Battery cut of off switch?

[nvmipis1]

Hello everyone,

I have a 1966 fast back

I'm having a real hard time figuring out what is draining my battery, in the past 2 years I have gone through 2 optima red batteries, I can not determine what remaind on that causes the battery to drain slow while the car is off.

I've checked my alternator, and it's fine. Checked all the wires and they are as designed and properly secured, I have gone through the wiring diagram multiple Times and can not figure out what is causing my battery to drain.

Question : has anyone installed a battery cut off switch on a type 3? Any pictures if so, or is there a solution to this problem.

Thanks,

12v conversion
1915 engine

[andybla]

Have had this a couple of times with some other cars, it was always some relays that was stuck, try to remove them all, insert them back and if you hear them click, bingo

[Peters Van]

firstly ...how long does it take for your battery to get too flat to start the car ?
i had a similay problem and it took about a week and a half if i wasnt driving the car to flatten the batter...its easy to find out what draining your battery...
all you need is a multimeter....set it to read milliamps mA scale as the current drain should be fairly small. make sure everything electrical is off and disconnect the clock wire and tape it so it doesnt earth out.
disconnect the battery negative earth strap and put one lead of the meter on the negative terminal and the other to a good ground. if you have a reading something is draining your battery. remove each fuse one at a time until there is no reading on the meter and that will tell you what circuit is causing the problem. put the fuse back in then using the wiring diagram start disconnecting whatever is on that fuse. in my case it was the new steering coupler which happened to be conductive. good luck. dont hesitate to ask for more help
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1965 Type 3 Panel Van
1963 EH Holden Station Wagon

[Peters Van]

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=705015&highlight=
there are some pics in this prev post
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1965 Type 3 Panel Van
1963 EH Holden Station Wagon

[Bobnotch]

You might try removing all of the fuses, and see if you still have a drain. Then hook up a volt meter, and insert each fuse to see which one the drain is on.
On my own car, it turned out the radio /clock memory was the cause of the power drain. I hope this helps.
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Bob 65 Notch S with Sunroof
71 Notch ...aka Krunchy; build pics here;
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249390 -been busy working
64 T-34 Ghia...aka Wolfie, under construction... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=412120

[nvmipis1]

[nvmipis1]

[nvmipis1]

[nvmipis1]

[Clatter]

Interesting you're fighting this battle right now;
I'm balls-deep in this one for sure!

With three cars, and not driving them much right now,
The battery drain situation has gotten to be a bit of a circus.

First of all, battery production has moved away from the USA in recent years.
Not only are all of the batteries we used to trust moved to other countries,
But they only used recycled lead to make them, which supposedly doesn't last.

Had an Optima that lasted for 15 years or more in different cars, sitting for years.
Now, we're lucky to get a few years.
Gave up and started using regular old lead/acid batteries; not worth it to spend SO much for something that doesn't last.

Taken to putting a trickle charger on them 24/7.
Also a few different clunky battery disconnects.

Next one I'm going to try and avoid the struggle of moving the back seat.
Also going to rig up a pigtail to tie in the charger easily as well.

Bet you this one should work for our cars - pans are same enough, right?
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1708934

At first, i thought that was too much cake for those parts,
but after shopping around a bit,
you'll pay that much for a kit anywhere,
and get to avoid buying tooling to crimp your own fat cables.

So,
Yeah,
It's an issue.
You might have a drain somewhere,
or you might not.
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Bus Motor Build

I have excellent news for the world...
There is no such thing as patina.
It does not exist!

[nvmipis1]

[Peters Van]

i thought it better to find the cause of the battery drain than resolve it with a cutoff switch. the cutoff switch is probably also a good idea for security purposes if its hidden somewhere but if you forget to turn it off when you get out of the car you will still have a flat battery in a week or two.
since i have replaced the steering coupler disc with a non conductive one the panelvan can sit for a couple of months and still starts ok.
being a panelvan it doesnt have a clock so that also helps i guess.
let me know the outcome
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1965 Type 3 Panel Van
1963 EH Holden Station Wagon

[Big Bill]

Those cut off switches offered by the Super Beetle place are very nice. I worked as a Caterpillar Repairman until I retired and the cut off switches used on them broke the Ground circuit not the Plus side. You wont get a spark from the Neg. side when you remove a cable or internally in the switch when on the Neg. post.

[nvmipis1]

Does any have at images of how they may have a cut off switch installed?

[nvmipis1]

[nvmipis1]

[Peters Van]

you will need to check current drain at the battery with a meter set to amps or milliamps. i disconnected the positive lead from the battery and with everything turned off in the car (clock,radio,interior light etc) you should have no reading.
as you can see from the pic i had a drian of 86.9 milliamps.

whith this reading on the meter you have to pull the fuses 1 at a time to determine which circuit is "leaky"

see how this goes
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1965 Type 3 Panel Van
1963 EH Holden Station Wagon

[Peters Van]

i have a pic after i fixed my issue with no current drain. eg 0.00 milliamps.

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1965 Type 3 Panel Van
1963 EH Holden Station Wagon

[nvmipis1]

[nvmipis1]