just wondering if anyone had any bright ideas on this one, or maybe could steer me in the right direction:
My 76 bus has a second battery for the stereo and some interior lights. its a goner and I dont know whats wrong with it. If I leave the radio on for all of 5 minutes after I have switched off the ignition, it drains the charge out of both batteries. I know its very hard for anyone to get an idea of what the problem is here without some detailed explaination. So any help at all would be greatly appreciated. or maybe someone could just tell me where there is an Auto elec. who likes working on Kombis (not many from what i can tell) in the Melbourne area. Cheers in advance

What the hell!!!??? :duh

I am ALSO Kieran, and I ALSO have a '76 bus!!!... THAT'S CRAZY SHIT MAN!!!

AND...your name is spelled the same!!! :jesus

[ Edited on 10-5-2006 by Schmoburger ]

By the way... could it possibly be the radio that is faulty?...drawing to much current perhaps?... Cos I have left my radio on for about 4 days once and still been able to start the car...

I'd try a different radio if ya have one spare and see if it helps.

It might be that the two batteries are wired in parallel and one of the batteries is rooted.
In this case the alternator will not "look" at the good battery which is already low and it will tend to "look" at the buggered battery which will show correct voltage to the regulator even tho it is not accepting a charge at all and it will be confused into thinking that the entire battery pack is charged when in fact its not.

Disconnect the aux. battery altogether and run the engine on a fast idle and see what the voltage is across the running battery. Make sure the charging systemn is OK.

One of the batteries should be rooted.

L8tr
E

ahh another kieran, another Kieran who owns a kombi. soon we will take over the world my friend!
As for now... the electrics have been sorted. thanks for the advice all.
after lots of thinking and asking, turns out it just needed a new battery. problem solved!
The aux battery is now wired so when the alternator starts it starts charging the aux. Previously I had to control that myself through the solenoid.
THanks again people