Can't figure out why my brand new battery keeps draining, I have new altenator new battery cables and less then 6month old voltage regulator. What can be the problem?
i had the same thing i took it to a electrition and he ask if i had any new electronics i sad no and then he checked out the system and it was my new voltage regulator even thoguth i just put a new one in try a new voltage regulator
Unhook Neg Cable With It Running If It Keeps Running The Charging System Is Working (maybe Not 100% But Enough To Run ) If It Is Unhook Cable Overnight And See If It Is Ok Next Am If So Thers A Drain Somewhere
Just in case you find nothing else wrong... I had a slow leak, and spent weeks tracking it down. It ended up being the little buzzer under the dash that comes on when you open the door with the key in ignition. Cut that sucker out (hated the noise anyway) and drain was gone. Also, instead of waiting overnight, just put a voltage tester on it set to 15 V DC. WITH THE KEY TURNED OFF, OUT OF IGNITION, DOORS CLOSED!!! All electrical should be off, including any stereos that have a clock on them, dome lights, etc. Take the positive wire off the battery, put the positive lead from the tester to the wire, the negative to the post, keeping them separate. If all is good, there should be 0 zero volts going across with the engine turned off. If there is a drain, it will register someting. Mine was small, like .4 volts, but enough to kill the battery in a couple days.
Battery/Alternator test Ronr11, I have always taken the positive off to see if the alternator was working. That is what I was taught. I do not see how unhooking the Negative would have any affect on the car staying running or not since it takes a positive charge from the battery to run (unless the positive was somehow grounding out to the body/engine). To the best of my knowledge the car is considered a ground and all current comes from the battery. Unless I am missing something? Not meant to flame or offend. My friend was having a problem with his alternator OVERCHARGING his battery. Well three batteries later he asks me to come look at it. He put the voltage regulator on the fender well. A plastic fender well. Needless to say it was due to the fact that the regulator was not grounded as it would be on our cars. It scares me to think that he is a Ford guy too.
no prob here but the alt don't know the diff it will still put out floating voltage took this off battery page .6. Turn off all the ignition switch, electrical switches and breakers and electronic and electrical accessories and appliances. Without using a hammer on the battery cable terminals or posts, remove the NEGATIVE (-) cable first because this will minimize the possibility of shorting the battery when you remove the other cables. Secure the negative cable so that it cannot "spring" loose and make electrical contact. Next remove the POSITIVE (+) cable.
You don't mention if the battery is draining from driving or sitting overnight. Actually if you put a meter in between one of the battery posts and the cable that's normally attached to it (doesn't matter if it's the + or -), you want to measure current (amps), not voltage. Current is measured in series, voltage is a parallel connection usually referenced to ground. Without the engine running you can measure if any current is being drawn when everything is supposed to be turned of. A digital radio with memory will draw a few milliamps. If you have something sucking up more than about 200 mA start pulling fuses until the current draw goes away. Then you know what circuit in your car has the problem.
Don't un-hook the battery while it's running. I've heard with out it, there can be a voltage spike (up to 600 volts), which WILL burn stuff up. Might not hurt an old points car, but 10 years ago, my little brother did it (against my advice) the dome light got VERY bright, the car died within 2 seconds....Bye Bye Unilite module.... Expensive lesson for him. Use a meter like the others have said. With the engine off, and all doors shut, ect, if you take the terminal off and touch it back, you will see a small spark if it has a drain...Another not so recommended deal, you don't really want "sparks" near a battery, but it is a test if you don't have a test light or meter.
i had a trunk light go bad... the mercury in the switch was gorunding out and causing a drain... even though the bulb was blown.. it still ran the battery down.. i replaced the light and it cured it not on the mav... was another car a long time ago
My suggestion regarding volts was just to verify if there is ANY electrical "movement" in the car with all the electronics off. If everything is off, it should look "dead" in volts, amps, and in the flux capacitor. I don't like using the amp meter (milliamps, on my cheap tester) because I fear that I may find a drain of many AMPS! and it may blow out my meter. So I just use the volts. If it shows ANY volts, then something is running, and it is safer on my Radio Shack meter. Even though the "correct" meter to use would be amps or milliamps, to not only verify a drain, but also how much of a drain. I just kept looking and detaching fuses until my system looked "dead" in volts. Then looked over the entire circuit on that one semi-live fuse, and finally found the buzzer was draining. If I remember correctly, it was on the same circuit as the dome light, and I originally thought that was part of the problem, like ST's. I hate working on shorted circuits...
It drain while sitting at a red light. Had a battery booster to get started again. but when I got where I was going turned the car off and tried to start again but got nothing, had to let sit for a few hours then started. was able to make it home but had same problem when I got home could not start it right back up.
Sounds like it's not charging if it died while running. Alt/volt reg problem. Might even be a chassis ground problem. Where are you located? I see in Tx...
When the engine is running you can hold a screwdriver to the center rear of the alternator, if it's working the screwdriver will be magnetically attracted. Charging voltage across the battery with the engine running should be between 13.5 and 15 volts depending on what type of alternator/ regulator you have. Less than that you have a charging problem.
