Heated mirrors drain battery.
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 9
Likes: 1
Heated mirrors drain battery. I know this is not the correct form to post my question, but I have asked my question in some truck related forums without any luck and from reading posts over here I know there is a lot of knowledge in here.
Since I got my 03 silverado a few years back I have had problems with the battery. Once in a while I would find the truck with battery drained. It could go months between each time and whenever I checked with an amp meter everything was fine.. Until this Thursday when I had recharged the battery after drain situation and did a measurement. With no keys in the truck and all lights off I saw almost 3A draw from the battery. Was able to trace the current to the heated side mirrors that where really hot.
Mirrors are getting power for the heat from the DDM(Drivers Door Module) and PDM(passenger door module). The heated mirrors operate from the same button as the Rear window defroster and the rear window operate correctly.
I've now disconnected the wire at the terminal at the mirrors. but I need some suggestions on how to solve this permanently. I know I can wire up a new separate switch but I would rather like to find the root cause of this problem.
Is it correct that the door modules get commands from the BCM to turn on/off heated mirrors? If so, why would it turn them on? What tools is best suited to read messages sent to the DDM? I've done some research and it points me in the direction of Tech2 or vxdiag with a tech2win software on the computer. Also there is so many programs out there and I have problems understanding which of them to use for what. GDS2, TIS, TIS2000 etc. anyone care to explain? I'm not that experienced in GM trucks/cars. I have a efilive that I used to tune the truck but it can only be used for ECU related operations as far as i know.
When I removed the mirrors to disconnect the heater wire I managed to make a smal crack in one of them. Only a tiny one that you barely see, but I think it is a reason to replace them with mirrors that has turn signals. When I looked at the wiring diagram for the DDM there was some wires there for turn signals which was not present in the harness on my mirrors.. Is this plug and play or do the DDM need to be programmed for turn signal mirrors? If so, what do I need to do that?
Since I got my 03 silverado a few years back I have had problems with the battery. Once in a while I would find the truck with battery drained. It could go months between each time and whenever I checked with an amp meter everything was fine.. Until this Thursday when I had recharged the battery after drain situation and did a measurement. With no keys in the truck and all lights off I saw almost 3A draw from the battery. Was able to trace the current to the heated side mirrors that where really hot.
Mirrors are getting power for the heat from the DDM(Drivers Door Module) and PDM(passenger door module). The heated mirrors operate from the same button as the Rear window defroster and the rear window operate correctly.
I've now disconnected the wire at the terminal at the mirrors. but I need some suggestions on how to solve this permanently. I know I can wire up a new separate switch but I would rather like to find the root cause of this problem.
Is it correct that the door modules get commands from the BCM to turn on/off heated mirrors? If so, why would it turn them on? What tools is best suited to read messages sent to the DDM? I've done some research and it points me in the direction of Tech2 or vxdiag with a tech2win software on the computer. Also there is so many programs out there and I have problems understanding which of them to use for what. GDS2, TIS, TIS2000 etc. anyone care to explain? I'm not that experienced in GM trucks/cars. I have a efilive that I used to tune the truck but it can only be used for ECU related operations as far as i know.
When I removed the mirrors to disconnect the heater wire I managed to make a smal crack in one of them. Only a tiny one that you barely see, but I think it is a reason to replace them with mirrors that has turn signals. When I looked at the wiring diagram for the DDM there was some wires there for turn signals which was not present in the harness on my mirrors.. Is this plug and play or do the DDM need to be programmed for turn signal mirrors? If so, what do I need to do that?
