TheSamba.com :: View topic - okay so i think i found my electrical problem.....

Mon Jul 11, 2005 9:09 pm

run down...

55 beetle- brand new wiring harness/battery cables/battery.

Battery was draining within hours of recharging.

So today i got a volt meter and started testing some stuff.

here is what i came up with, but i need your help in pin pointing it.

I hooked up the volt meter to teh battery and its draining very quickly, numbers were dropping very fast.

After messing around i figured this out...

When the wiring going to the voltage regulator is connected, the battery drains very quickly.

If i remove the wire going into the voltage regulator then there is no battery drainage.

Btw i mean the positive cable that comes from the starter. Not the wire for the generator light.

What could be the problem here?

Any ideas are appreciated.

Tue Jul 12, 2005 6:45 am

halchka99 wrote:
What could be the problem here?

Any ideas are appreciated.

Hi halchka99,
Regulator shorted out either internally or externally.
Eric&Barb

Tue Jul 12, 2005 8:30 am

do you think its only the regulator or the generator could of shorted as well.

Tue Jul 12, 2005 11:55 am

:( no one likes to be helpfull i guess lol

Tue Jul 12, 2005 3:50 pm

:shock:

Tue Jul 12, 2005 6:26 pm

Hi halchka99,
Check if you are getting voltage output after you replace the regulator. If you are not getting enough voltage to charge the battery, then the generator might have been damaged by the regulator.
Eric&Barb

Wed Jul 13, 2005 7:25 am

eric &barb gave you the answer-you cant sit at computer for 5 hours waiting for your car to fix itself when given correct answer. but maybe you can :roll:

Wed Jul 13, 2005 8:24 am

bill may wrote: eric &barb gave you the answer-you cant sit at computer for 5 hours waiting for your car to fix itself when given correct answer. but maybe you can :roll:

i was just trying to get a few other opinions, i havent been sitting at the computer.

Wed Jul 13, 2005 9:49 am

halchka99
I understand your frustration with not getting a bunch of answers to your problem. Always remember that the samba members are a pretty knowledgeable group. I have limited skills in troubleshooting battery draw but will tell you what I know/don't know. You need to put a meter between the battery cable, don't know if its neg or positive, disconnected of course, and see if there is voltage. If so then you need to take each fuse out till you find the circuit that is bad and start looking for things on that circuit. You may have already done that. Maybe someone out there and add to/correct what I've said. That's all I can offer.
Steve :idea:

Wed Jul 13, 2005 10:21 am

thank you for your response, yea, i have removed all the fuses and check to see if there was a short somewhere and there isnt one.

I will purchase a new generator/regulator and take it from there.

That is the only piece in the whole electrical system that isnt new.

Wed Jul 13, 2005 3:58 pm

let us know the outcome

Thu Jul 14, 2005 5:13 am

halchka99 wrote: After messing around i figured this out...

When the wiring going to the voltage regulator is connected, the battery drains very quickly.

If i remove the wire going into the voltage regulator then there is no battery drainage.

Seems to me you already found where the problem was, Eric & Barb just confirmed that, and for another opinion yes it looks likely the regulator is shorted, change that first and then go on to the next thing (generator) if this doesnt cure it.

Arnie

Fri Jul 15, 2005 9:16 pm

Well, you DID ask for other options:

I've had the same thing happen to my "late model" '65 daily driver which is still running 6v. I went through everything and KNEW there were no wiring problems before that so I followed the same thing as you and disconnected the positive wire from the starter and noticed the problem stopped (no battery drain).

So I pulled the starter motor out of the picture.
The first thing I noticed was the bake-lite disc behind the starter gear (on the solenoid) was fractured badly and this allowed the solenoid arm to sorta' flop down and rest against the starter housing. This caused the battery drain.

I decided to rebuild the starter and in the process replaced the missing, broken/fractured disc (this was relatively easy but really "fiddly" work) and that solved the problem.

BTW. Left to it's own devices, you may find that your car will suddenly just die while driving. This also happened (just prior to my decision to really investigate the battery draining problem). The wife was out at the store in the '65 and called me to say "help!"... by the time I got to her location she was gone and I drove home following the expected path to find her putting along just fine. She later told me that after it died, she waited a few moments and then retried starting it and it worked fine for another couple of days.

But definitely check-out the starter motor and look behind the bushing/bearing for the solenoid gear it will be very visible if this is your problem...

Sat Jul 16, 2005 1:32 am

hmm well i just bought a new generator/regulator... i will put those in tomorrow and see if that fixes it.

I will however check the starter as you stated.