First of all you should never disconnect the battery while the engine is running. The battery is part of an engineered load and filter for the alternator. Disconnecting while the alternator is producing current can create a sudden voltage surge before the voltage regulator can react. This surge is detrimental to the alternator itself and can damage anything electronic including the ECU. Yes something can be draining the battery. Yes, the battery can even be defective. 4 months means little. Yes you can also have a wiring problem between the battery and the alternator. Make sure the indicator light-trigger circuit is working. If not the alternator may not always turn on. Dennis -----Original Message----- From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of randy velasco Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2011 8:43 PM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: Something draining my battery Hi All, So this weekend while working on my 85 Vanagon I was not able to start the van. Which is strange since the battery was only 4 months old. I jump started the van and it ran for 20 minutes, After the 20 minutes I disconnected the negative wire from the battery and the van shutoff. I turned the van back on and disconnected the negative wire again and again the van shutoff. Now I knew this could be the alternator. So I changed the alternator and ran this test again and again the van shutoff.
I bought a voltmeter to test the battery and alternator and the new alternator reading was 11.40 volts and the battery reading was 12.4 volts so I knew the new alternator was not working properly. I reinstalled the old alternator and tested and the reading was 13.98 volts which means the alternator is working properly.So I went back to the battery and disconnected the negative wire and the van shutoff.
Please help! What should I be looking for? Something is draining my battery.
Thanks Randy |
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