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Battery drain?
https://slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=59559		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  Rick Covalt [ Sat Apr 30, 2016 1:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Battery drain?
As many of you know I am limited in my electrical abilities! Didn't someone say "A man's got to know his limitations" ?

Anyway, my race car keeps draining the battery over a period of a couple days. It has already ruined one battery and I would like to figure out the culprit.

Car is a 65 Valiant, with no heater or wipers installed, Has a relay triggered off the blue wire from the old ballast resistor. That powers a terminal strip with switched 12V. One other relay is powering my electric fan and is manually switched. Only change I have made to the car over the winter is a one wire mini alternator mounted about 10" from the battery using the same feed wire as before. Of course the external VR has been removed.

Any help is appreciated. Obviously I checked that there are no lights on. I can do that pretty reliably.

And to Slantzilla; No Ryan has not worked on it. :lol:

Rick
Author:  SlantSixDan [ Sat Apr 30, 2016 1:36 pm ]
Post subject: 
I'm curious whether it will keep happening if you will disconnect that alternator's one wire.
Author:  Rick Covalt [ Sat Apr 30, 2016 1:48 pm ]
Post subject: 
I am happy to do that and it is easy to do. What are you thinkin? :lol: :lol:
Author:  Rick Covalt [ Sat Apr 30, 2016 2:29 pm ]
Post subject: 
I just checked the voltage and it is at 12.56. I will check it tomorrow and see if it has dropped any. If it has I will remove the Alternator wire and recheck.

Thanks
Author:  SlantSixDan [ Sat Apr 30, 2016 3:59 pm ]
Post subject: 
Quote:
I am happy to do that and it is easy to do. What are you thinkin?
I'm thinkin' I've heard enough accounts of the low hassle of a 1-wire alternator coming at the cost of high hassle that I avoid them.
Author:  Charrlie_S [ Sun May 01, 2016 3:37 am ]
Post subject: 
If the alternator has a shorted diode, it will drain the battery, when not running. It will still charge, but will have excessive "ripple" in the out put voltage.
Author:  Rick Covalt [ Tue May 03, 2016 3:22 am ]
Post subject: 
Must be the diode shorted. Removed the feed wire to the alternator and the problem went with it. :)
Author:  Dart270 [ Tue May 03, 2016 3:33 am ]
Post subject: 
I just read yesterday that many 1-wire alternators have a constant drain of about 100 mA (or up to a few 100) with everything OFF. This would explain your drain and mine on the 64 Dart. I have a similar mini alternator 6lbs w/bracket) with a separate IGN (switched0 field terminal that should fix this. I expect the 1-wire can be converted to this mode of operation and I will try this sometime.

Best,
Lou
Author:  slantzilla [ Tue May 03, 2016 8:39 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Battery drain?
Quote:
.
And to Slantzilla; No Ryan has not worked on it. :lol:

Rick
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

BTW, first thing I thought was alternator. :D
Author:  65 dartman [ Tue May 03, 2016 11:46 am ]
Post subject: 
I have a similar issue on our 93 all stock Dakota. I am wondering if the alternator could also be the culprit?
Author:  SlantSixDan [ Tue May 03, 2016 12:22 pm ]
Post subject: 
Quote:
I have a similar issue on our 93 all stock Dakota. I am wondering if the alternator could also be the culprit?
No, probably not.
Author:  Greg Ondayko [ Tue May 03, 2016 1:53 pm ]
Post subject: 
do you guys with the one wire alternator have a battery cut off in the rear of the car?


If so is it wired correctly as to when the external big switch is shut off it kills the entire car, not because the fuel pump has no power but because that one wire is disconnected and it does not generate power to the ignition coil any more?


I have a one wire on ruster and I wired the cut off switch for the battery so that the car shuts off.

I have never had any drain issues and I usually switch the car off when it's on the trailer and not being used.

I believe my battery is smaller than lou's? It looks like an overgrown Motorcycle battery but Is waay smaller than a car battery.

Greg
Author:  Rick Covalt [ Tue May 03, 2016 4:20 pm ]
Post subject: 
I do not have the Battery disconnect or the battery in the trunk yet.

Lou are you saying I can just break the the field wire with a switch when not running?

Thanks, Rick
Author:  Dart270 [ Wed May 04, 2016 5:17 am ]
Post subject: 
A "field" wire would be something you would switch using your ignition key/circuit. The big 1 wire has the field wire internally jumped, so you cannot separate it. Let's look at M-D and maybe yours (and mine) could be modified to expose and separate the field wire. You could of course disconnect the main feed/charging wire, but it would take a high current rated relay to do that right.

Lou
Author:  Joshie225 [ Wed May 04, 2016 7:52 am ]
Post subject: 
On my battery disconnect switch installations I extend the alternator output to the battery side of the disconnect switch. This way the rest of the car is switched off when the switch is opened and the alternator output is still connected to the battery so there is no alternator or regulator killing inductive voltage spike. The only thing to be aware of is that the alternator output wire is always hot.
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