Supposive Earthing Issues

[Cubes]

Hi ppls,

I've recently had 2 batterys that loose charge really quick with a Radio or interior light on. Say after an hour or two when cleaning the car with the radio on. It does however start the car fine in the morning.

If I turn the lights on I can literally watch the battery volts drop from 12.5 down to 10-9.9 within minutes. It drops so quickly.

I had the battery tested from the place of purchase and they said it was fine and most probably a bad earth issue.

This has only begun happening since I dropped the new motor in.

The origional battery began loosing charge quickly after the new motor went in, it was 3yrs+ old so I replaced it thinking it was on its last legs.

I dropped the motor in, gave the earth contacts a little scratch but not really as good as it could have been as the block etc was covered in fresh paint.

I'll replace the earth leads today and see how it goes.

Has any one had earthing issues that results in a battery to loose charge easily?

I really don't think this is the issue as a friend Bl4ck32 had the same battery type and it crapped its self in a similiar way after only a few months.

I have a 480cc Exide Evolution

http://www.exide.com.au/products/index.php

[Bobjones]

Hi ppls,

I've recently had 2 batterys that loose charge really quick with a Radio or interior light on. Say after an hour or two when cleaning the car with the radio on. It does however start the car fine in the morning.

If I turn the lights on I can literally watch the battery volts drop from 12.5 down to 10-9.9 within minutes. It drops so quickly.

I had the battery tested from the place of purchase and they said it was fine and most probably a bad earth issue.

This has only begun happening since I dropped the new motor in.

The origional battery began loosing charge quickly after the new motor went in, it was 3yrs+ old so I replaced it thinking it was on its last legs.

I dropped the motor in, gave the earth contacts a little scratch but not really as good as it could have been as the block etc was covered in fresh paint.

I'll replace the earth leads today and see how it goes.

Has any one had earthing issues that results in a battery to loose charge easily?

I really don't think this is the issue as a friend Bl4ck32 had the same battery type and it crapped its self in a similiar way after only a few months.

I have a 480cc Exide Evolution

http://www.exide.com.au/products/index.php

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have had a similar problem in that I lost charge with the interior light on...ended up being a bad earth at the battery well so it seems at this stage....

[Dahtone Racing]

i had an issue with the earth strap from the battery to the chassis

it had rusted and there was crap everywhere

but i moved it when i re-did all my engine bay wiring and it looks to be ok now

[Cubes]

I grabbed a couple of earth leads today, Sprint Autoparts had the nicest looking, fattest ad best quality ones.

The lights etc now no longer drop engine rev's.

Prior cruising at night with the high beam on would see the pfc voltage drop to low to mid 12v.

Now it never drops below 13.8-13.9v with everything on, lights, demister, fan on flat out etc.

When Cold it sits on 14.5v.

Cranking now doesn't drop below 11.3v. Prior it would drop to 9-10v.

Cranks over quicker also.

Power Windows move up and down quicker when the car isn't running.

Definite improvement. $30 well spent.

Hopefully it solves the issue of the battery loosing charge quickly with light loads placed on it.

I like pics.

[CerealKiller]

hmmm...looks like I'll have to change my earthing wire too. Although I have a grounding kit installed the main wire (which is the default earthing wire) is looking pretty crappy like yours. I hvae voltage issues in that it'll be around 14V on cold start and then drop to around 13.5V if I don't use headlights, if I use headlights it'll drop to 13V. My battery is an Optima and I have a fairly new alternator (around 12months old).

[someonestolecc]

Good shit. I might go do this myself... right now

That looks about 8 gauge right?

[Cubes]

Cold start this morning was good.

Went for a long drive.. Once hot the voltage drops to a minimum of 13.8v. I checked the voltage via a multimeter and the pfc controller reading appears to be -.2 volts off.

So its a steady 14 - 14.1v.

Voltages appear to be much better, no big drops when fans, lights etc are used.

I'm not sure what guage it is.

[someonestolecc]

I just got mine from super cheap auto.. I can't believe how expensive these repco/super cheap/sparts places are it's ridiculous!! It's wire people !! No reason why it should be over $5, yet there it was from $13-$20.

