72 Cuda with all new wiring. I put in an aux power distribution block that uses blade fuses. I power the block from the starter relay stud. I am running the MSD, fuel pump and after market gauges from here, and in the future a radio. The previous owner had run all of this stuff through the bulkhead connector and used the empty bat slot. The battery was always fine this way.

I ran a test light between the battery positive terminal and the battery cable and it was dimly lit. When I removed the blade fuse that powers the aftermarket gauges the light goes out. The gauges are wired the way they were before except for their power source.

Any idea why there would be a draw from these gauges with the setup that I have now?

Thanks

You need a switch to kill the power. What gauges are you running?

They ain't wired the way they were. As you know theyre hot all the time now which you cant have cuz it runs down the batt. You'd wanna power em from the ign1 switched 12V circuit source

I would T into the heaviest wire at the fuse block that is hot only with the key in the "on" position and T into before it hits the fuse in the fuse box that it is going to. Run that wire thru an inline fuse holder with a 20 amp fuse then to the gauges hot side then the other side of the gauge(s) goes out downstream to the sender(s). If there's an unused slot in the fuse block you could add a 20A glass fuse & use it for a more professional/less cluttered setup. EDIT you may want less than 20A on the fuse

If you have already wired it under the hood like that, I would just put relay contacts between starter relay post and the fuses you added. I would power the relay from Ignition 1.
Craig