I tried to start Carl the other day and my battery was DEAD! I learned what a parasitic draw is and how to test and find it.
Check out this video from @EricTheCarGuy where I learned about testing for a parasitic draw:
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Haha, amazing. Sneaky light hiding away and sucking energy. Good find!
One quick and easy way to check if the parasitic draw is too mush without a tester is use an 1156 light bulb between the battery and the battery post. If the bulb glows it's too mush draw.
Try checking the dome light switch part of your light switch it may activate your ash tray light along with your dome light ! I can’t tell you how many times customers brought in cars with dead batteries after the turned on a dome light switch with their leg or knee!
Ylu are running so much on that car, you may want to look into a bigger alternator. If I remember the Falcon was equipped with a 35 amp alt. And thats nlt enough to run all the stuff you have added, its gonna need at least a 65 to a 100 amp unit
Another great video! I have really enjoyed watch the two of you working on Carl, learning as you go, and doing a great job.
I once junked a great running minivan because it had a parasitic draw that I could not find, even after weeks of trying to track it down. I kept having to jump start the van every Monday morning because the draw would kill the battery over the weekend. After 2 to 2 1/2 months of that, I said "Phooey on this….I'm calling it quits." Took a Monday off, jump started the van, had my wife follow me to the junk yard, drove the van in, scrapped it for $350, then went and bought a 1999 Pontiac Grand Am GT…which was a lot faster and much more fun to drive than the minivan….but not so great for hauling lumber.
Very cool! This old weekend warrior learned something today! And yes, I got the same Harbor Freight Multi-meter too! It always works great for me. Thanks for sharing, and Cheers from Motown!
Great Job!!
Good job dad…. bring up the wrench sparking – welding incident Ellie had. LOL I bet she had already remembered it. Life lesson #4378
Always fun to watch
Great deductive reasoning! Wiring can be daunting, your meter is your friend. Oh, I learned Amperage is like pressure, voltage is like volume(v=v) resistance is a kink in the hose or restriction. Love to see you progress. How is the body work coming????
Glad you were able to find it so fast…good job….
Sweet!!!👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Glad you were able to find out what was draining your battery. Stupid little bulb. Anyway, another thing you should learn from the garage is that when rewiring always leave a bit extra length on the wires. That way you don't have any problem reaching where they need to go, like the battery terminals. Good job on finding the draw. Also I recommend Duralast or Walmart batteries. They last longer then 5 years. Got Duralast in mycars that are 8 years old and still working . Got one Walmart brand in my Toy Rolla parts car that is 11 years old. That is dead now cuz the car been sitting over a year but even at 10 was still holding a charge. And with a high power charger i can probably revive it.
I was going to say if it wasnt the glove box then it could be the dome light switches on the door jam 😬
I need to trouble shoot a parasitic draw, now I know how! ty!
Great job you would be surprised how many car people don't know how to perform a parasitic draw test. I'm not sure why the ashtray light is connected to the door switches it should be controlled by the dash/instrument lights. Someone mentioned fuse protection, all those add-on wires should be connected to a junction block, protected by a high amp circuit breaker. Even though the accessories are protected with a fuse at the fuse block, nothing is protecting the wires before that, and that is full current running in them. The only wire running directly to the battery should be the starter solenoid. There are formulas to find what size wire to use to install a junction block when you and dad decide to put one in. Good luck, and continued success.
Fantastic job guys. I leant something new today.
Great Job 😊 and great Video 👍👍
Where is the fuse protection for those added accessories?
Woohoo those draws can be really hard to find sometimes
You and Your Dad did a great job!! sometimes wiring is pain to chase down!!
great job! 🙂
Our guess is wires lol