Hey Michael,

At 07:21 PM 5/11/2010, Michael Sullivan wrote:

>   Main battery is draining when
>key in ignition. #3 fuse re-assigned to aux battery(currently at 13.61 and
>steady). If I turn on radio, main battery drops.  If I use cig lighter,
>drops.  If I remove the #3 fuse wire that I ran to aux, main battery still
>drops.  Was fine last nite and this morning I started van and noticed low
>battery, but stereo eventually started breaking up and eventually I turned
>off.  Earlier main battery dropped from 13.61 to 13.51 in one minute after
>starting and down to 11.31 within 4 minutes. Weird thing is,
>stereo(#3)assigned to aux battery...why does the low charge on main battery
>affect it?  Stumped and pretty teed off at this point. Thanks.

You need to establish two things to begin with -- a) is your
alternator putting out the right stuff, and b) are your batteries
ok.  When you say "dropped...after starting..." do you mean that the
engine was still running?  I'm guessing you don't.

After you make sure the alt is charging, pull the ground on the
starting battery and drop a load across it --  some stoplight bulbs,
headlight, blower, something that draws ten amps or so.  Run it for
five or ten minutes, watch what the voltage does while it's running
and what it is after you stop.  I think your starting battery is bad.

As to the radio, I'm pretty sure you'll find if you measure that it's
actually hooked to the starting battery.  William of Ockham won't lie
quiet in his grave until you've proved that one way or the other.

Yours,
David