Re: Battery

[Bpnmrice@domain.elided]

So many batteries!!

First step, since this is a Spider, check that the courtesy lights in the 
footwells are not switched to the on position. That bit me awhile back. Not 
always easy to notice them.

Before you start checking for drain, have your battery checked. Any good auto 
parts store can do it. A battery with a weak cell can behave like you have 
something draining the battery. You may have checked for that already, 
however a lot of people start troubleshooting their system before confirming 
the battery state.

Assuming the battery checks good, make sure that enough charging voltage is 
getting to the battery. The gauge in the "cockpit" may not be telling you 
what is actually arriving at the battery. 

If that is okay, the next thing is to check for drain. You can narrow down 
the possibilities by isolating the offending circuit. (Did this on an old 
Ford recently.) Using an appropriate current meter, measure the existing 
drain. Should be only a few tenths of an amp (clock, radio memory, and such). 
If the drain is higher than that, begin pulling fuses until the drain drops 
to normal levels. That should identify the circuit. From their you can check 
the devices on that circuit. Tedious, but it can work. 

Hope you get lots of good ideas.

Bob Rice
Tampa
86 Spider


> Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2000 15:50:17 -0500 
>  From: "Perez Oscar (INDY)" <PerezO@domain.elided>
>  Subject: Battery Drain
>  
>  Hello all-
>  
>  My Spider has been draining my battery, as I see from the last Digest I am
>  not the only one.  What do you recommend as a procedure to locate the
>  source??  
>  

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