Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and p38fln
Well-Known Member
This one has everyone I ask stumped - if I leave the truck sitting for more than 24 hours, it is dead. Very dead, as in no dome lights and the presets are all gone from the radio. I already replaced the battery, which did nothing, except possibly make the problem worse.
So I got this 400 AC/DC amp clamp meter from Sears...expensive, but a huge improvement over trying to get an in-line meter into the wiring.
And in the end, I think that all I really managed to do was prove that there was nothing wrong... Any ideas?
Just so my afternoon with the amp-meter isn't totally wasted, I'm posting the readings below. Somehow, the amp meter can tell if the battery is getting discharged and puts a - symbol in front of the reading. It switched to a positive readout once the battery was being charged. Haven't got a clue how it does this, or how it works in the first place since it's reading DC amperage through a clamp.
Engine off, key out (Measured by putting both positive battery cables into the amp meter clamp together)
Nothing on -
-0.27 amps (This is the same reading that an in-line 10 amp amp-meter gave)
XM Radio and power invertor with no load -
-0.78 amps (This is also the same reading that the in-line meter gave)
Parking lights (Switched range from 40 to 400 amps)
-9.8 amps (And, once again, the same - but it blew the fuse in the in-line meter immediately afterwards so I stopped and bought the clamp-on type)
Low beam headlights -
-17.2 amps
High beam headlights -
-18.6 amps
Engine start -
-307 amps, then +35 amps, gradually falling to +5.9 to +5.2 (I turned everything in the truck on then off, and the amp meter stayed in the +5.2 to +5.9 range no matter what I did)
Engine idling - Testing at hot wire of alternator, can't remember if the - symbol lit up or not.
Nothing on, just engine idling -
19 amps
Every possible electronic gadget turned on (Radio, Max AC, high beam headlights)
48 amps
And, with the engine off, the hot wire of the alternator reads 0.00 amps.
So I got this 400 AC/DC amp clamp meter from Sears...expensive, but a huge improvement over trying to get an in-line meter into the wiring.
And in the end, I think that all I really managed to do was prove that there was nothing wrong... Any ideas?
Just so my afternoon with the amp-meter isn't totally wasted, I'm posting the readings below. Somehow, the amp meter can tell if the battery is getting discharged and puts a - symbol in front of the reading. It switched to a positive readout once the battery was being charged. Haven't got a clue how it does this, or how it works in the first place since it's reading DC amperage through a clamp.
Engine off, key out (Measured by putting both positive battery cables into the amp meter clamp together)
Nothing on -
-0.27 amps (This is the same reading that an in-line 10 amp amp-meter gave)
XM Radio and power invertor with no load -
-0.78 amps (This is also the same reading that the in-line meter gave)
Parking lights (Switched range from 40 to 400 amps)
-9.8 amps (And, once again, the same - but it blew the fuse in the in-line meter immediately afterwards so I stopped and bought the clamp-on type)
Low beam headlights -
-17.2 amps
High beam headlights -
-18.6 amps
Engine start -
-307 amps, then +35 amps, gradually falling to +5.9 to +5.2 (I turned everything in the truck on then off, and the amp meter stayed in the +5.2 to +5.9 range no matter what I did)
Engine idling - Testing at hot wire of alternator, can't remember if the - symbol lit up or not.
Nothing on, just engine idling -
19 amps
Every possible electronic gadget turned on (Radio, Max AC, high beam headlights)
48 amps
And, with the engine off, the hot wire of the alternator reads 0.00 amps.
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Nice little device, I love not having to pull the wires loose to check things.
