Possible electric drain

[woodie49]

I took my woodie to a car show in early June and came home and put it in the garage, as usual. I tried to start it about three weeks later and the battery was deaded than a door nail. It wouldn't even budge the dash indicator, no lights, no dome light, no horn. Really dead.

The battery is a 6v Optima I bought in August 2010. Has been great with tons on cranking power. I checked the headlights, which were off, and looked for anything else I might have forgotten that could have drained the battery, but nothing seemed to be on. With the ignition off, there really isn't much else on my car that can remain on. Very perplexing.

The battery store confirmed the battery was absolutely dead, so the assumption is something is on that drained it. They revived it by putting a good Optima in-line with mine and put a charger on it (how the manufacturer recommends reviving a dead Optima). Seems fine now, but I am leary.

The variable that concerns me is that I had a generator issue and swapped out parts from a spare and replaced the brushes at the same time. Then, the car show maybe two or three weeks later.

I show no drain on the battery when hooked up now, and dash gauge goes way to charge for the first few minutes of driving, then settles a little right of the middle, but this still concerns me.

I have a couple questions:

The brushes are new and showed no signs of cracked or flaking insulation. Is there something I might have done to the generator to cause an intermitant short?

If that were the case, would I not see that the battery was being drawn by looking at the dash guage with the car off?

Could the armiture be shorting only at a certain position and is there a way I can test this? I have avoltage meter, but except for the vary obvious stuff, I am not adept at using it. Kind of like my wife with a screw driver.

Is there a reliable way to tell if I have a constant drain with the car off?

I have seen many threads on chasing down electrical issues on the forum. And electrical is not my strong suite (if i have one). But this car has been very reliable eletrically, so I am looking for the obvious stuff first.

I have also seen a few comments on the web that the newer Optimas occassionally do have some kind of sudden death issues that nobody seems to understand, so it COULD be the battery, but I am not there yet.

[randroid]

woodie49,

What's kept me from considering an Optima are the persistent rumors about sudden failure but in a poll here last year (?) the forum members seemed to be about equally divided about them. I might try a small bight bulb between the hot side (-) of the battery and the battery cable. An ammeter would be more accurate, I guess, but a small bulb is a lot cheaper and easier to find. A small bulb will also show light at a lower draw than a large one.

I've heard it said that the small grooves in the armature of the generator where the brushes rest should be cleaned with a dental pick to prevent shorting but that's the sort of job best left for when you have a bit of time on your hands because it's a job calculated to make a man mean.

-Randy

[4852dodge]

Try storing the car with the battery disconnected and see what happens. If it goes down, it's the battery, if not you have a drain somewhere.

[Young Ed]

Do you happen to have one of these type of switches installed in your car? Dads 39 plymouth had one for the heater and somehow it got turned on just enough that the light bulb was on but you couldn't hear the fan running. He had dead battery issues for a month or two before finally he was messing with it later in the evening and saw a faint glow from the light bulb in the switch.

[desoto1939]

Could you have a sticking brake pedal and then the brake light switch is still on and the circuit is slow draining the battery by sending current to your stop lights.

Just my 2 cents. You also mention that you did some generator work. Did you re polarise the unit witht he regulator. This could also be the issue.

Rich Hartung

[Don Coatney]

When you connect your battery with all electrical stuff turned off is there any arching? Have you used an ohm meter (battery cable disconnected from the battery) with one lead touching the battery post and the other lead touching the battery cable? Best to use an analog meter for this test as a digital may be too sensetive as pictured below.

[woodie49]

Did a check with the small light I use to static time, and it did not light when connected between terminal and cable. Similarly checked with a volt meter which also did not show a draw, so I am hoping I just left the lights on and did not realize it. Thanks for the advice.

Keeping an eye on it for now. I'll also get a disonnect terminal and save myself some potential grief.