Date:         Mon, 18 Apr 2011 23:58:34 -0400
Reply-To:     David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Subject:      Re: Something is draining the battery, but what?
Comments: To: HotelWestfalia <zolo@FOXINTERNET.NET>
In-Reply-To:  <8C3A04CC849141B88D779B40C7DF6AFB@customerPC>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

At 11:37 PM 4/18/2011, HotelWestfalia wrote:
>I can't find it.  '82 Westy, new battery again, but the battery is
>going down in a week.  I put a light bulb in between the taken off
>negative battery clamp and the negative side of the battery to see
>if there is any drainage, but it did not light up.  Yet the battery
>is draining slowly.  It's a mistery.

Use a milliammeter instead, then start pulling fuses and
disconnecting things.  On an '82 all I can think of off hand that
should be drawing juice with everything turned off is the clock (a
few milliamps) and the *stock* fridge fan which draws ~60 ma when
it's running.  If the owner has installed 12v computer fans, even
very small ones, they draw noticeably more juice, probably minimum
120-180 ma each.  If there's a new radio with a panel that lights up
even with power off - that probably draws 300 ma and will eat the battery.

300 ma x 168 hours in a week is 50 amp-hours per week...

Yrs,
d