Battery draining down when sitting

[midnightpumpkin 82]

Our 4040, Ugly Betty, was draining the battery when she sat for a week or so. Today I looked into where the current was flowing from the battery with the ignition switch off. The result was very supprising to me. The ammeter had an internal leakage path from the terminals to the housing. I measured the drain on the battery at 100 milliamps. When I removed the ammeter from the dash panel the 100 milliamp drain went away. My temporary solution was to put two layers of electrical tape around the ammeter housing and re-install it. John U

[rm 0]

i"ve read on this forum. that some of the amp meters, have a plastic ring. so they don't ground out to the frame of the machine. you may have a faulty amp meter too i replaced my amp meters with voltage gauges.

[sammiefish 2]

good observation... all my new ammeters are coming with metal brackets with rubber insulating baffle/bushings in the holes for the terminals... I have been re-using the original plastic brackets to hold them in... Good observation that the leak must be internal...