Date: Sat, 31 May 2014 20:00:50 -0700
Reply-To: Dug Smith <dug@DUGBERT.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dug Smith <dug@DUGBERT.COM>
Organization: What, me organised?
Subject: Re: Electrical problem?
In-Reply-To: <CAEwp_cS95w5sK7nErihkUZ4uxF4XbyqptRg5wFW9=4tcB6fj+Q@mail.gmail.com>
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Hi Marc,
A drain of 1/2A sounds pretty high - I'd start by pulling fuses and see
what circuit's causing this draw. The only things I can think of that'd
be on all the time are the clock and power to the radio to keep the
memory settings. I'm pretty sure even I could do that at home :o)
7V sounds low, but with a constant drain of 1/2A, that's 12Ah a day, so
yeah, it could happen.
I've found that new belts often stretch a bit as they bed in, and the
squealing suggests that's at least part of the problem.
I get a battery voltage of comfortably over 13V when the engine's running.
On 5/31/2014 7:52 PM, Marc Perdue wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I've been experiencing what may or may not be a problem on my '87 Westy.
> For reasons tied to it running rough, possibly injectors, and its impending
> painting, I haven't been driving it much. It might sit a week or two
> without being driven. When I do go to drive it, usually the battery's much
> too weak to get it started. I plug in the charger, set it to 10 Amps, and
> let it charge for a few hours, after which I can usually get it started.
> Once it starts, there's usually a lot of belt squeal. This is odd because I
> had both belts replaced and adjusted by a reputable Vanagon mechanic in
> Staunton about 1,000 miles ago. The battery is a Diehard and was replaced
> within the last year. Thinking I might have an alternator problem, I took
> it to Advance Auto and had the alternator tested, in the van. It passed,
> but just barely. Under full load, it was putting out just over 12 volts.
> With everything turned off, there was still a current draw of about half an
> amp. Is this normal? I've been going through the van cleaning all the
> grounds and repairing any connections that look at all iffy.
>
> I'm going to tighten up the alternator belt tomorrow and thought I would
> give the alternator a spin and see if I could tell anything. Thoughts on
> what to look for?
>
> Should the battery normally run down to 7 volts or so in a week or two?
>
> Any thoughts on other things to look for? I don't have a way of measuring
> current draw at home, or else I would start disconnecting things and see if
> that half amp draw changed.
>
> Thanks in advance for any light you can shed on this!
> Marc Perdue
>
toodle pip,
--
Dug Smith | Terry Pratchett: It's almost
(mailto:dug@dugbert.com) | impossible to ride a rock and roll
(http://www.dugbert.com) | motorbike and stay on for three verses.
|