Jump to content
SAU Community

Kill Switch Works But Battery Still Draining Slowly Over Time.

No Crust Racing

By No Crust Racing,
in Car Audio & Electrical

 Share

Recommended Posts

No Crust Racing Grand Master

No Crust Racing

Posted
Posted

What have I buggered up here?

See pic then reference colours.

post-23873-0-62854300-1420340010_thumb.jpg


Green - From Battery.

Yellow- From Alternator.
Blue - Engine harness

Red - Another Engine Harness

Purple - Fuse for car alarm/can be ignored.

In this pic the switch is off, he car will not start, no accessories will turn on, fuel pumps not priming.

However, I can go out after a week and find the car hard to start as battery voltage has dropped.

I had problems with this setup originally and found this setup was the only way to get it to work, with the blue coloured engine harness on the other side the car would continue running when the switch was flipped.

What have I stuffed up? Or should I have used a 3 pole switch and separated those two engine harnesses connections red/blue from each other and the battery.

Here's a pic of the battery setup, pretty sure this problem existed before the surge tank went in, the trigger wire for the relay for the surge tank pump is the existing fuel pump wire, so neither pump primes unless they should be.

post-23873-0-42054500-1420340014_thumb.jpg

No Crust Racing Grand Master

No Crust Racing

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Battery is dry cell for car with CCA rating above what's needed for this engine.

Neg terminal corrosion is dissimilar metal spacer used there. AFAIK that shouldn't cause a current drain.

Chris Rogers Grand Master

Chris Rogers

Posted
Posted

Ok so this drops the battery and the alternator feed? Alarm is still on the hot side of the battery and still active regardless of switch positions.

  • Like 1
No Crust Racing Grand Master

No Crust Racing

Posted
  • Author
Posted

No, alarm is on the side that gets disconnected. The switch is in the off position in this pic.

It's been suggested that putting both engine harness connections on the non battery side should be enough, or that the alternator can be pulling amps from the battery, however I'm pretty sure that testing last time (and I'll test again shortly to be sure) showed that having the two engine harnesses on the same side saw the engine keep running when the switch was flipped.

jiffo Mentor

jiffo

Posted
Posted

Alternator will kill battery if a diode is cactus or if the reg is faulty. Auto sparky will soon tell you.

Chris is wondering about the alarm. (as am I)

Most alarms will trigger once the car's battery is removed from the circuit.

All my machinery has a breaker similar to yours right at their batteries. First item from the battery is the breaker.

No alarms of course but my battery life has been extended miraculously by removing any chance of drain.

No Crust Racing Grand Master

No Crust Racing

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I had an aircon mate of mine around and he had a current tester or something he called it, put it on the alternator wire and got nothing.

The alarm wiring goes to a fuse then off elsewhere, the car used to have remote central locking etc, but most of that has been removed (track car).

I will have to test if that wire can be ditch, either way though it's on the wrong side to be draining the battery when the switch is off.

Kinks Grand Master

Kinks

Posted
Posted

just measure the current draw each cable consumes with engine off. easy to do with a multimeter. I would move the blue engine harness to the same side as the red one (isolated). I don't see how the engine can keep running with both harnesses connected to the isolated side of the switch.

89CAL Grand Master

89CAL

Posted
Posted

As per the previous discussion in your other thread. Test current draw with a clamp meter on the blue cable with the switch isolated. Move everything but the battery positive cable to the other side of the isolator. Theres no reason that anything else should be on the battery side of the altenator. Unless you have picked up the battery cable after it goes to the altenator but im assuming the yellow cable is the battery feed to the altenator

If so then it can be on the other side. The altenator is never charging with the switch off so no need to be over there

If you are worried about too many things hanging off one side of the switch, then you can fit a small junction block after the isolator and just run one thick cable from the isolator to the junction block

  • 2 weeks later...
Tommy Kaira RL Mentor

Tommy Kaira RL

Posted
Posted

Has the relay next to the battery still got power going to it.

Try taking the battery out of car for a week to see if it goes flat.

