electrical loads, real amp draw on the vx

[GasSavers_Ryland]

I finely got around to putting the clamp on amp meter on the battery cable on my vx, then while sitting in the drive way with the engine off, fliped thru and made notes on what the draw off the battery was.

Turning the key "on" but with the engine off (dash lights compleated with self check, door closed, lights off, radio off, fan off) gave a reading of exactly 2 amps, so in my figures I subtracted that number from the total reading.

Heater fan 1st setting 3 Amps
Heater fan 2nd setting 5.4 Amps
Heater fan 3rd setting 8 Amps
Heater fan 4th (highest) setting 11 Amps
all of those numbers were fresh air coming in, switch to recurculation and it added .4 amps to the highest setting due to added air drag.

Brake lights 3.2 amps

After market Radio varried from about .6 up to 4 amps depending on vollume.

Cranking for about 5 seconds gave a starter draw of about 138 amps.

[davidjh72]

Headlamps?
55-watt low-beams (110 watts for the pair)... 110/12volts=9.167 amps
65-watt hi-beams (130 watts for the pair)... 130/12=10.833 amps

[davidjh72]

Interesting...
http://mb-soft.com/public/headlite.html

[GasSavers_Ryland]

yes, I forgot to test the head lights to see what the real amp draw is, and compare it to what the bulbs are rated at, there is also a relay in there that is going to add to that load, I also want to test wipers, and if I still had A/C I would test what the electric clutch draws as well.
I want to get some Luxion LED's for rear running lights, I have some normal LED clusters, and they are bright, but they are not as bright as the incondesent bulbs, and I want something that is at least as bright as them, if not brighter.
I also thought that it was intersting that the starter would draw as much power as it does, around 1,700 watts, altho only for a few seconds, I hand't started my car in over a day, and it takes a moment for the fuel presure to build up (bad check valve) so I was able to crank it over for close to 5 seconds befor it started, giving me a longer streach of time to let the readout stablize.