wrencher

iTrader: (2)

Seen draw's that where intermittant more times than I can count. Alternators & modules are good for it.
You could add a realy into the courtsey fuse circuit so it only operates key on if you know how to wire it.

wrencher

iTrader: (2)

Just saw your other thread relating to this subject;
A wal-mart battery?
I love those things, they bring me so much work it's not even funny. You buy one 'new' & look at it's stamp or sticker date & it's still more than 6 months old lol.
Then their rating are a joke, They inflate the CA/CCA but it's real hard to find the specs on the reserve capacity.
The RC is what you need for what your car's doing, you are just aggravating the condition with a sub-par battery. A 30 milliamp draw on average battery can draw a battery down in 20-30 days. Thats with a good quality fully charged battery.
The WM one lol I would be suprised if it could last half that.
The WM battery resere's are a joke, the term get what you paid for definately applies here.
12.6 min. is a full charge on the battery. You not charging it completely will not help.
The alternator should not be expected to do this. It's meant to maintain the battery, not charge a dead/weak battery. This will shorten the life of both.

Remember the battery is the 'electrical sponge' of your charging system. It absorbs the uneven charging voltage of your vehicle. That & any A/C voltage that gets thru the recifier in the alternator. I have seen more weird variety of module problems with discount batteries in use. Impossible to say it was the exact starting cause of the issue, but 20+ years working on cars I've seen a lot. (all I do for the most part is drivability, SES & electrical diagnostic's)

I really suggest you get a good battery in there, at least it will be better able to deal with a draw issue. Then start to diagnose this issue w/ a good fully charged battery.

samson_420

iTrader: (1)

I dont know how you can deal with this crap on a regular basis, this **** is nerve wrecking.

I have no money right now to get a quality battery. But that is what I kind of figured before I tried to figure out the cause.

The battery is a POS all together, I don't start my car enough and there is a very small unnesessary draw on the POS battery.

As far as the BCM sucking down power, that's just odd. I though about getting another BCM, which I still might. . . .


I am just not use to dealing with so many electronic components in a vehicle.

jimmyblue

iTrader: (11)

There is a "retained power" mode on the vehicle
which keeps certain power branches "lit" for a
while after key-off. Things like trunk release,
courtesy lights, etc. can be operated for a couple
of minutes after shutdown. This may be your "lag"
in the standby current draw, hitting bottom.

Try pulling the alternator output wire and the
connector and see what the draw goes to. If you
damage a diode in the rectifier bridge these can
leak substantially and have no fuse to pull, to
test.

30mA does not seem like much current to me and
should not be killing batteries unless you let them
bottom out and sit.

samson_420

iTrader: (1)

I will check the alternator. . . But, if your rectifier is on the way out. Would'nt it do more?

J-Train

Right here with you man, my car has killed a delco, a optima, and its slowly killing the second optima, all this year, and I daily drive it, if I go more than a couple of days the bat is down to like 10V. Mine is reading about .730mAH as well.

xny1989

iTrader: (1)

I've run into a similar problem after installing a new HU. I've got several write-ups in the Stereo/Electronics forum. MY problem occurs only when the new HU is installed, not when the stock monsoon is there. The very weird thing is that the amperage draws don't support this. With the monsoon, I get 0.77a draw after about 12 seconds (while all the sensors and stuff energize, I guess), while, with the new HU installed, I get <.001 a draw. My power draw comes from the Power Acc. fuse, which provides battery power to the stock alarm stuff and the radio clock and presets. When I pull that fuse, witih the monsoon installed, I get a 3.2 ma draw. When the new HU is installed, the battery dies overnight, and this is a new Napa battery. I'm working with Crutchfield (they sold me the new HU) to try and figure this out.

I've not been able to get anyone to provide the power draw that I should see in the power accy circuit. Last nite, I left the car with no radio in there, and the battery was fine this morning. Going to put the monsoon back in today, and see what I have in the morning. If the battery is OK, then I'll put the new HU in overnight and see what happens. It seems strange, with these readings, that the new HU is causing this. Another thing I'm considering is if there is an issue with arming the stock alarm.

