From: Dan Maguire (dmaguire@mchsi.com)
Date: Sat Nov 20 2004 - 13:20:35 PST
Hi Mark,
Pull each fuse individually and place a ammeter (handheld meter in
current measurement mode) either in place of the fuse or inline with the
fuse. This will tell you the amount of current flowing on that circuit
branch is. If you suspect that the circuit should draw nothing, and it
is drawing something, that may be your culprit. You can also turn
things on (lights, blinkers) and watch what they draw.
Once you know what branch of the harness is the culprit, it gets to be a
bit more work. Start with the end components, disconnecting one by one.
If they check out fine, you will then be looking for a crack in the
insulation along that branch shorting out against the chassis.
I have heard of divining rod-type devices that you can use to locate
insulation shorts, but have always figured that they were 300mpg
carburetors. If anyone has used such a device successfully for finding
either shorts in their harness or uranium in their back yard, please report.
I hate tracking down electrical shorts, especially when they are
in-motion only. Had a (non-MV) vehicle once that had a plug wire
grounding out against the firewall only during heavy acceleration. It
would swing back - insulation was fine - only aged. That one took a
couple of days of swearing.
Dan
Mark B. Anderson wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> have a drain in my electrical system on my M-1009 just wondering what
> device I could use to find it or to see how much of a drain I have and
> to narrow it down to figure it out?
>
> any help here would be great.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Mark Anderson
> Anderson & Anderson Investigations
> www.mvpa.ca and www.aasurplus.ca
> Prairie Command Member - MVPA Member #25472
> M.C.C. Canada Member #3203
> ARMORED M75 APC
> '56 GMC M-220 - '68 Kaiser M109A3
> '78 BMW 728 ARMORED
> '84 M1009 - '84 M1009 and '85 M1008
> "Your Full Line Military Surplus Dealer"
> 208 Hwy 16 West
> Box 692
> Neepawa, MB R0J1H0
>
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