Phantom Load was Charging circuit in 1982 TDT only putting out 13 +/- .2 volts

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heav - 10 Nov 2007 18:23 GMT

I took my battery into Sears and it tested good.

I put the battery back in this morning and there is a big drain when
nothing is turned on and the car is shut off, so I have to start
removing fuses and trying to locate which circuit is causing the load.

I put the black lead of the tester on the negative post of the battery
and the positive lead on the negative cable from the car with the
positive battery cable from the car connected to the positive post of
the battery and it pinned the DC ammeter on my tester.

Is that the right way to connect the tester?

I will post my results.

Paul

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-->> T.G. Lambach <<-- - 10 Nov 2007 18:31 GMT

Suggest you disconnect the power antenna motor - there are two
connections at the antenna, one for the antenna signal the other for the
motor. The radio will work if the antenna is UP and the motor is
disconnected.

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heav - 11 Nov 2007 20:07 GMT

Thanks for the suggestion. The antenna shorted to ground last year
and I just disconnected it, but I was wondering if the harness may
have been pressed against a ground by the spare tire. I have
satellite radio in the car and don't use the old FM antenna anymore.

For now I have the ground wire off the battery and will only connect
it when I want to use the car and then in the next few days I hope to
get time to go through everything.

I think my ammeter may not be any good though. I did the same check
on my 4Runner, which has no charging or dead load drain problem, and
the ammeter pinned on that one too. When I put a 12v light bulb in-
line between the ground wire and the negative battery post on my 300
TDT, there is not enough current to make the light illuminate, so
maybe there is not an excessive drain. I have a friend who has an
ammeter and I am going to get him to come over and see what he thinks.

Thanks again.

Paul

On Nov 10, 10:31 am, "-->> T.G. Lambach <<--" <"T.G. Lambach at
NoHamorSpamcomcast.net"> wrote:

> Suggest you disconnect the power antenna motor - there are two
> connections at the antenna, one for the antenna signal the other for the
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> ? 2007 T.G.Lambach. Publication in any form requires prior written
> permission.

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me - 11 Nov 2007 21:32 GMT

Thanks for the suggestion. The antenna shorted to ground last year
and I just disconnected it, but I was wondering if the harness may
have been pressed against a ground by the spare tire. I have
satellite radio in the car and don't use the old FM antenna anymore.

For now I have the ground wire off the battery and will only connect
it when I want to use the car and then in the next few days I hope to
get time to go through everything.

I think my ammeter may not be any good though. I did the same check
on my 4Runner, which has no charging or dead load drain problem, and
the ammeter pinned on that one too. When I put a 12v light bulb in-
line between the ground wire and the negative battery post on my 300
TDT, there is not enough current to make the light illuminate, so
maybe there is not an excessive drain. I have a friend who has an
ammeter and I am going to get him to come over and see what he thinks.

Thanks again.

Paul

Are you certain the Satellite radio receiver turns off with the key?

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trader4@optonline.net - 12 Nov 2007 12:48 GMT

> Thanks for the suggestion. The antenna shorted to ground last year
> and I just disconnected it, but I was wondering if the harness may
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
>
> Are you certain the Satellite radio receiver turns off with the key?

And are you sure you're connecting the ammeter correctly? On the
multimeter the ammeter function has seperate input from the
voltage,resistance, etc test input.

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heav - 15 Nov 2007 03:13 GMT

You're right! I forgot all about plugging the leads into the other
port!

Thanks a lot!

Paul

On Nov 12, 4:48 am, "trad...@optonline.net" <trad...@optonline.net>
wrote:

> > "heav" <p...@inyopro.com> wrote in message
>
[quoted text clipped - 25 lines]
> multimeter the ammeter function has seperate input from the
> voltage,resistance, etc test input.

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