battery drain

[Sollauer]

I need some electrical guidance here:
I was getting no charge to the batter- I got a new voltage regulator and now its charging, but 18+volts showing on my voltage meter. Issue1.
I also have a battery drain somewhere- Its not the radio, I killed the power to that to make sure it wasnt something as simple as the memory on the aftermarket radio. When I tur the engine off, I can throw a meter on the battery, and see the voltage in the battery click down a point at a time about 2-3 seconds between 10's of a a volt. Issue 2.
Conversely, If I pull the negative cable from the battery, it now seems to be taking a charge from somewhere and slowly increasing in voltage, so I have pulled the positive side of the cable as well. Issue 3.

Thoughts?

[Jbarnes79]

If your regulator is poorly grounded it can cause an overcharge. Also, was your battery completely dead and jump started after changing the regulator?

For both problems I would bench charge the battery until its fully charged then check your overcharge condition.


To find your battery drain you will need a multimeter that has an Amp reading setting. Disconnect your negative battery cable and attach the red lead to the negative cable and attach the black lead to the negative terminal on the battery. You should only see a small drain of about 20-40 Milliamps to support radio clock/memory. If it's more than that, say 3 amps, then pull one fuse at a time and check if the reading dropped significantly. Keep pulling fuses one at a time until you see the meter drop to a near zero draw. Once you find that fuse, you found the circuit that is discharging your battery.

[Sollauer]

Thanks so much for the detail. I will give that a try!