The Morris battery. Again.

In message , Mr Pounder Esquire writes

I think a new battery is the answer, but I'm really only guessing. I'm no electrician (auto or otherwise), and apart from some logic and basic testing, I just don't know.

In message , Adrian Brentnall writes

OK, good idea. My multimeter is an ancient Eagle analogue, which is great for current is/is not there, but difficult to detect minor (ha!) variations, particularly as the closest scale is 0-50v. I'll have a go, though.

I know you're right. I'm sure I have an analogue 5amp meter somewhere, but even that will probably not detect a small drain. Will try anyway.

Say that again. Assume I have the ammeter (which is not fitted in the car) between the battery -ve terminal, and the earth lead. Where do I connect the volt meter?

across the ammeter.

But better to get som small load like a bulb and connect that in series with te battery and look at the volts across that esp. if you can go down to mv

In fact, just connect a 12v meter in series with the battery. There should be no drain whatsoever.

ISTR years ago now i fitted an Alternator to a Morris summatt or other worked very well...

Given that the battery requirements of a MM are pretty small, do you have a similarly sized battery in another vehicle that you could swap for a week or so?

Assuming it has a cranking handle, even *another* older battery might do, or if you don't need to start it, even a motorbike battery would provide information for your 'is the battery self discharging' test?

Have you mentioned how old the battery is yet (in case I missed it).

Cheers, T i m

I thought this had a 'generator' with a control box?

Some variants didn't cut-out too well, and it was not uncommon for a substantial discharge current pass into the generator. Once battery voltage got below 10V or so the contacts would release.

I suggest you get/borrow a DC current clamp meter to measure current without disconnecting the battery.

Graeme was thinking very hard :

With a half decent meter they are quite easy to set up. With a modern meter, as easy as falling off a log.

Fairly pointless until you know where the problem is. The fault is intermit tent and could be anywhere - battery, control box, wiring, or even whatever terminal you undid. If it's not too inconvenient to leave the battery disc onnected after each run you'll soon be able to implicate or clear the batte ry of blame.

NT

Come now! A tenner!

Bill

You could buy a used one on eBay. Just did a search and quite a few there

In message , Bill Wright writes

I know, I know. I should join the 21st century :-)

In message , snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.co.uk writes

Yes, I just looked at eBay, and there are thousands of digital multimeters, new and used,

I bought a nice AVO 8 on there!

Not been out and bought yourself a DVM, yet, then? Even one for a fiver is better than non at all.

In message , Bill Wright writes

Bought!

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes

Just bought from CPC, as recommended by Bill. That should help.

Remote but do you have a mechanical, as in ticking, clock in the dash. Had one with defective winder circuit that would sometimes get stuck in "wind" and flatten battery. Until the clock needed winding no current was used. Worth pulling the fuse if you have this kind of clock.

If you have an accurate voltmeter to measure millivolts, it's likely part of a DVM that can also measure milliamps directly.

I really don't see how you can expect to do any fault finding on electrics without a DVM. And even one at a fiver is better than nothing.

I'll say it once more. Take the fully charged battery to a decent specialist and have them test it. Even Halfords. Some of their guys are actually pretty good.