electrical problem

[joe68]

electrical problem or question,
car:1968 chevelle/350just rebuild n=motor/wireing harness gone thru completely,new alt. battery,

problem: change over to one wire alt.install plug for voltage reg. then car started up, finish valves adjustment etc. next day battery deader then a door nail! try to charge up would not take a charge, return and recieve a new one,double check all wireing, look good and right,no lights plug in front end yet, everything is turn off , can not find any draw of power that might be draining power, how else can i do find a power draw?

[gmtech1]

If you have a good quality multimeter it'll have the ability to measure amperage and should have a fuse protecting it. Mine is a Fluke 87. Set the meter to mA setting (mili-amp). Connect meter leads at the meter to "com" and "amp"(there may be one that says "10amp", connect to the higher listing. Disconnect battey's neg cable and connect meter between neg cable and neg terminal. The reading shown is you amp draw. On that car, with no modules, alarms ect..ect... the draw should be near 0 with everything off. If you see something above maybe 20mA, start pulling fuses until the draw goes away, then figure out what is on that ckt.

Good Luck!

Sorry, if you're measuring miliamps, connect lead at meter to mA plug.

You can pretty much do the same thing with a test light between the neg cable and neg terminal. If it lights up, pull fuses and disconect stuff till it goes out, but you'll have no idea excatly how much amperage is flowing

[wc9m]

GM tech is correct in pulling fuses except possible the alternator is drawing it down and there is no fuse for that. You will have to disconnect the alternator to see if the draw goes away. Make sure the car door is shut, no dome lights or glove box light is on when testing. Your car should have "zero" draw with everything off.
Tom in Moline, IL.