At 10:30 AM 10/20/2008, Luke Bakken wrote:
>* Anode/electric-based rust stopper. I forget the brand, and it seems
>like black magic to me (another round of google searching in my
>future...). But ... now that I'm listing stuff out I do remember
>re-connecting a loose cable to this device the first day I began
>diagnosing the headlight problem. I'll try to figure out how much
>current this device draws.

Occam sez...you hooked this thing up, and a week later your battery
was drawing flies.  Coincidence?  Perhaps.  But if you want to shave
with his blade, unhook the bloody thing and see what happens.

As to the black magic bit -- active electrolytic-corrosion protection
systems work very well *on items immersed in salt water or other
conducting media.*  Ships, buried pipelines and such.  They impress a
current of IIRC about 100 ma / m^2 through the electrolyte into the
protected surface.  So if you're planning on a submarine conversion
you might look into a *real* system of this type.  But otherwise, be
glad the other guy paid for the thing and tear it down for parts,
'cause for automotive use it's pure snake oil.

Cheers,
David

--
David Beierl - Providence RI USA -- http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/
'84 Westy "Dutiful Passage," '85 GL "Poor Relation"