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Electrical draw (informational) - found an issue I have been chasing for 6 months

3K views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  bsimkin 
#1 ·
For 6 months my van exhibited a very strange draw condition...
I tried many things to find it with no luck until one day one of the fuses blew...then I found the issue.
Here is some background. I dont drive the van very much in the winter, so it would just be outside waiting for spring. I would go out every few days and start it, run it and drive it if the roads were dry.
In the dead of winter, one cold day it didnt start, so I wrote it off as severe cold and maybe a crappy battery. I would charge the battery and it would start and hold its charge for days. Then when I got it going in the spring, I found that the battery would be totally dead a few days per month.
I tried to diagnois it a few times with different results each time.
Sometimes there ammeter would so .2 A of a draw...sometimes there was less than that and then sometimes there was more than that.
I couldn't find it. I should have thought about disconnecting the TV, Wii and TV tuner but I never did. I had put in other accessories too like a CB, sub amp and auxiliary fan so I tested those on occasion along with the fuse box and never found anything definitive.
In the midspring, I bought a new battery hoping it would fix it. It worked for a couple of months, but then the draw came back. I was perplexed and again, I should have been thinking about the other accessories. For a time during the summer, I was just putting my battery tender on it at night and that got me through.
Last week, I finally was given a clue. The TV fuse blew. What is strange is that it is a 15A fuse - quite hefty for a small 10in TV. So I started to disconnect the TV. That was a good pain in the ass. I had to take town the shelving system/TV mount, which is all wood, to get to TV supply line.
When I got the TV out, I heard something rolling around inside the TV. It didnt sound like just a small piece of plastic, it was a piece of metal.
I opened the TV and found that one of the metal mounting brackets that holds the tube into the TV case had broken off. It was about the size of a half dollar.
So, as soon as I unhooked the TV the draw was gone. I repaired the TV and it worked just fine. Evidently, that bracket would bounce around inside the TV and lay on the circuit board a certain way, causing a draw. Then I would drive it, the bracket would move, and the draw would be gone...
It was strange but true...I am so glad that it is gone :)
 
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#5 ·
Wow...so this turned out to be a turned out to be a PITA LOL

When I got into it, the found that I had to rebuild the whole overhead console. 20+ year old wood in Florida for much of its life had caused it to dry out. The mounting screws were barely hanging in there.

After taking it all down and fixing it. I had to really modify the TV mount for a flat screen. I did the best I could without totally refabrication. It looks good. I did have an accident when I was modifying the mount (old wood strikes again) so the TV is not centered, but it still looks good. :)

Oh well...I guess I need more posts to put up pics....I had use an attachment.
 

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#6 ·
I also had a slow draw that would kill the battery over time. 95 B3500 Sportsmobile. Turned out to be the light switch turned so the interior light should be on. Problem was it was turned off manually at the light but something else was also drawing on it. Turned the light switch off and the problem went away. BTW You did an excellent job isolating your problem..
 
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