Soundguy
Old Timer
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2002
- Messages
- 52,238
- Location
- Central florida
- Tractor
- RK 55HC,ym1700, NH7610S, Ford 8N, 2N, NAA, 660, 850 x2, 541, 950, 941D, 951, 2000, 3000, 4000, 4600, 5000, 740, IH 'C' 'H', CUB, John Deere 'B', allis 'G', case VAC
patient is a 98 dodge ram 1500 5.9l gasser, oe towing package.. and a um.. hoppy brake controller.
truck just started this issue 2 weeks ago. If you drive it daily.. it's fine. if you let it set 3 days without driving it, it drains down the battery so that it may or may not start.
unfortunately.. for now i'm the mechanic at work.
ok.. with ammeter in line.. it did have a few amps of draw.
here's what I have gone thru.
1st, most of the draw was the glove box light. the plastic tab holding the switch broke, so the light was staying on full time. 194 or 168 bulb.
pulled that. kept watching ammeter. I told the driver that the radio will obviously have some memory power.. so for the heck of it.. we pulled that fuse to eliminate it from the draw onthe meter just to see what else might be in the system.
I pulled the alt and it was contribuiting nothing ( good ).. same with the wires going down to the starter / solenoid. ( nothing ).
still had about a 380-400ma draw.
went down the external fuse box under the hood pulling fuses and relay 1 at a time to find the difference.
PS.. with all fuses but ecm pulled there is a paltry 80-100ma or so draw.. not a big issue. figure there are some electronics that just draw quiescent power no matter what.
so i was looking for a 250-300 ma draw.
found 1 fuse that was all of it save the basic 80-100 from t he ecm.
was a 40a fuse. one of then square ones looks like a circuit breaker.. but is a fuse i guess.. marked simply trailer power inthe box, it is the fuse that is right under (empty) diesel pre heat ) slot near the top of the fuse box.
pulling it kills the draw. now.. there are 2 other items dealing with the trailer. there is a relay for the trailer and ANOTHEr fuse marked for trailer under there.
i had to leave after pulling it.. and didn't think to jump in the cab and hit the brake and see if the hoppy brake controller came on.
that hoppy is using the factory molde d plug that plugs in under the dahsh..e tc. it's not a scab on at the brake line and tapped out of the fuse box or anything.
anyone know what all that 40a fuse ( circuit breaker? ) is powering?
ps.. tere was no trailer hooked up at the time of the check.
for now we pulled the fuse and popped it into the dead slot above it for the diesel preheat so the driver don't loose it. if they need to pull a trialer they can pop it right back in. it's good for couple days.. so just plugging it in to pull a trialer is no issue.
if that is it.. my guess is that the brake controller has become marginal, and is drawing near 1/3 amp just setting there looking for the brake pedal to be pushed.
any other guesses with the data provided?
ps.. alt charges fine.. bat is new-ish.. so it is coming back to proper volts after we found her dead a couple times.
we will check again after letting it set from friday to monday and test the hypothesis.
if that is it.. we will put the fuse back in.. and pull the 4 pin on the back of the hoppy controller and see if that prevebts the power drain. if so.. we can toss in another controller. or simply leave it installed and put an inline switch with it for power so it's flipped on when a trailer is needed.
truck just started this issue 2 weeks ago. If you drive it daily.. it's fine. if you let it set 3 days without driving it, it drains down the battery so that it may or may not start.
unfortunately.. for now i'm the mechanic at work.
ok.. with ammeter in line.. it did have a few amps of draw.
here's what I have gone thru.
1st, most of the draw was the glove box light. the plastic tab holding the switch broke, so the light was staying on full time. 194 or 168 bulb.
pulled that. kept watching ammeter. I told the driver that the radio will obviously have some memory power.. so for the heck of it.. we pulled that fuse to eliminate it from the draw onthe meter just to see what else might be in the system.
I pulled the alt and it was contribuiting nothing ( good ).. same with the wires going down to the starter / solenoid. ( nothing ).
still had about a 380-400ma draw.
went down the external fuse box under the hood pulling fuses and relay 1 at a time to find the difference.
PS.. with all fuses but ecm pulled there is a paltry 80-100ma or so draw.. not a big issue. figure there are some electronics that just draw quiescent power no matter what.
so i was looking for a 250-300 ma draw.
found 1 fuse that was all of it save the basic 80-100 from t he ecm.
was a 40a fuse. one of then square ones looks like a circuit breaker.. but is a fuse i guess.. marked simply trailer power inthe box, it is the fuse that is right under (empty) diesel pre heat ) slot near the top of the fuse box.
pulling it kills the draw. now.. there are 2 other items dealing with the trailer. there is a relay for the trailer and ANOTHEr fuse marked for trailer under there.
i had to leave after pulling it.. and didn't think to jump in the cab and hit the brake and see if the hoppy brake controller came on.
that hoppy is using the factory molde d plug that plugs in under the dahsh..e tc. it's not a scab on at the brake line and tapped out of the fuse box or anything.
anyone know what all that 40a fuse ( circuit breaker? ) is powering?
ps.. tere was no trailer hooked up at the time of the check.
for now we pulled the fuse and popped it into the dead slot above it for the diesel preheat so the driver don't loose it. if they need to pull a trialer they can pop it right back in. it's good for couple days.. so just plugging it in to pull a trialer is no issue.
if that is it.. my guess is that the brake controller has become marginal, and is drawing near 1/3 amp just setting there looking for the brake pedal to be pushed.
any other guesses with the data provided?
ps.. alt charges fine.. bat is new-ish.. so it is coming back to proper volts after we found her dead a couple times.
we will check again after letting it set from friday to monday and test the hypothesis.
if that is it.. we will put the fuse back in.. and pull the 4 pin on the back of the hoppy controller and see if that prevebts the power drain. if so.. we can toss in another controller. or simply leave it installed and put an inline switch with it for power so it's flipped on when a trailer is needed.
