Technical Strange electrical drain-57 Nomad

I am helping a friend with a 57 Nomad that drains the battery in a short time (10 days). It has a switch inside that kills the panel completely. This issue has been on going for a few yrs and 5-6 batteries.
The only thing hot are the relays for elec fan, the a.c relays, an electric clock and the alt and starter, etc. When I disconnect the hot lead on the batt for a bit and retouch it there is a slight spark but if I do it again there is none.
Wait a bit and it will repeat. If I put a 3 watt bulb in series it will glow for maybe 10 sec then go dim. A clamp on amp meter shows maybe 1.5 amps then goes to zero then comes back in a minute or two then out again. I have not torn it apart yet but suspect the elec clock or maybe charging a relay?
I didn't wire the car but have traced all I can thus far--any ideas?? Thank you in advance.

 

One fuse at a time....

 

THX Jim--the panel is dead with the switch off-no power to the fuses or the panel. Only items mentioned above are hot. The wire to the vintage a.c. off the starter lug has circuit breakers. May look for the maxi fuse that feeds the fan relays. How the clock is wired/fused is unknown but it is hot with the switch off as well. Have to tear into the dash to find anything-guess that is next.

 

What kind of altinator, a one wire? MSD ignition box direct wired ti battery?

 

One wire of some sort-no MSD-it's a ZZ with a hei dist. Nothing is hot from panel or ign switch with the inside switch off. Only items hot are as mentioned. Thank you

 

pull the relays one at a time and see what happens, i had this happen once and it was an AC relay

 

THX 36--that was next but gotta find them. They are behind the dash somewhere. Have to take apart quite a bit to find them. There is also a 70 amp fan relay-I will try that one first. Thank you

 

Sounds like the clock winding up.

 

electric clock is an idea, on that line of thinking what about the stereo? Late model stuff have an electronic memory that requires constant 12v, the drain is slight but it keeps the station presets and stuff set.

1.5 amps is a little draw so it is a little problem area, like a courtesy light in the glove box, an electric antenna motor that isn't shutting off completely. Do unplug the alternator and make sure it isn't a bad diode though if it is late model gm, if old school, un plug the regulator.

You will find it, make sure you tell us what it was.

 

That sounds like you're charging a capacitor; you may have one somewhere that's sprung a 'leak' (going to ground). Or you may have a bad connection acting like one if you have an insulated joint that's not quite doing it's job. Or the clock; some of those use capacitors in the power supply to drive the step motor. If there's any installed across contacts to reduce 'electrical noise' (i.e. like the noise suppressors for radios you'd used to find installed), try disconnecting those.

 

THX all--will let you know. Have to delve into it a little farther--need to dis***emble part of the dash to get to several items. I suspect the clock or a bad relay possibly. My wife's 55 has all of the same items installed--no drain to speak of--takes a month or more to drain below starting capability.

 

Car stereos these days are connected to power full time, and they have a sense wire that connects to ACC to tell them to turn on. They have a capacitor in them, so when you first connect the battery, you get a spark...over time, the charge goes away, so it will act like that, where it sparks the first time, but not the second time you touch it, unless you wait a while.

Sound like a PITA to find, hope you get it without too much work.

 

I'll find it--just have to dis***emble part of the dash to access. This is a very nice Nomad and do***ented as the last one built in 57-has won many times at Nomad conventions over the years in modified cl***. I'll find the issue for him--just may take a bit.

 

If you can't find it we had constant battery replacements on our police training vehicles that didn't get used very often. Sometimes two or 3 batteries and the car not go 500 miles in a year.
We installed solar chargers from northern tool. They are not really chargers ,but maintainers.
Our cars had full police radio packages with memories. I know it is not a perfect fix ,but it worked for us and saved about $5,000 a year in replacement batteries. They make the kind that plug into the lighter socket or the hard wired kind .
I would check the clock and all of the relays.

 

Had the same problem in my 51 Fleetline a year or so ago. Turned out to be the one wire alternator, I think it was the diode trio or something.

 

Had a friend years ago that got a great deal on a '63 Chevy 'cause it kept draining the battery down and the seller couldn't find out the problem.
Well, my friend climbed into the car soon after at night in the dark and saw a faint glow around the glove box door. Seems the glove box light was staying on with the door closed. Removed the bulb-problem solved.

 

My '56 Chevy had (has?) the same problem. The battery would go dead if I didn't run the car often enough. I pulled the radio fuse and it went away. The car has since undergone an extensive re-vamping including some rewiring and a lot of harness dressing. The problem "appears" to have gone away - don't you just love it when you fix a problem but don't know exactly why it's fixed?
Oh, and as added insurance I installed a "Battery Brain", a unit that senses the state of charge and disconnects the battery when it reaches a certain low threshold. If it won't start, just push the reset ****on and there's enough juice to start the car. (we'll see) It also has a remote (key fob) that lets you kill the battery power when you leave the car and power it up when you return. It offers a little theft deterrent too I guess.

 

Doesnt really matter what you think sometimes because electrons have a mind of their own. They follow the rules so In order to catch them goofing off you need to cut the paths by removing the fuses.

There are plenty of things on the hot side of the box that should be fused. Lights, horn brake lights, dome lights just to name a few. The switched hot has a few fused circuits too.

I personally don't like relays to have full time power and won't usually wire then that way. A stray ground can trigger them anytime it wants.

 

Had friend that used a battery cut off. It was the battery drain.

 

Ditto^ A friend had same issues , he gave me the car ,(yes gave) i found the brake light wire hanging down ,on ON MODE , fixed it -put it back in the bracket- Cured the issue.

 

Bad diode can do what you describe.

 

Here is a test Ilearned about. (lets see if I get this right) Disconnect the battery ground cable from the battery. Connect a 12 volt bulb between the battery post and the cable. (you can use a voltmeter instead) The bulb should be off. If it's on, disconnect one fuse at a time, and when the bulb goes out you've found your drain.

 

That's correct, but his problem is there a few seconds then gone for a few mins repeat repeat repeat.

With a problem like that you need to watch it, develop some pattern take notes. Then pull fuses and wait the pattern out. Then chase it down. Dead quiet so you can hear it maybe.

 

I don't think the problem I had with my 55 Chevy is your answer but just in case:

I bought the car cheap because it had a battery drain. It would happen overnight but if you disconnected the battery before bed all was well. Reconnect in the morning and drive it all day.
The only electrical thing that didn't work in the car was the horn because the PO had installed a Metalflake steering wheel and didn't buy the horn kit. The horn was disconnected, so that could not have been the drain, but the horn relay was not. Since the steering wheel was providing a continuous ground, the relay was energized all the time. His solution was to disconnect the horn.

I'd like to buy another 55 for $150 even if I had to buy another horn kit