Battery drained on 100cs Q

[Tom Leppke-Hennig]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Tom Leppke-Hennig <printhead at usinternet.com>
Date: Mon, 04 Aug 2003 12:45:17 CDT
Subject: Re: Battery drained on 100cs Q

Barry, looking over a backlog of digests, I could not find a response to
your question, so I will have at it.

One of the all-time great ways of chasing down a battery-drain is to
unplug fuses one at a time while monitoring current-flow in the battery
circuit. When you find the fuse that causes the current flow to stop,
you have found your offending circuit.

Here are some more specific instructions in case you need them.

1) Begin the project with a fully charged battery.

2) Unhook the ground lead of the battery and place an amp-meter in
series-circuit.

3) If you have a battery-killing drain, you should see it now on the
amp-meter. I don't have exact figures for you, but I would be concerned
by anything over, oh, .1 or .2 amps. Experimentally turn small accesories
on, like the interior lights or the parking lamps. You should see
corresponding increases in current.

When my antenna-motor internally shorted, it was showing about .75A and
was "sagging" the battery in about 8 hours.

Also, when you actually start looking for your real problem, make sure
all the little accessories are off.

4) Now, start pulling fuses. If pulling a fuse has no effect, put it back
so you don't wind up with a puzzle when you are done. Keep pulling until,
hopefully, you see the current drop to a lower number. Read the circuit
description on the fuse cover, and this gives you a place to star looking
for a short, etc.

Tom LH
95 90Q