battery woes

[lubber]

Tom, inductive ammeter? Remember your talking to a novice at best here. My testing has been as such...no load 6.5 volts ,with load i.e. starter trying it's best , drops to between .095 to 1.95 , these measurements are from the posts of the battery.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Well, youcertainly have a bad battery or something is really drawing a lot of amps to lower the voltage that much.

An inductive ammeter is a small, usually round, meter that you lay on the wire. When current flows the magnetic field generated will deflect the needle to indicate the amps flowing through the wire.

Does the starter cable or starter switch get hot while cranking? How about the battery terminals?

[lubber]

I haven't touched the cables to feel if there warm or hot but, that would be resistance ... what I'm looking for?

[columbiA]

Resistance creates heat-thats what makes a toaster work!,but it will pull a battery down fast,If you have the clamp-on type of terminals on the cables,get rid of them as they are only a band-aid fix & are prone to get corrosion under them.If you lift the cable off the battery & there is a spark,then you have a current draw somewhere.If grounds are good,then I think the battery is shot.

[Mike V. Florida]

Take the fan belt off and see if the generator turns like a motor.

[jackball]

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I had a short in my alternator. Would drain battery down over night.

[lubber]

Theo's post regarding generator and discharge has got me to thinking about polarizatoin as my generator has been sitting for some 20 years or so. I'm out to try it and see. regarding removing the fan belt, that test tells me what?

[Gerard]

I would suggest you read MIKE'S post again and I am sure you understand

[rossofozini]

When you charge your battery, how do know its charged? Do you use a hydrometer to test? It should read 1275sg on all cells to be fully charged.
Otherwise you have little evidence on your batteries condition.

[JBR]

Is your cable from the battery to the starter new. Had a friend that the cable corroded on the inside of the fabric. Looked good, but it wouldn't start the car.

[lubber]

O K it's a new day and ..........removed the fan belt and generator not spinning. As far as battery charging goes I don't know exactly how much charge I am obtaining as I don't yet have a hydrometer. I have been giving a 4 amp charge for up to 12hrs. I have disconnected the lighting harness from the cutout to eleminate a draw form there,Still the battery drain problem. After running the engine for a 15 min. drive around the neighborhood (ammeter @10+ ) I notice after shutting down , key off , ammeter goes to -10 or shows discharge so I bump the starter and ammeter returns to zero? So do I have a sticky starter switch,should the ammeter always return to zero only or is a drop into neg. normal? Still working.

[Tom Wesenberg]

A 10 amp draw with the key off could be a bad cutout and sending power into the generator. Have you disconnected the generator wire?

I have seen burn spots on the side of a starter switch caused by the thick insulator on the sides of the contact strap going bad.

Yes, the ammeter should always return to 0 with everything off.

[lubber]

Tom, it's my understanding that a bad cutout will cause generator to spin wihen the fanbelt is removed? Which is why I tried that and I saw no indication of such. As far as the ammeter always returning to zero, mine does not , thanks for pointing that out. After breifly "bumping " the starter though it does. perhap I have a starter swich problem? Patrick L. , you wrote about my problem yesterday and it went in one ear and out the other. Starting tomorrow I'll start unhooking stuff.

[columbiA]

Next time you have a 10 amp discharge with key off,unhook battery & see if ammeter stays at -10.If so replace the meter.

[lubber]

O K Tom ,I couldn't wait till tomorrow so I started the car, then shut it off and got my -10 draw , so I unhook generator and draw stops! Bad cutout ? can I remove the cutout and do further testing or repair? Do I just replace? Also after reconnecting the generator wire the draw does not reappear. Thanks guys for helping to get this through my thick head

[Tom Wesenberg]

Since the generator didn't spin, I'd say you need to repair that, as well as repair or replace the cutout.

[lubber]

O K ....started the the car today , then shut it off and got my -10 discharge , so I went foward and loosened the generator to slacken the fan belt and low and behold the generator starts spinning. Thanks again for everyone for helping me through my issues , would have been a long road without the help.

[VWJoe]

It ain't fixed yet. If that generator is spinning, voltage is flowing backwards through that generator from the battery. Better replace that cutout relay or you'll be sorry,

[lubber]

I'm thinking about going with the diode type as the one I have now is a" NEW " repop wound type , any opinions?

[FL&WVMIKE]

lubber ...................
Using screws that are too long, on your cutout, that bottom out, can give you fits too.
Are you using original screws or something from the hardware store ?
MIKE