnight. Stared and ran fine next afternoon.

        7. Dead again next morning. New DMM showed battery with 11.3v.
           Swapped in fresh battery. Again fine for a day...

        8. Not dead but wouldn't start this morning. GRRRR...

        So...it was time to find the eater of my electrons. After a lot
        probing with the DMM (including the requisite measurement of
        voltage and amps between negative battery post and the ground)
        I concluded that ~.9amps were being sucked by something that
        wasn't fused: The Carat's fluorescent lite fixture. Actually,
        I sort of stumbled into this discovery while checking whether the
        normal interior lights actually had working bulbs...the fluorescent
        fixture was hot to the touch and had a slight smell of burned
        "electronic" components. Taking it apart, the fluorescent tube was
        burned at one end! Taking the tube out and measuring current flow
        again resulted in only a 3 mA reading...

        I'm leaving the tube out until I get the Carat on the road and
        then I'll think about replacing it (no one in our family actually
        uses the fluorescent light...). In the meantime I have plenty
        of things to diagnose and fix: Central locking system gremlins,
        passenger side window lift (it went CLUNK! and quit working),
        power window switches, sliding door locking mechanism...etc.


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