20mercury

Chasing down a problem starting the 68 BB, will start and then will not start, click, click, click goes the starter, alternator charging ok, battery will hold a charge, then checked for parasitic drains, yes, got one somewhere, .... pulled all the fuses one by one, checked and checked for something somewhere pulling minor amps and draining the battery and finally:

Pulled the fuse to the recently installed Vintage Air and the parasitic battery drains stops, duh, ... now what?

Anybody have a parasitic battery drain tied to Vintage Air and if so, any suggestions???

Much thanks for any ideas!

7T1vette

I'm assuming that your ignition key was in the OFF position. My question would be, "Why do you have the Vintage Air unit powered straight from the battery?" If the unit were powered by "switched 12vdc power", it couldn't have a drain when the car was turned OFF>

jnb5101

I had the same problem with the newer electronic Vintage system. If the car wasn't driven for a few weeks the battery would be dead. I started routinely using the battery disconnect switch, and installed a push-button to ground on the "reset" wire of the A/C unit. That made it easy to reset and use the system if I needed to do so.

Richard454

When you say fuse- do you mean circuit breaker?

There are several things that could be pulling power...

I'd call Vintage air first- as it shouldn't be doing that.

Could be the heater control valve ( my first guess ) try unplugging it

Or internally the "BSC" or even the ECU - as it it wire hot as well.

Let us know what you find out-

20mercury

Thanks for the response.

yep, I got it wired per the factory wiring diagram




Agree, you would think if you wired it to the ign terminal on the fuse box that ignition "off" would be "off".

But it looks like the ignition wire just powers up the controls, you have relays that power up the larger amp drawing components straight from the battery.

Will check all of my grounds again, maybe my battery is weak or I need to drive it more, ha!

20mercury

Yes I plan to put in a battery disconnect, just have not installed it yet. Question though, if you ground the "reset" wire, is that not calibrating it again? no problem with that I guess, but you have to cycle the thumbwheels again.

20mercury

Thanks for the wiring diagram, I was scanning my wiring diagram and loading it up at the same time you were responding, LOL's!

Anyway I got this setup from another forum member who had installed it and then decided to remove it since he had an original tri power and he wanted to go back to all originality. It came with a circuit breaker but I did not receive it with a circuit breaker, so I just installed a 30amp inline fuse. When I pull the 30 amp green fuse out of the inline fuse holder, the parasitic drain stops. Yes, I am considering pulling the blower connection, the compressor connection and then the hot water valve connection, then compressor switch and see if the drain stops. I suppose this should not hurt the electronics if the a/c is not running.

Agree, next stop Monday is to call Vintage Air and will keep you posted on what I find out.

Thanks again.

(BTW, I will also check all of my connections again, maybe a bad connection somewhere)

jnb5101

Yes, the thumbwheels have to be cycled again to reset the unit, but it takes only a few seconds, and most of the time the A/C wasn't used.

7T1vette

I agree whole-heartedly that you need to call Vintage Air and ask them, "What gives???" But, I also have to ask why they run power directly from the battery. You don't run the air conditioner with the engine OFF!!! So, why the heck would you want power to be fed into the A/C system before the engine was running???

Sending switched power to the Vintage Air system should solve the problem. And, if the ignition switch can't handle that much current flow, just fire a simple automotive relay with the switched 12vdc off the ignition switch and let the relay send the current to the Vintage Air system. This is the way I would do it; no way would I do what V/A shows on their schematic.

If some small electronic module in the Vintage Air system needs to be constantly ON (can't imagine why that would be), ONLY that part of the system should be fed directly from battery power.

In any event, Vintage Air should be able to tell you what part of their system is drawing power all the time.

jnb5101

I assumed that the ECU needed constant voltage to retain the calibration, because when the system was disconnected the unit had to be reset. That's why I added the push button.

Richard454

I'm still in the wiring stage of my Vintage Air-

However-I'm going to have just the red wire to the ECU in the 16 pin connector 'hot' all the time. The rest of the system will be controlled/ switched w/ a relay- the ignition OFF relay- so it won't have the possibility of "running" while starting.

ECU fuse panel by Richard Hayes, on Flickr

7T1vette

That's the ticket! But I still want to hear what V/A has to say....

doorgunner

20 Mercury! I haven't been there in a while......I have a 10 yr. old V.A. unit/very simple to wire compared to the new V.A. electronic units.

Once you solve the problem.......keep a jacket in your car......the V.A. unit will freeze you out!

mrvette

Why would anyone like V/AIR introduce any electronics into something as simple as an automotive system???

Jeez, I wired up my HVAC system some 20 years ago....4 switches motor speed hi/lo, master on/off, and compressor clutch, I can run the blower without comp, 4th sw is for heater/water valve

Richard454

So you can control it through your iPhone!!!



OR your iPAD!!!

Richard Daugird

I'm with MrVette on this one. Do they still offer a C3 kit without the electronics? I'd give up the fancy pants electronic stuff for simplicity and reliability. Why would I need to control the A/C in my car via iPhone? My home A/C, I do plan to do that in the future. My hot tub too...

20mercury

You are right, jnb5101 goes to the head of the class!

Played some more and using two different meters, found VA was drawing about 150 milliamps with the ignition key in the off position. Also checked on the internet, and a milliamp draw is normal for a modern car with electronics, radio presets, ect.

I then installed a new battery since my old battery was over 3 years old.

This morning I called Vintage Air Tech and was informed a 150 milliamp draw is normal and is needed for the presets.

All good now and off to fix the wiper door operation, I hope!

BTW, if you decide to wire up VA differently, you might consider whether that might void your warranty assuming it is still in effect.

Thanks again for all of the responses and help, this forum is the greatest!!!

20mercury

Hi Doorgunner and good to hear from you!!!

You are right, simple is good, I would prefer an on/off switch but don't have one. VA is outstanding, but you do need to charge it up per the directions to get all of the 134a in. Dang, I wonder how people managed in Louisiana in July a hundred years ago!


Checked your 68 thread and the story continues, Keep up the Good Work! Thought for you, Greater New Orleans Corvette show is Oct 15 in Slidell, drive or trailer your 68 in, we will have fun either way!!!

7T1vette

If your battery is draining over a short duration (a few days) with 150 ma draw, your battery (or the cables/connections) is "toast". A 'good' battery, having several hundred amp-hours of capacity, would take several WEEKS to discharge enough to prevent starting.

With a new battery installed, if you still have problems, your cables and/or their connections are at fault.
___________

From an engineering aspect, it makes NO sense to have the main operating components of an air conditioning system 'hot-wired' to the battery of your car when it is stored/garaged. If there was some wierd malfunction/short in the system, an electical fire could result in losing your car...or even your entire home...from such a fault. Preventing that by sticking a power relay in line ahead of that A/C system is a good approach to do that. In fact, I'm surprised that V/A's lawyers would even allow them to provide electrical schematics drawn up as they are.

20mercury

Good advice thanks! will keep an eye on my almost 50 yr wiring!

All VA current goes through the 30amp fuse and VA instructs you to make sure the breaker/fuse is close to the battery. There are other hot wires in the Corvette, starter, ect, but hey I am not a double E! You could call VA and see what they say.

I am thinking using a battery disconnect is a good idea with an old Corvette.