RE AND CHERYL

iTrader: (31)

First: I would say you need to find a friend F body that is not having problems and compare the numbers, The draw your getting is not even 1/10 of an amp, that shouldn't kill the battery even over a few weeks. Another thing that could kill your battery over time is the alternator OVER charging the battery. The problem your having would not kill your battery unless you let it go dead over and over agian.

Second: If you regularly go a few weeks without driving the car a battery cut off switch is a good idea even of your not having problems.

Third: Battery tenders are the ****! My Harley and lawn tractor live all winter plugged into one and start right up any time I want/need to use them

Lastly I just gotta say that this all could be avoided if you just DROVE YOUR CAR.

Re'

lovin myls1

iTrader: (4)

Not if altenator is OVERcharging.Here is a test:

One Very Simple Alternator Test:

1) Start Car and run at a normal idle.

2) Connect a Voltmeter Directly Across the battery Terminals.

3) Turn on Headlights to High Beam.

4) check the battery Voltage.
*** The Battery voltage Should read between about 13.8 to 14.2 volts. (Possibly up to 14.5 Volts.)

5) Increase motor speed to about 1500 RPM. The Alternator should now produce a battery voltage between 14.2 and 14.6
Volts.
*** If it is Lower than 14.2 volts, the Alternator probably has one or more Bad Diodes.

6) Now, Maintain the 1500 RPM and Turn off the Headlights. Run this test for One Full Minute.
"The Battery Voltage should NEVER Exceed about 14.8 Volts".
***If it Does, the Alternators Voltage Regulator is probably Faulty, OVER CHARGING the Battery.

Magic Man

I had a problem with my '90 ss truck where the bat would go dead within a couple of days.I looked and after tracing everything down I found a wire on the starter just pinched a little bit which had a high resistance but still ran bat down.

1 FMF

iTrader: (1)

typical car battery is around 40-50 amp-hour rating,
technically its a rating over a 20 hour period for the amperage the battery can supply before dropping below 10.4 volts. But using it as a rough estimate,
a 0.1 amp (100 milliamp) draw should go for 500 hours from a good battery that was charged to 100%. 500 hours / 24 = 20.8 days, 70 amp-hr till 29 days or one month.
I would say that's a conservative estimate when you consider self-discharge over a period greater than 2 weeks and the fact the battery most likely was not at 100% state of charge to begin with.
If a cheap walmart battery was used, then expect the amp-hour rating to be 40'ish at most, and don't expect a battery off the shelf at walmart to be at 100% state of charge, you need to look at the manufacture date sticker on it !!!
If it doesn't have this sticker, or it looks funny, don't buy it. There are places, not walmart or big chains, that have sold used batteries as new. But for a place like walmart, don't expect an isle monkey at walmart to know or care.
Always check the manufacture date, and even if it's less than 1 month old you should always put a new battery on a proper charge for a day to ensure it gets to 100% state of charge.
When a battery sits below 100% state of charge for a length of time, it sulfates and weakens and is unable to ever get back to its 100% state of charge, it eventually gets weaker and weaker and seems to die sooner and sooner.

if your battery goes dead to where it won't start the car after sitting for a 5 day period and you are sure the battery was good and very near 100% state of charge then you have an excessive draw and a problem. Anything less than 0.1 amp draw is acceptable and should not pose a problem if the car is run daily, and I think the battery in general is supposed to handle a 2 week sit time (such as at an airport) and still be able to start the car. Over two weeks, you need to either disconnect the battery or use a charger.

batteryfaq.org and the optima website has good info worth reading.

Streetsharkls1

Optima batteries sold out to another company in mexico. The redtop are shi$

alittle1

Is anyone else still having problems with parasitic draw? Have you been able to get it fixed?