Sorry about the length of this post...
In the summer I posted about an electrical problem. Sterling advice from various MSC folk and a new alternator and battery later, the car ran fine :grinning: BUT... ever since then I've had to disconnect the battery every night to stop it from draining. :doh: I understand from an AA guy that I had to call out the first time it happened (car not starting) that the problem could be the diode pack on the alternator being duff, hence letting charge back out when the engine is off.
I duly changed the alternator again, and it's no different - the battery still drains when left connected. Both alternators that have been put on have been second hand.
I was thinking I would either try to get a new diode pack and brush assembly (anyone know who might do this?) or a brand new / reconditioned alternator.
HOWEVER... the other day I was sitting in the car with the ignition fully off and talking on my mobile and noticed the door speaker was making that noise you sometimes get from TVs, Hi-fis etc when a phone is being used nearby. There's no constant 12v on my car so I thought there should be no power to the speaker to enable it to do this... hence I thought the problem with the battery draining might be due to power being supplied to the HU / speaker all the time. When I came to think about it, the electrical gremlins (originally the alternator and battery packed up when I drove through an extremely heavy rainstorm) all started just after I wired in the HU.
If anyone could hazard any guesses as to whether it might be the first thing (diode pack) or the second (amateurish HU wiring), or option C that I haven't thought of, that's causing the battery to drain, I'd be really grateful.
On a different, but related, topic, the new battery I have has really small (about 7mm at the top) posts. I can't find matching terminals anywhere and have had to resort to using a bolt to take up the slack in a standard one. Does anyone know anywhere that might supply smaller terminals?
Cheers folks...
In the summer I posted about an electrical problem. Sterling advice from various MSC folk and a new alternator and battery later, the car ran fine :grinning: BUT... ever since then I've had to disconnect the battery every night to stop it from draining. :doh: I understand from an AA guy that I had to call out the first time it happened (car not starting) that the problem could be the diode pack on the alternator being duff, hence letting charge back out when the engine is off.
I duly changed the alternator again, and it's no different - the battery still drains when left connected. Both alternators that have been put on have been second hand.
I was thinking I would either try to get a new diode pack and brush assembly (anyone know who might do this?) or a brand new / reconditioned alternator.
HOWEVER... the other day I was sitting in the car with the ignition fully off and talking on my mobile and noticed the door speaker was making that noise you sometimes get from TVs, Hi-fis etc when a phone is being used nearby. There's no constant 12v on my car so I thought there should be no power to the speaker to enable it to do this... hence I thought the problem with the battery draining might be due to power being supplied to the HU / speaker all the time. When I came to think about it, the electrical gremlins (originally the alternator and battery packed up when I drove through an extremely heavy rainstorm) all started just after I wired in the HU.
If anyone could hazard any guesses as to whether it might be the first thing (diode pack) or the second (amateurish HU wiring), or option C that I haven't thought of, that's causing the battery to drain, I'd be really grateful.
On a different, but related, topic, the new battery I have has really small (about 7mm at the top) posts. I can't find matching terminals anywhere and have had to resort to using a bolt to take up the slack in a standard one. Does anyone know anywhere that might supply smaller terminals?
Cheers folks...