Battery drain???

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draggin49

Senior Member
Just had my 32 rewired (still all 6 volt) and installed a new set of 682-j headlights with 7” six volt sealed beams .
Took the car into town at night to pickup dinner (maybe 5 min each way )
Got out ,picked up food , car fired up , drove home turned lights and column switch off. Come back out an hour later to move the car and it won’t turn over at all .Tried the lights and they worked , but car wouldn’t turn over . I don’t believe I left anything on, so trying to figure out what killed the battery . Do I need a heavy duty generator ?Thoughts ?
 
a short. If everything is off. Then it's a short. Get a battery disconnect for now then follow your wires.


Easy way to see is with a meter placed between the battery cable and battery with everything off either on + or -. If there is an amperage draw, something is running or shorting.
 
I will go to the auto part store and pick up a meter and do the test you mentioned . This was my first day with working lights , so this was first time dealing with it running battery down .
 
it could be a light or something else. Side note: Early Fords and above are always active with volts. Amps would only discharge battery volts, discharging a battery.
 
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nope. only if they are drawing amps. if they are off or not glowing, most likely not.


Lights/bulbs only draw amps when on. if not, there is no draw to the battery. If there is a short in the wiring it will draw amps. Make sense? wiring or switch is bad.


bulbs are I/O... on/off
 
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Ah.. I was thinking it was a sitting off issue. good point charlie.


not sure what wattage the halogens run. Watts divided by battery volts will give amps used. I looked up 682-j halogen headlight watts/amps didn't find anything yet.
 
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Halogens are usually 55w compared to old somewhere in the 35w range headlight bulbs.
If you have a 3 brush generator with cutout and it´s adjusted for running without lights that may have been the issue.
If you have a 3 brush generator and plan on using your headlights often i would suggest installing a regulator...fun projects has them.
 
draggin49 said:
Would using halogen bulbs in place of stock 32 bulbs cause issues ???
Click to expand...

I know that when the halogen were installed in a '40 Ford (already a sealed beam system) the draw would often times drain the battery charge.

If you didn't have this issue prior to the lamps being installed, I'd disconnect them at the bulb and drive the vehicle (as a test) as nearly an identical a route and timing as you had going to town / dinner.
If the problem does not reoccur, the most likely culprit is the additional load the halogens are placing on your system.
 
If the lights worked and the starter is dead its probably not the battery. If it doesn't even click its probably a bad ground at the starter switch.
 
I have seen batteries that would work with a load like lights but fail when trying to draw enough amps to start. You might try taking it to a store to be "load tested".

Have you checked all of your grounds?

Curiosity, but not related to your problem, is it a 4 or 8?

Charlie Stephens
 
Turn off lights off. Put a volt meter on the battery. Try to start the car. What is the battery voltage when cranking?
 
I'm curious about what type generator is on the 32? Older generators output is lower than say the 8BA type generators. A 3-brush generator is limited the most. The 2-brush has more output.

It might be wattage issue for those new headlamps or it might just be a coincidence. If the lights worked then the battery wasn't drained. If they were dim then it was low on juice for sure. If they were bright then it may be in the starter circuit or component parts.
 
I keep see recurring questions about electrical problems and then the responses where people make guesses as to what is wrong. You can't fix electrical problems that way. You are going to waste a lot of time and possibly replace good parts. You need a voltmeter to do proper testing. I think most people are afraid to use them. They are simple to use. Even if you get it to crank you can still have unwanted resistance in the circuit. You get rid of that resistance and it will crank like a brand new car.

If you don't have a mete try turning on the headlights that you say still work. If the lights stay on while trying to crank it your battery is probably good. If they go out when you start to crank the battery is drained.

If the battery is good, take your new meter and perform voltage drop tests. Several times I have posted the instructions for performing voltage drop tests. Not once has somebody replied back that they actually tried it??????? This is the fastest way to find the problem. In just a few minutes you can individually check every cable, switch, ground and component in the circuit.

Before you start tearing things a part you do the voltage drop tests to locate where the resistance is. If you tear everything a part, put it back together and it cranks you won't know what fixed it and you can't be sure you did fix it.
 
From reading the symptoms, the headlights are wired wrong.
1. Car just rewired
2. New headlight just installed
3. Car started - lights on
4. Hour later battery is dead
5. Headlights appear to work normally
6. ?

Sounds like one or both headlights are have wrong pin grounded -
when turned off, current flows through high and low filaments
but look off because of no light yet drain battery when off.

To prove this theory, pull both headlight sockets from bulb.
Charge battery and drive car normally. If ok, inspect the
headlight wire colors paying particular attention to the ground.
 
It´s a 3 brush generator...so you need to manually adjust the third brush between running daytime and using the headlights....
So before chasing down all kinds of non existing issues...either become real fast at adjusting the generator...or get a regulator for it...
 
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