While running diagnostic test and smoking my evap system For a hour or so I drained my brand new die hard and believe me that was a big surprise because along with the new die hard I installed a 145 amp alternator in place of the 100 amp and there isn't any shorts or any draws other then me last night I had my Tech II scanner hooked up and had commanded the service bay test for the evap system so both the purge and the vent valve were on for a hour tops also the new paint can smoker I bought to smoke my evap system that isn't supposed to be more then 1.6 amps total.To locate a small leak. But some how the three of them drained my full charged die hard recently bought so my question is can you hook up a 6 or 2 amp charger to the car as to not loose all the OBD II computer information. and still charge the battery.Is there a safe way.With out pulling the cables and loosing all the stored information from the OBD II because that is something you don't want to do if you can avoid it.

 

To run the service bay test, the ignition has to be in the RUN position. There's far more draw than the two solenoids. I can imagine somewhere in the 20 amp range. Which means you'll need a charger that can put back at least that much, or the battery will eventually go dead.

 

I understand the draw was more then the input but my question is can you safely hook up a charger while doing those type of test to the battery still connected in the vehicle or will it hurt the alternator or the test equipment.And if you can what is the procedure.

 

he answered that...

"I can imagine somewhere in the 20 amp range. Which means you'll need a charger that can put back at least that much, or the battery will eventually go dead."

 

The battery charger will only put out the 14.8 Volts that the entire vehicle runs on. The only possible damage could be overcharging the battery, which any good charger should not allow to happen anyway.

 

Captain good to here from you been a while.But the main thing I would like to know with a good surge protector in line with the charger and hooking it up with the positive at the battery and the negative on the frame good solid ground.first then turn on the surge protector as to avoid a surge or sparks at the battery.Would that be ok when performing test such as these I know the voltage wouldn't hurt anything if anything it would be a serge or spark that would do damage if anything and I am just interested in if I can have the charger connected while testing as to avoid the low battery all together.

 

Yup, no problem. Connect the charger to the positive battery terminal first, then connect the negative to a good ground, somewhere away from the battery. The reason for connecting and disconnecting the negative away from the battery, is to avoid the possibility of explosion from gasses that may be lingering near the battery. Always connect the negative last, and disconnect it first.

 

Thank,s again Captain as usual the information is always good and straight to the point.