Craftman Battery Drain

[pickenspolitics]

I put my volt meter on ohms or connectivity. I put one probe on the negative of the battery and another on the positive of the starter and it beeped. That means it is ground to ground, right? Should it be that way?

Alex

 

[reynoldston]

I put my volt meter on ohms or connectivity. I put one probe on the negative of the battery and another on the positive of the starter and it beeped. That means it is ground to ground, right? Should it be that way?

Alex

So all that proves you have continuity. That test is through the test meter its self with it own battery. I can't see where it would be telling you where the battery draw is coming from?

 

[bertsmobile1]

I put my volt meter on ohms or connectivity. I put one probe on the negative of the battery and another on the positive of the starter and it beeped. That means it is ground to ground, right? Should it be that way?

Alex

yes it should .
Stop and think about it.
You put power to that post and the starter motor turns so there must be a connection from the + post through to the - battery or the starter will not work.
With these really frustrating problems there is a tendency to go rushing from one bright idea to another,
The only way to do it is to isolate every thing, one item at a time till the culprit is found.
The other thing that is important is to write down each & every thing you have tested,

Apart from the battery itself.
The most common one is the alternator.
Less common are things like 4 pole safety switches leaking to earth
Followed by a chaffed wire
Followed by a faulty ignition switch

And on the subject of batteries it is not uncommon for a supplier to have a shelf full of bad batteries that they bough cheap from a van trader ( because he liberted then from a scrap pile ) so the owner goes back to the same merchant, buys another identical ( and faulty ) battery and assumes that they have a good one just because it is new,

 

[motoman]

Alex, Please do the following: Read the little instruction manual which you got with your DVM . If you do not have it , download or tell us. These little manuals have a brief instruction about how to set up for CURRENT. So far you have looked at VOLTAGE and CONDUCTIVITY. Do not let these words bother you. Just set up your little DVM for current. This usually involves moving the test cables on the DVM to differrent socket(s). Then set the read out selector to "current" in "milliamps." Then do like Reynoldson said earlier. After setting it up and placing the pointy tips on the neg bat terminal and loosened bat cable look at the readout. If the value is very low like below 25 milliamps (.025 amps) the guys are suggestig it is probably not the diodes/ alternator. If large like 2000 milliamps (2 amps) the battery would go down very fast. Let us know. Be sure to change the test cables back after the current test.

Although it may seem there is lots of wiring you can wiggle runs of wiring while watching the DVM. If it is chafed wiring you might find it in this manner. These beasts are vibration makers . Another reason to make sure wire bundles are tied up and located, not flapping around.

 

[pickenspolitics]

I'm a novice, so thank you for the education. I took off the key switch and I had continuity between the B prong and the S when it was turned all the way, the B prong and the Light when one one click. When in the off position, I had continuity between G and M. When in off. I had no continuity between B and any of the other prongs, so I think the key switch is good. The battery was tested and it was good.

Motoman, here is the test I did. I set it up on Current which is DC Current and plugged the red prong into 10A on the DMV and black into Com on the DVM. I set the meter to 10A in the DC Current scale on the DMV. I had the key off. I disconnected the positive on the battery and connected the red prong to the battery positive and the black to the battery cable. It had 0 in the DMV display. Just to make sure I was doing it right, I then turned the key to Alt 1 for the lights and the DMV displayed about .3 on the meter. By the way, I then turned the key to Alt 2 for the carb solenoid, and that also displayed about .3.

Next I'll wiggle some wires and see if I can get a reading with the key in the off position.

 

[motoman]

Alelx, Rynoldson has described what to do in post 11 above. Disconnect the grounding cable (negative side)from the battery. Now you have two points to touch with the DVM probes (pointy ends), the battery negative post and the (removed) battery cabel end. To free up you hands you can use clips to hold them on. Let us know

 

[pickenspolitics]

I did that with the DC Current set to 10A. I disconnected the negative battery cable, and put the red test probe to the negative battery terminal and the black test probe to the (now disconnected) negative battery cable.

With the key off, the DMV display was zero.
With the key in Alt 1 (light on), the display was 35
With the key in Alt 2 (carb solenoid), the display was 35 also.

There doesn't seem to be a draw with the key off. The battery checked as "good".

That's a great test. I'll just play around with a bunch of things with the key off, hoping to recreate the draw with one of them.

 

[motoman]

Alex, Good show except still no culprit. When you put the DVM on current and got .3 that seems like 3 amps on a 10 amp setting which may be light , but you said the connector was hanging loose??? Then the 35 reading sounds like 35 milliamps. Did you change the requested readout to milliamps for that reading? Anyway try milliamp setting with key off if you have not done so. Like Berts says , are you getting your replacement battery from the same source. Also refreshing on line the gurus state complete testing of a lead acid battery is impossible so .... Finally , I do not know how old your machine is but I have had gremlins in car switches with high mileage. The contact posts arc and burn over time. Please do not incur the cost of a new switch over this statement. With the DVM in place try just barely turning agains spring pressure (the start key). You seem to have patience. Electrical gremlins are difficult but rewarding when solved. Hang in.

 

[pickenspolitics]

The mower is 18 years old.

With the key off, I'm getting 0 amps on the draw down test.

I did replace the positive wire from the battery to the solenoid a few days ago. My guess is that was the problem or there is a wire that is causing the problem on an on-and-off basis. And right now it isn't drawing current.

I've got the mower sitting, and I'm waiting to see if the battery draws down over the next few days. The key is off, and the DMV reading was 0, so it should not draw down.

Now the battery is fully charged reading 12.73 volts. I'll keep checking the volts over the next few days.

Thank you. I may not have solved it for sure, but I have the knowledge to solve it now I think. Thanks. Well chat in a week or so.

 

[pickenspolitics]

I fixed it. In the end it was something very simple. The battery cable was bad. I replaced it and no more drain. I learned a lot and I appreciate you all.

Alex