Waking Dusty up

[Barb69]

So my boy keeps draining batteries.  He is on his 3 Rd replacement.  He still in the shop hoping to find the problem.  He starts on a fresh battery, but next day battery is dead. My guy is working hard trying to figure out the problem.

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[elagache]

Dear Barb and mid-60s Buick electricians,

So my boy keeps draining batteries.  He is on his 3 Rd replacement.  He still in the shop hoping to find the problem.  He starts on a fresh battery, but next day battery is dead. My guy is working hard trying to figure out the problem.

To kill a battery overnight requires a large parasitic current source.  Has your tech measured the amount of current that Dusty is drawing from the battery when completely still?  That's enough power flowing into the car that it should be noticeable.  I can't think of anything that might still be on and would burn significant amounts of power.  Measuring the amount of current will help diagnose the problem, but odds are, it will require unplugging components until the faulty component is identified.

Best of luck on this one Barb!  Work on electrical isn't as messy as other things, but it can be a pain in da' . . . . expletive deleted! 

Cheers, Edouard

P.S.  It just occurred to me - did this problem start just after you upgraded Dusty's headlights?  If so there might be something out of whack there.  In software and electrical engineering it is a good principle to go back to the change just before something went wrong and see if that has something to do with it.

[Barb69]

Yes,  when all this LED transplants got finished is when it started. His tail lights where done the week before he felt asleep. I ran him on that sunday, did not wake up the next saturday. Good point. I want him to go back to normal. I do not need LED anything. It was cute, but not worth the trouble.

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[elagache]

Dear Barb and mid-60s Buick electricians,

Yes,  when all this LED transplants got finished is when it started. His tail lights where done the week before he felt asleep. I ran him on that sunday, did not wake up the next saturday. Good point. I want him to go back to normal. I do not need LED anything. It was cute, but not worth the trouble.

It can't be the LED upgrades themselves that is causing the problem.  LEDs use much less power than the conventional equivalents.  If the upgrades are when the problem started, most likely you have disturbed the wiring in such a way as to cause the parasitical draw.  The best thing to do is start by inspecting that wiring and looking for something unexpected.  If for example, you see a substantial current draw going to an LED, that's a guarantee there is a parasite pulling power from that wire.  LEDs use extremely small amounts of current.  So one way to troubleshoot this problem is to put an amp meter between the battery and cable connecting the car to the battery and then try connecting and disconnecting your various upgrades.  The first disconnected system that causes the current draw to drop significantly is the wiring that has to be examined for some other sort of problem.  There is no way LEDs could discharge a battery overnight.

Good luck for you and your tech!

Cheers, Edouard 

[Barb69]

Dear Barb and mid-60s Buick electricians,

Yes,  when all this LED transplants got finished is when it started. His tail lights where done the week before he felt asleep. I ran him on that sunday, did not wake up the next saturday. Good point. I want him to go back to normal. I do not need LED anything. It was cute, but not worth the trouble.

It can't be the LED upgrades themselves that is causing the problem.  LEDs use much less power than the conventional equivalents.  If the upgrades are when the problem started, most likely you have disturbed the wiring in such a way as to cause the parasitical draw.  The best thing to do is start by inspecting that wiring and looking for something unexpected.  If for example, you see a substantial current draw going to an LED, that's a guarantee there is a parasite pulling power from that wire.  LEDs use extremely small amounts of current.  So one way to troubleshoot this problem is to put an amp meter between the battery and cable connecting the car to the battery and then try connecting and disconnecting your various upgrades.  The first disconnected system that causes the current draw to drop significantly is the wiring that has to be examined for some other sort of problem.  There is no way LEDs could discharge a battery overnight.

Good luck for you and your tech!

Cheers, Edouard 

This is the reason Dusty went to see the Tech. I do not understand electricity.  Willing to be away from my boy until they figure out the real problem.  Hoping to hear better news next week.

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[elagache]

Dear Barb and mid-60s Buick caregivers,

This is the reason Dusty went to see the Tech. I do not understand electricity.  Willing to be away from my boy until they figure out the real problem.  Hoping to hear better news next week.

Okay, I'm in the same boat on all sorts of other repairs.  That's why Biquette ends up spending a lot of time at Orinda Motors.

I assume your tech will already know this, but the simplest way to locate the problem is to place an amp meter between the battery and Dusty's battery connector, then systematically remove one fuse at a time from the fuse box.  Sooner or later, removing a fuse will cause the current draw to stop.  Whatever, the problem is will be in the wiring protected by that fuse.

The other thing that occurred to me is that perhaps some of your upgrades are defective and that's why they might be using an unreasonable amount of power.  So you might have to have come components replaced under warranty, but you should be able to keep these upgrades on Dusty.

Cheers, Edouard

[Barb69]

Dear Barb and mid-60s Buick caregivers,

This is the reason Dusty went to see the Tech. I do not understand electricity.  Willing to be away from my boy until they figure out the real problem.  Hoping to hear better news next week.

Okay, I'm in the same boat on all sorts of other repairs.  That's why Biquette ends up spending a lot of time at Orinda Motors.

I assume your tech will already know this, but the simplest way to locate the problem is to place an amp meter between the battery and Dusty's battery connector, then systematically remove one fuse at a time from the fuse box.  Sooner or later, removing a fuse will cause the current draw to stop.  Whatever, the problem is will be in the wiring protected by that fuse.

The other thing that occurred to me is that perhaps some of your upgrades are defective and that's why they might be using an unreasonable amount of power.  So you might have to have come components replaced under warranty, but you should be able to keep these upgrades on Dusty.

Cheers, Edouard

Thanks,  If I'm not able to maintain the upgrades it will be just fine.

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