Wiring blues

[peterg]

Problem not solved. The system is still draining about 5 amps through the ammeter when the ignition is turned off. I thought it was not centring properly (a lot of my bike ammeters don't). Wrong. My brand new battery has been drained!

There is so little equipment on the car. Where could it be going?

Another query. Should the wind screen wipers work when the ignition is turned off?

[Stuart]

I'm in the middle of re-wiring my 405 so just happen to have hte schematic to hand...

The wipers come off the switched supply and are connected to fuse A4 via wire 17.

Can't help much with the charging side as I'm retaining my dynamo setup but with an electronic regulator (from Dynamo Regulators of UK).

One tip is to get a clip on DC ammeter, this really helps with tracing where those electrons are leaking away to.... Worth their weight in Dark Munro...

Rgds. Stuart

[Sparky]

Originally Posted by peterg

Problem not solved. The system is still draining about 5 amps through the ammeter when the ignition is turned off. I thought it was not centring properly (a lot of my bike ammeters don't). Wrong. My brand new battery has been drained!

There is so little equipment on the car. Where could it be going?

Another query. Should the wind screen wipers work when the ignition is turned off?

I may have missed which car you refer to, but the 400 and 401 do not have self parking wipers as standard.

[Ronald G. Stephenson]

Some wire in the wiring harness is touching a ground, and nothing short of examining the entire harness will do. The only alternative is to go through the fuse box one at a time and place a volt-ohmmeter between the positive side of the battery and the battery terminal (after it has been disconnected) You will see the draw on the battery. Now, one at a time, remove a fuse and observe the meter. You may get lucky and find the culprit. Otherwise, you will need to follow each wire to a bare spot that is touching the chassis.