Will install it over the weekend

[Cubes]

What were the super cheap ones like that you got?

I had a look at the ones down here and they were skinnyish and had tape that covered the ends instead of shrink.

[Al 2]

I am having similar problems, maybe not as server, but have a couple of questions.

1/ Cubes: What car do you own (battery location) ?

2/ I have a 33 (battery in boot), do i just need to upgrade the short earth strap to the chasis, or shall i run a new heavy gauge GND cable/wire from the battery to the engine bay and chasis?

3/ I have a lot of high quality car audio power cable, from my audio installation days, ranging from 2 -> 8 gauge. Is this cable suitable to be used as a GND?

4/ Also been thinking of making my own "Grounding/Earthing Kit", using my car audio, gold plated, power distribution blocks and high quality 8(or 4) gauge, car audio, power cable. Once again, will this cable be good to use?

Any advice would be appreciated

Alan

[lwells]

Someone work out exactly what lengths are needed and setup a group buy

Lucien.

[Cubes]

R32 GTS-T.

36cm, Battery to Chassis.

46cm, Chassis to Motor.

[someonestolecc]

What were the super cheap ones like that you got?

I had a look at the ones down here and they were skinnyish and had tape that covered the ends instead of shrink.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'll take pics tommorz but these were 8ga with proper shrink on them. Only problem was they didn't have the correct length with a clamp and a blade. The only one they did have the correct length was had a blade on either end. The cable with a blade and a clamp that was closer to the length I needed was $20! Needless to say I went with the longer one for $13. I'll just cut it down and I need to strip some of the it in the middle to strap it onto the chassis.

I'll take a pic of the original cable and of it installed so you know what I'm talkin bout.. but my one didn't have the tag with the fancy writing on it like yours, but it was black, which is a bonus when you're trying to clean up your wiring

[Cubes]

Mine were a tad more expensive than the supercheap ones, + as you said, they didn't have exactly the right ones.

The shorter 36cm with the battery clamp was $16.95 and the longer was $14.95.

I liked the blue as I might paint my rocker covers a nice blue colour.

[Al]

I am having similar problems, maybe not as server, but have a couple of questions.

2/ I have a 33 (battery in boot), do i just need to upgrade the short earth strap to the chasis, or shall i run a new heavy gauge GND cable/wire from the battery to the engine bay and chasis?

3/ I have a lot of high quality car audio power cable, from my audio installation days, ranging from 2 -> 8 gauge.  Is this cable suitable to be used as a GND?

4/ Also been thinking of making my own "Grounding/Earthing Kit", using my car audio, gold plated, power distribution blocks and high quality 8(or 4) gauge, car audio, power cable.  Once again, will this cable be good to use?

Any advice would be appreciated

Alan

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Bump

[Bl4cK32]

Yer my battery died fast with my new motor installed. I put it down to being an old battery.

i replace it with a Delkor Calcium 660cca battery. Definitly increased starting power, and sits on 14.3v as per the PFC hand controller.

Did a quick check the other day, and the voltage does drop down to 9-10v when cranking over....i might replace the old earth leads the previous owner had for his stereo system...

Al- any where on the chassis is a good place to earth, as long as it has good contact (you should know that from your audio installation days),

Why not strap 2x 8 gauge pieces together if in doubt and use that as an earth...(probably overkill )

Any thick gauge cable is ok...as long as it has good contact...

[Cubes]

Darren,

Check the PFC votlage after a good 1hr drive.

I find it takes that long for the voltage to drop down to 13.9-13.8v depending on alt load, i.e lights heater etc.

From what I under stand a cold battery requires higher voltage to charge where as a warmer battery requires a lower voltage to charge.

Once warm or hot more so it should be around the 13.8-13.9v.

When Cold it can be anywhere up to 15v depending on how Nissan designed the charging system.

I've found a good little test.