Once a dc battery goes flat you will never charge it to 100% again. You will still have 12v it just wont have the capacity.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing


  • Latest Posts

    • myrbgivesmeheadaches
      RB25DET NEO Cylinder Head

      By myrbgivesmeheadaches · Posted

      Did this end up working? Did you take some pictures?
    • Duncan
      V37 Suspension change

      By Duncan · Posted

      And finally, the front lower mount. It was doubly weird. Firstly, the lower mount is held in with a bracket that has 3 bolts (it also acts as the steering lock stop), and then a nut on the shock lower mount itself. So, remove the 3x 14mm head bolts , then the 17mm nut that holds the shock in. From there, you can't actually remove the shock from the lower mount bolt (took me a while to work that out....) Sadly I don't have a pic of the other side, but the swaybar mounts to the same bolt that holds the shock in. You need to push that swaybar mount/bolt back so the shock can be pulled out past the lower control arm.  In this pic you can see the bolt partly pushed back, but it had to go further than that to release the shock. Once the shock is out, putting the new one in is "reverse of disassembly". Put the top of the shock through at least one hole and put a nut on loosely to hold it in place. Put the lower end in place and push the swaybar mount / shock bolt back in place, then loosely attach the other 2 top nuts. Bolt the bracket back in place with the 14mm head bolts and finally put the nut onto the lower bolt. Done....you have new suspension on your v37!
    • Duncan
      V37 Suspension change

      By Duncan · Posted

      And now to the front.  No pics of the 3 nuts holding the front struts on, they are easy to spot. Undo 2 and leave the closest one on loosely. Underneath we have to deal with the wiring again, but this time its worse because the plug is behind the guard liner. You'll have to decide how much of the guard liner to remove, I undid the lower liner's top, inside and lower clips, but didn't pull it full off the guard. Same issue undoing the plug as at the rear, you need to firmly push the release clip from below while equally firmly gripping the plug body and pulling it out of  the socket. I used my fancy electrical disconnect pliers to get in there There is also one clip for the wiring, unlike at the rear I could not get behind it so just had to lever it up and out.....not in great condition to re-use in future.
    • Duncan
      V37 Suspension change

      By Duncan · Posted

      Onto the rear lower shock mount. It's worth starting with a decent degrease to remove 10+ years of road grime, and perhaps also spray a penetrating oil on the shock lower nut. Don't forget to include the shock wiring and plug in the clean.... Deal with the wiring first; you need to release 2 clips where the wiring goes into the bracket (use long nose pliers behind the bracket to compress the clip so you can reuse it), and the rubber mount slides out, then release the plug.  I found it very hard to unplug, from underneath you can compress the tab with a screwdriver or similar, and gently but firmly pull the plug out of the socket (regular pliers may help but don't put too much pressure on the plastic. The lower mount is straightforward, 17mm nut and you can pull the shock out. As I wasn't putting a standard shock back in, I gave the car side wiring socket a generous gob of dialectric grease to keep crap out in the future. Putting the new shock in is straightforward, feed it into at least 1 of the bolt holes at the top and reach around to put a nut on it to hold it up. Then put on the other 2 top nuts loosely and put the shock onto the lower mounting bolt (you may need to lift the hub a little if the new shock is shorter). Tighten the lower nut and 3 upper nuts and you are done. In my case the BC Racing shocks came assembled for the fronts, but the rears needed to re-use the factory strut tops. For that you need spring compressors to take the pressure off the top nut (they are compressed enough when the spring can move between the top and bottom spring seats. Then a 17mm ring spanner to undo the nut while using an 8mm open spanner to stop the shaft turning (or, if you are really lucky you might get it off with a rattle gun).
    • Duncan
      V37 Suspension change

      By Duncan · Posted

      You will now be able to lift the parcel shelf trim enough to get to the shock cover bolts; if you need to full remove the parcel shelf trim for some reason you also remove the escutcheons around the rear seat release and you will have to unplug the high stop light wiring from the boot. Next up is removal of the bracket; 6 nuts and a bolt Good news, you've finally got to the strut top! Remove the dust cover and the 3 shock mount nuts (perhaps leave 1 on lightly for now....) Same on the other side, but easier now you've done it all before
×
×
  • Create New...