Battery: Current draw???
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 64
Likes: 0
From: Buffalo, NY
Battery: Current draw??? Like many of you I've had the bad battery issue (bad cells or what ever). Just wondering if anyone has checked how much draw you have just sitting there. I have an '06 MCSS and found a 2.5 amp draw. If i pull the radio fuse it goes down to 1.5 amps. There are no aftermarket electronic accesories of any kind on my car. Has anyone found where their draw has come from if they did infact have an issue with this?
If you're not sure how to test and you have a multimeter simply remove one of your battery cables, set your meter to read DC amps (pick a high scale like 20 amps on your meter) make sure your meter lead are connected properly for amps, and connect the meter inline with the cable you disconnected to the battery so that it completes the circuit.
**MAKE SURE ALL HEADLIGHTS, DOMELIGHTS ETC ARE OFF BECAUSE THEY CAN PULL ALOT OF AMPS AND POTENTIALLY BURN OUT YOUR METER**
Hope this helps, thanks.
If you're not sure how to test and you have a multimeter simply remove one of your battery cables, set your meter to read DC amps (pick a high scale like 20 amps on your meter) make sure your meter lead are connected properly for amps, and connect the meter inline with the cable you disconnected to the battery so that it completes the circuit.
**MAKE SURE ALL HEADLIGHTS, DOMELIGHTS ETC ARE OFF BECAUSE THEY CAN PULL ALOT OF AMPS AND POTENTIALLY BURN OUT YOUR METER**
Hope this helps, thanks.
TECH Resident
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 803
Likes: 0
From: Ontario, Canada
would the radio not pull power to hold memory and clock time? i know there are some things that require constant power in all cars radio being one of them. i just dont remember how much they draw koeo.
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 64
Likes: 0
From: Buffalo, NY
From what I've read, 0.02-0.04 amps is the acceptable draw for a battery to maintain its charge. Anything more than that is considered excessive. I'm surprised that the radio pulls 1 amp just to maintain its memory.
