Battery Confusion


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Old 09-02-09, 08:59 AM
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Battery Confusion

Okay so for the past few days I've bought a new battery for my 1989 Ford F-150 because I thought my battery was shot and wouldn't hold a charge, it was about 6 years old so it would have been logical.

Well, after replacing it and having it sit overnight it is drained and there is not enough power to turn over. So I figured it was a parasitic drain and it was my aftermarket radio (I still think it is) so I ripped it out and disconnected it. And let it sit overnight.

Got up this morning and it seemed to keep the little power I had left. So I figured I'd try to trickle charge the battery; hooked it up and it keeps telling me there is a fault and it will not charge... Figuring it was my trickle charger I tried it on a different car and a lawn tractor... they both hooked up fine with no faults.

So I unhooked the battery and placed it on the ground and tried trickle charging it... Still faulting... Any ideas? Pretty confused about this one.
 
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Old 09-02-09, 09:11 AM
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Sounds like you got a bad Battery.....

It happens....

Take it back where you got it, and ask them to "LOAD-TEST " it.
 
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Old 09-04-09, 11:29 AM
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Okay, I took the battery to a near by auto shop and got it recharge and checked. Came back good, no problems or anything like that. He said (which I already knew) if the battery was too low it might of not wanted to change. Which it would have to be a hell of a chance both my old battery (which used to charge just fine when it did sit for a while) and now my new one...

So before I hooked my newly charged battery up I unhooked my aftermarket poorly installed CD player (I installed it my self and made some boo boos, I "accidentally" unhooked the wire harness and got my wires mixed... yeah. But it works and hasn't given me a problem until now... it seems.) I hooked my battery up and let it sit over night and amazingly it works fine, it seems to have the same amount of juice it had yesterday.

Anyway I figure I'd go ahead and try to search for a drain somewhere. Went out an bought a digital multimeter and did a drain test on it and it shows 9.18, guessing that's mA, I don't really know much about electrical stuff but I know it couldn't have been 9.18 Amps... There is no way my battery could have lasted overnight... Right? Since my truck is 1989, it does have some type of a electrical CPU system... it seems, I'm not too smart of my vehicles like most people.

So I guess my question is: 9 mA a drain or is it normal?

Also I might be using my multimeter wrong.. Quite confusing for me, I uploaded a picture of the MM dial. I had it set on 12V and the red banana plug in the ΩVmA°F (Fused). That was where I determined it was draining 9.18. Just wanted to be sure I was testing the drain right.

The MM dial:
Thank you for your help.
 

Last edited by Shadeladie; 09-04-09 at 12:24 PM. Reason: Problem with link
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Old 09-06-09, 01:02 PM
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Okay, update. It is indeed the alternator that is draining the battery. Did a volt test on my battery while the alternator was connected and then without, it was dropping VERY fast, so that obviously explains the drain.

Planing on replacing the alt. my self... I pretty much know how to do it with the belt and all but was wondering just how hard is it?
 
 

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