• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

New to a Sprite, dash switches...

Share this page

robdmau

robdmau

Senior Member
Offline
Ok I feel really silly asking this but I just bought a new battery thinking that was my issue. SO the car has sat in the garage all this week, and its dead! So the only thing I can think of is that I am leaving switches on in the dash...

Can someone please tell me which way is on and off sense there are no labels?
 
Down is usually off....but did a PO turn it the wrong way?
Most all the switches turn off with the ignition, except the lights and horn. Did you turn your stereo off? Does it stay on when the ignition switch is turned off?
Good luck
Scott in CA.
 
And... from another thread : is there a light in your boot (trunk)
 
robdmau said:
Can someone please tell me which way is on and off sense there are no labels?
Click to expand...

Off position is usually down on ones that have a vertical stroke. However, it could be any number of things. I would try testing if you have a drain when everything is switched of by removing a battery cable and touching it to the post in a dimly lit, quiet place. If you see or hear a spark, something is drawing current. You'll have to go around with a volt meter and see what's still getting current with the key off. The other way is to disconnect wires one-by-one from the fuse block and see when the sparking quits. Pull one fuse at a time to see which circuit it's on. The fuse supplied by the brown wire is hot even when the key is off, the circuit supplied with the white wires is switched by the ignition key.

Another thing you can do is add a battery cut off switch.
 
This might be a good time to invest $7.95 in a multimeter from Harbor Freight. You can then measure the battery current when you think everything is off. The problem of current drains when everything is supposedly "off" is a pretty common problem. Best way to find it is to hook up an ammeter, and start disconnecting things one by one until you isolate the problem. Then, work back through the circuit to see where the problem is.
 
smaceng said:
Down is usually off....but did a PO turn it the wrong way?
Most all the switches turn off with the ignition, except the lights and horn. Did you turn your stereo off? Does it stay on when the ignition switch is turned off?
Good luck
Scott in CA.
Click to expand...

What do you mean? reversing the positive?

If thats what you mean then yes, thats been done. From what I can see the head lights turn off with the switches up... Some thing is going on that is causing this to drain :frown:
 
Trevor Jessie said:
And... from another thread : is there a light in your boot (trunk)
Click to expand...

Checked the truck, did not see a light anywhere
 
Sarastro said:
This might be a good time to invest $7.95 in a multimeter from Harbor Freight. You can then measure the battery current when you think everything is off. The problem of current drains when everything is supposedly "off" is a pretty common problem. Best way to find it is to hook up an ammeter, and start disconnecting things one by one until you isolate the problem. Then, work back through the circuit to see where the problem is.
Click to expand...

Ya thats what I am thinking... I was just hoping it was as easy as switching the switches the right way lol :frown:
 
If this is a 65 Sprite, up is off.
Down turns on the lights and dash lights with no key on. The wiopers are on if the switch is down and the key is on.
 
spritenut said:
If this is a 65 Sprite, up is off.
Down turns on the lights and dash lights with no key on. The wiopers are on if the switch is down and the key is on.
Click to expand...

Cool, thanks... I may have found the issue, the last owner had some big aircraft landing lights hidden on the grill and he had a switch mounted next to the steering wheel... I will find out in a few days if I found the issue
 
Back
Top