Now Let's Test the Charging System

Here's the general idea: Measure the charging voltage first, then load the system and see how low the voltage drops. If the generator is strong, it will maintain sufficient output voltage under load. Then take the load off the generator and let the output voltage find its normal high voltage to make sure the voltage regulator is doing its job. Now let's do it.

Connect DMM to the battery terminals. Note battery OCV (open circuit voltage). It should be very close to 12.66 volts. It may be higher if the engine has been running in the past few hours because of surface charge on the battery.

Start the engine and run a warm engine at 1500 rpm. Note the higher voltage at the battery terminals. This is the initial value of charging voltage. It should be in the range of 13.80 to 14.80 volts.

Turn ON high-beam headlights, AC/heater high blower, windshield wipers and radio. As each load is turned ON, the charging voltage will dip as the generator delivers increasing current to the loads. The voltage should stay above 13.50 volts for a healthy charging system under load. Below 13.10 volts enters the area of a weak charging system. Maybe it's nothing more than a loose generator belt or a corroded connection. If you live in climates where rear window defrosters are often used, add the load of the defroster to see how low the charging voltage dips with the defroster ON. If the charging voltage dips below 13.10 volts, you know the battery isn't getting enough charging voltage to charge while the defroster is ON.

Let the vehicle come to idle. On most vehicles this amount of electrical load on the generator will pull the charging system below 13.10 volts. If the charging system can hold above 13.10 volts, consider it a strong generator. Now apply the brakes. The charging voltage at this point is what will charge the battery under heavy electrical load while sitting at a stoplight. You need at least 13.10 volts. Lower means the battery is not charging enough under these conditions. If the voltage drops below 12.66 volts it means the battery is actually discharging during this time. If the driver goes through a lot of stop-and-go driving in this condition, a dead battery will eventually result. Don't be surprised to see a lot of vehicles drop below 13.10 volts at a stoplight with the brake lights on and heavy electrical load because the generator only puts out 50 to 60 amps on smaller cars. The charging voltage should rise as the rpms are increased.

Turn OFF all electrical loads turned ON (high-beam headlights, AC/heater high blower, windshield wipers, radio and defroster).

Run engine at 2,000 rpm and watch the charging voltage rise. It should rise no higher than 15.10 volts if the weather is very cold. If the weather is very hot the voltage may only rise to about 13.80 volts. How high the actual charging voltage gets at this point is determined by the engineers who designed the vehicle for a specific OEM battery. The voltage regulator, which is temperature sensitive, determines how high the charging voltage should be - higher in cold weather and lower in hot weather. If the charging voltage continues to rise past the numbers just given, the vehicle is overcharging. The voltage regulator may be defective if there is a bad connection between the generator and the battery. Check battery water and add distilled water if low. Remember to consider ambient temperature when evaluating the charging voltage for overcharge. In hot weather the charging voltage should be lower than in cold weather.

Practice this procedure on several vehicles and write down the numbers to learn how the charging system performs on different vehicles at different ambient temperatures. A little practice makes perfect at checking charging systems on the vehicle.

[Driver]

interesting thread

[Bl4cK32]

Darren,

Check the PFC votlage after a good 1hr drive.

I find it takes that long for the voltage to drop down to 13.9-13.8v depending on alt load, i.e lights heater etc.

From what I under stand a cold battery requires higher voltage to charge where as a warmer battery requires a lower voltage to charge.

Once warm or hot more so it should be around the 13.8-13.9v.

When Cold it can be anywhere up to 15v depending on how Nissan designed the charging system.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ok, i did some testing today.....noticed that

a) after a good 1hr drive it takes that long for the voltage to drop down to 13.9-13.8v

B) it never drops below 13.8-13.9v with everything on, lights, demister, fan on flat out etc.

c) when Cold it sits on 14.5v.

Inspection of the leads tells me that my battery to earth are fine (2 thick guage wiring used) and that my engine to earth isnt looking in the bect condition...so ill redo it

The only thing it doesnt do Cubes is : Cranking now doesn't drop below 11.3v. Prior it would drop to 9-10v.

[Cubes]

Sounds the same as mine.

Don't fix what aint broke I say. lol