# plow draining battery



## ironjet (May 26, 2003)

(western unimount on an 88 chevy) , when parked overnight , the battery drains to nothing with the power/ground connection plugged in . If its unplugged theres no problem. Is there anything besides the grounds , and terminals I should check/clean ? When plowing theres nothing abnormal ( it reacts quick , volts are normal)


----------



## DJC (Jun 29, 2003)

ironjet said:


> (western unimount on an 88 chevy) , when parked overnight , the battery drains to nothing with the power/ground connection plugged in . If its unplugged theres no problem. Is there anything besides the grounds , and terminals I should check/clean ? When plowing theres nothing abnormal ( it reacts quick , volts are normal)


If I had to guess it's a bad connector or your battery is bad. If your truck is shut off I'm gussing the battery


----------



## ironjet (May 26, 2003)

battery and alternator were replaced last month , this just started last week , when i unplug the plow it will start like normal , when left plugged in it kills the battery ( with the on/off on control box switched to off too) . All the connectors and wires are +/_ 15 years old so thats where i'm going to start


----------



## basher (Nov 13, 2004)

Uni-mounts are known for the grill plugs corroding internally. You might want to check them.


----------



## NJBuickRacer (Jan 20, 2005)

Sounds like your plow controls are wired to constant power instead of a switched ignition source.


----------



## ironjet (May 26, 2003)

thanks guys , i'll let you know what i come up with today


----------



## Garagekeeper (Jan 18, 2002)

From what you said the battery "only" goes dead when you have the power plug connected, and you have the control/light connector still plugged in.
There should be no battery voltage going to the power unit thru the power cable unless the solenoid is activated with the controller to lift or angle.
As for the other connector which brings the power for the valves and lights again would only have power to it when you have the lights on or are operating the plow.
Even if the controller was wired to a constant battery source you would only have the red led on the controller glowing, but I guess you could have a current draw if the plow was in float as the coil on the lower valve would be on if that was the case.
Anyway I would take a volt meter and see if you do get a reading thru the the ends of the power cable at your grill connector with it disconnected from the plow, I wouldn't expect you to see anything but stranger things have happened, if you get a reading replace the solenoid and retest.
This is one I would like to hear back as to what you ever find.
 John...


----------



## SnoFarmer (Oct 15, 2004)

To trace down a current draw you need to make sure every thing is turned off, ign off, all accessories, dome lights and under the hood light need to be extinguished.
Disconnectevery thing from the +pos battery cable and take a voltage reading. From the batt + to the disconcerted + cable any reading other than 0 indicates a current draw.
If you show voltage start pulling fuses until you see the voltage drop that would be you problen circuit, in your case I would start with the plow circuit.


----------



## ironjet (May 26, 2003)

i couldn't find my volt meter so ill be borrowing one tomorrow , but for the heck of it i tried a test light and didn't find anything between the batt/sel/plow harness. i also found that the control box is tapped into the speedo in the fuse box. i cleaned up all the connections on the batt/sel/and plow motor , and moved a body ground . i'll check on it later tonight, and tomorrow morning to see if any of that helped , and then tomorrow go through with the volt meter
basher- grill plug and wires looked good
garagekeeper- the p/o indicated that if the control switch was left "on" it would run the batt down , but even with it switched off it killed it
snofarmer- i'll try that tomorrow , maybe i should pull the fuse tonite and see if it stays charged?


----------

