Is Radio draining battery?

[StmpJmper]

Sent: 1/28/2004

Ok, something is draining my power to my brand spanking new battery.  At night, when I look at my light switch, I can catch the faintest glow of illumination from behind the switch.  Also, when I was putting in the cd player up front, I touched the power wire against metal and it arched.  With the ignition switched off, that shouldn't do that should it?  Where is the switch located.  Am I going to have to tear into the dash to get to it?  What else could it be?

[denisondc]

Sent: 1/29/2004

Your CD player is also an am/fm radio? Then it would need to have a full time 12v feed to keep-up the station memory - that wire would have 12v on it even with the ign sw off. The typical am/fm CD player only draws about 2-10 milliamps though. It is also possible someone rewired the 12v supply to the radio so they could listen to it without having the ign sw on. I have done that myself.
Your mention of the faint glow behind the light switch is a mystery. Is it a steady glow, or only the small arc when you turn the lights on/off? On our older rigs the headlamp switch always has power to it. I don't know what year they began having a relay disconnect power to the headlamps when the ignition was off, but I didn't think it was before the early 90s. Not having anything that new I dont know.
Try measuring the current drain by pulling the battery terminal off and putting a VOM in the circuit there. Then try removing the fuses one at a time, and seeing when or if the drain drops down to zero whatever your CD player draws. If your rig is the 79 then I don't think it would have an engine computer, but they can draw a few milliamps also.
With the battery fully charged, feel the temperature of any relays or flashers or buzzers under the dash. With the ignition off they should Not be at all warm. Does your RV have a light in the glove box that is on all the time when it shouldnt be? Im out of ideas. denison

[Daved27c]

Sent: 1/29/2004

The wire you touched on the CD player. was it the main power, switched power, or the lighting circuit. A total guess here is that your headlight switch is (going) bad, and putting power out to the dash lights, but not the headlights. This would explain the lighted switch, and the arch in the CD player.

Dave

[StmpJmper]

Sent: 1/31/2004

Ok, I replaced the light switch in the 79 Minnie Winnie and Im still getting power through the radio's power chord.  What should I check next?  The ignition switch?

[Sea Hag]

Sent: 2/1/2004

I would try to trace the wire back from the radio to it's origen - the radio may have been changed to play without Acc. or Ign. on  it seems to be the first thing PO's change some for the worst . and I think denison explained that there is usually two hot wires for radios one for the clock - constant on and one for the radio power usually or originally switched by ignition - I don't have a diagram for the minnies , but I'm sure some one does  - good luck - Sea Hag