Re: [MBZ] Total battery down the drain drain
And be aware that on most multimeters you have to switch the red wire to read amps, I have been caught out a few times. A few years back I had a Mitsingbitzi that got a flat battery, turned out the boot light was staying on because the switch was out of alignment, of course this would not happen on a Benz. Also one of my machines was playing up and spinning over slowly, hmmn I thought, battery is not that old but it's fairly small and lives in a rough environment. Still hanging in there until one day it would not crank, tried to jumpstart it and that did not work. OK the starter motor is toast, pulled it apart and sure enough the brushes where worn down and the area where the brushes contact was covered in gunk, new brushes and a clean up and it spins over like a top. This is usually not a problem in cars and such as the starter motor does not do as much work as a machine that's gets switched off and on a fair few times during the day. Hendrik who needs to dig a hole for the dead cat On 29/03/14 23:27, Jim Cathey wrote: Might be time to do the write up on how to check drain with a multimeter, crook diodes in alternators are a source of drain. Here's how I do it: Loosen the negative battery clamp, then hold one multimeter probe (meter set on Amps) vertically on the top post of the battery, and pinch the other probe against the side of the clamp as I lift it up over the probe. Check reading, then drop clamp back down onto the battery. That gives you the reading _without_ breaking the connection, which causes many things to cycle and draw more power than they're would normally. Repeat as necessary, disconnecting fuses, etc. A leaky alternator diode doesn't go through the fusebox. Usually the only unfused things are the alternator, and the starter. And any aftermarket crap that might be installed badly. -- Jim ___ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such, those individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The list owner has no control over the content of the messages of each contributor.
Re: [MBZ] Total battery down the drain drain
Jim's method is cool. No power loss to radios that remember, too (c: ... If one does not have a multimeter.. same trick can be done ( I like the 'post slide idea' ) using a parking lamp. It will glow a deep dull red at around 50 mA, or .05 Amp. Testing in a shaded area is suggested. A good battery will go for a long time at 50 mA.. so if you see anything more than a dull red glow, this is the time to start pulling fuses etc as discussed above. YMMV on the lamp, but it has to get up to pretty bright, indicating a significant leak, before you're in the arena of running down a battery over a short period of time. Full brilliance can be anything up to a few amps, depending on the bulb.. and of course a single parking lamp at full brilliance will go for many hours on a good battery. On Saturday, March 29, 2014 8:58 AM, Jim Cathey wrote: > Might be time to do the write up on how to check drain with a > multimeter, crook diodes in alternators are a source of drain. Here's how I do it: Loosen the negative battery clamp, then hold one multimeter probe (meter set on Amps) vertically on the top post of the battery, and pinch the other probe against the side of the clamp as I lift it up over the probe. Check reading, then drop clamp back down onto the battery. That gives you the reading _without_ breaking the connection, which causes many things to cycle and draw more power than they're would normally. Repeat as necessary, disconnecting fuses, etc. A leaky alternator diode doesn't go through the fusebox. Usually the only unfused things are the alternator, and the starter. And any aftermarket crap that might be installed badly. -- Jim ___ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such, those individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The list owner has no control over the content of the messages of each contributor. ___ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such, those individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The list owner has no control over the content of the messages of each contributor.
Re: [MBZ] Total battery down the drain drain
Might be time to do the write up on how to check drain with a multimeter, crook diodes in alternators are a source of drain. Here's how I do it: Loosen the negative battery clamp, then hold one multimeter probe (meter set on Amps) vertically on the top post of the battery, and pinch the other probe against the side of the clamp as I lift it up over the probe. Check reading, then drop clamp back down onto the battery. That gives you the reading _without_ breaking the connection, which causes many things to cycle and draw more power than they're would normally. Repeat as necessary, disconnecting fuses, etc. A leaky alternator diode doesn't go through the fusebox. Usually the only unfused things are the alternator, and the starter. And any aftermarket crap that might be installed badly. -- Jim ___ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such, those individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The list owner has no control over the content of the messages of each contributor.
Re: [MBZ] Total battery down the drain drain
Might be time to do the write up on how to check drain with a multimeter, crook diodes in alternators are a source of drain. Hendrik who just disconnects the battery On 29/03/14 20:49, John Reames wrote: Is the dome light staying on? (Aren't the timers known to go bad?) -- John W Reames ___ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such, those individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The list owner has no control over the content of the messages of each contributor.
