fisch Posted September 5, 2015 Report Share Posted September 5, 2015 Forgive my electrical ignorance fellows, but I have a very dead battery after the car sat for a week. Had a 10A charger on it for 4 hours and didn't get it up high enough to start. I haven't gone through the system with a volt meter yet, because something seemed odd to me. THe volt gauge is reading- even though the car is off and the key is out of the car. Not left on accessory or anything like that. All the way down to lock. It is reading about 10 with the key out of the car. My first car with aftermarket gauges, but it should go to zero with teh key out of it, right? I could swear that is what it did before this issue. I'd put the key in to 'on' it would jump to 12, and with the car running it'd hang aroung 14. If this is symptomatic of something specific, maybe it will help me find the isue faster. In the mean time still trying to get it charged enough to start. 1 Quote Link to comment
Doctor510 Posted September 5, 2015 Report Share Posted September 5, 2015 Bad battery 1 Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted September 5, 2015 Report Share Posted September 5, 2015 Unplug the alternator plastic plug. Gauge go down? Unplug the regulator. gauge go down? Unplug the ignition switch..... ? 1 Quote Link to comment
banzai510(hainz) Posted September 5, 2015 Report Share Posted September 5, 2015 get a made in China volt meter and see where the 10volts is coming from alt diode bad?????????? be hones I think you would bet this volt meter on a switchable key circut 1 Quote Link to comment
fisch Posted September 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2015 Thanks folks. Rewind for just a second for the electric amature- should the volt gauge be off when the car is off and the key out of it? It is an aftermarket oilfilled autometer gauge. And if it is still reading with the car off, what does that mean? It would seem to me if it is tied to the ignition to come on in the first place, it must mean there is something wrong with the ignition if it won't shut off? Like the ignition switch thinks it is still on? So a short somewhere in the column ignition? -I unpluged the plastic plug on the Alt, gauge still reading about 10 volts. -I unplugged the entire steering column. Horn, Keyed ignition switch, flashers, etc. , gauge still reading about 10 volts. -I unpluged the entire left plastic plug bank on the fusebox (which I think is the ignition side), gauge still reading 10 volts. -I even unpluged the entire right plastic plug on the fuse box, gauge still reading 10 volts. Those plugs had a lot of green corrosion on them though. 1 Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted September 5, 2015 Report Share Posted September 5, 2015 The gauge shouldn't be reading when shut off. 2 Quote Link to comment
fisch Posted September 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2015 LOL. Ok I found the issue but I don't know what it is. My 510 has a custom gauge cluster that has a bunch of toggle switches on it. (On left under red lights in photo.) One of them was flipped on, which was unusual, and when I flipped it off, the volt gauge finally turned off. Meaning no more draw on the battery. Should charge now. The guy who built the car left me a list of what the switches do, so I should probably figure it out. 2 Quote Link to comment
fisch Posted September 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2015 Update: Car charged fine and I drove it around this evening. Will see if it still has charge in the morning, but I think I am probably fine. 2 Quote Link to comment
banzai510(hainz) Posted September 6, 2015 Report Share Posted September 6, 2015 seems like its wired straight to the battery via where ever he picked up a point to find the 12volts. .:eave switch on and in a few days it will kill the battery but should take a long time as it don't draw much current Why do Datsun people do this is beyond me I use the simple Innova cig light hook up and don't draw the battery down 1 Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted September 6, 2015 Report Share Posted September 6, 2015 Agreed. It could just as easily be wired into the ON or ignition ON position if it still uses a key. Does it have a push button start? 1 Quote Link to comment
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