Date:         Wed, 24 Jul 2013 08:35:42 -0400
Reply-To:     Mike B <mbucchino@CHARTER.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Mike B <mbucchino@CHARTER.NET>
Subject:      Re: Of Mice and Vanagons
Comments: To: neil n <musomuso@GMAIL.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <CAB2RwfiB7R7EP-txrf1eC6g1Ejzx+0rDjJ32R_GT4NU5UYE8TQ@mail.gmail.com>
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   I need to do this on 2 of my vehicles; my '87 Westy and my '98 Jetta
both have enough draw to kill the battery after a short while sitting.
Another way to check this without a multimeter is to pull the batt lead
and touch it to see if there's a spark when you reconnect it.  The dome
light or radio may cause a tiny spark, but a bigger spark is cause for
concern.  As you said, pulling fuses will help locate which circuit(s)
have excessive draw.  Do all your sparking away from the batt top to
prevent your batt from blowing up, like at the fuses or at the neg batt
strap connection.
   I'm curious as to why you would hide fuses all over your bus? There's
really only 2 places where a fuse is appropriate; the battery and the
fuse block.  Both are the beginning of a circuit. Placing a fuse
anywhere downstream will not protect the portion of the circuit that's
upstream of it.  The whole idea of fuses is to protect the entire
positive side of the circuit from accidental shorting to chassis ground,
which could cause a fire.  Too large of a fuse will not blow when
appropriate, too small of a fuse will blow in normal uses.  I see no
point in adding fuses downstream all over a vehicle.

Mike B.

On 7/24/2013 1:42 AM, neil n wrote:

re: parasitic draw.

Set your VOM to measure Amps, then connect it in series with battery.
Pull/replace each fuse one by one. See which one affects current draw
shown on meter.

Neil. Who has hidden non OEM fuses ALL over his bus.    ;)