battery drain!!! why? [Merged 5-7] draining dying

[97gstnick]

this has me boggled. i am not good at electronics at all... maybe someone has some good info... my stock radio seems to stay on, like the left door speaker..(really quiet) drains my battery in like 6 hours. i pulled power from the stock amp and it doesnt drain anymore. how is radio staying on? its stock! also this might be it... this seemed to start happening after my retractable antenna broke. pretty much stuck in the up position... i pulled the b!tch out but still cannot connect amp or it will die....

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=179481​

 

[luv2rallye]

With power antenna's the stock radio doesn't turn off until the antenna is all the way down. Since yours broke it can't get there. I had a similiar problem and put a switch in. But for you, try disconnecting the 6 pin electrical connector on the motor antenna assembly. If that doesn't work pm me for more ideas.

 

[97gstnick]

thanx for your reply.... well this is what i did..i removed the whole assembly! and if i plug the radio and amp it still darins... you think that the ecu thinks the antenna is still in the up position since i removed it when it was..

 

[moliver]

Probally a bad ground somewhere

 

[luv2rallye]

The ECU has nothing to do with the radio. It may be the grounds like he says. I would first reset the radio by disconnecting the battery for 3 minutes to see if that cures it. There is a radio power wire that goes right to the battery to keep stations memorized, etc when the car is off. Make sure you have the radio security code (and stations written down).

 

[BrokenTsi]

my buddy's radio doesn't shut off until the ecu stop clicking. Even with the key out.

Did y ou recently do any installs on your car that would give you these problems?

 

[Calmor]

I'm troubleshooting a battery drain problem in my GSX. I've read on other sites about standard battery drain with the ignition off. It seems as though mine, after removing what I thought would be the problem child, went from about 0.5A (!!!) to 63mA. And I wondered why the battery would die in a day or two, and was always warm....

Question is, what is the normal range of battery drain with the ignition off on a 2G DSM? Other car sites quote anywhere from 20mA to 50mA, but I haven't found anything DSM specific.

Also, if the range is somewhere around 50mA, is the extra 10-15mA of drain going to kill the battery that fast, or should it still last a month or so between starts?

 

[psychlow]

I'm not sure what our batteries are, but google tells me that typical car batteries can be between 45-100 amp hours on a full charge.

Assuming you've got 100amp hours available:
At 63mA load, you'll drain the battery completely in ~66 days.
At 50mA load, you've got ~83 days.
At 20mA, you've got ~208 days.

Obviously, you can't start a car with a completely dead battery.

 

[silvercoupe97]

I would suspect a bad ground. Mine did the same but it lasted only 2.5-3 days before it would die. I moved the ground that went directly to the ground post and chassis and found another spot on the body. I sanded down to bare metal and attached my ground wire...now, the battery doesn't die unless it sits in the garage for a week and a half or so.

Anyway try that if you like, also clean your negative battery post because they affect you in that way too.

Good luck...

 

[SpeedFreak03]

Could be a bad ground, but do you have any aftermarket electrical accessories (alarm, etc) that could cause it? Check the grounds on all that if it applies to you, I know just a bad alarm ground can kill a battery overnight (happened with my first alarm install... )

 

[Calmor]

I would suspect a bad ground. Mine did the same but it lasted only 2.5-3 days before it would die. I moved the ground that went directly to the ground post and chassis and found another spot on the body. I sanded down to bare metal and attached my ground wire...now, the battery doesn't die unless it sits in the garage for a week and a half or so.

Anyway try that if you like, also clean your negative battery post because they affect you in that way too.

Good luck...

I was doing some troubleshooting on it this evening. I have a custom PC installed as the entertainment system, and the power supply the PC and touchscreen, even off, were drawing over 0.5A. With the devices unplugged, I was down to 63mA. If I unplug the radio/dome light fuses from the electrical box in the engine compartment, this number drops to 20mA. Pulling the wire to the amplifiers drops it to 2mA. I would assume this last 2mA run the ECU.

I'll take a look at the grounds... thanks. The battery's relatively new, though I suspect I'll need to replace it since it's been discharged a few times.

Electrical demons are never much fun...

 

[Calmor]

Could be a bad ground, but do you have any aftermarket electrical accessories (alarm, etc) that could cause it? Check the grounds on all that if it applies to you, I know just a bad alarm ground can kill a battery overnight (happened with my first alarm install... )

Yeah, that's why I went straight for the add-on components when I started looking at possible problems. Damn 12V ATX power supply pulls way too much power even when it's not doing anything. Most of it was a USB hub (why does it take 120mA to run a USB hub when the PC power's off?).

 

[SpeedFreak03]

Ok sounds to me like the radio is pulling a lot of current somehow. You say you have the custom PC in there, did you leave the head unit as well? If so try a new ground for that (straight to the chassis or firewall, dont use the stock harness ground). Thats most likely your issue!

 

[Calmor]

I'm not sure what our batteries are, but google tells me that typical car batteries can be between 45-100 amp hours on a full charge.

Assuming you've got 100amp hours available:
At 63mA load, you'll drain the battery completely in ~66 days.
At 50mA load, you've got ~83 days.
At 20mA, you've got ~208 days.

Obviously, you can't start a car with a completely dead battery.

So even going for the midrange of about 75... I'm still looking at 49 days or so, or well over a month. I think I can live with that.

Thanks for the info.

 

[silvercoupe97]

I was doing some troubleshooting on it this evening. I have a custom PC installed as the entertainment system, and the power supply the PC and touchscreen, even off, were drawing over 0.5A. With the devices unplugged, I was down to 63mA. If I unplug the radio/dome light fuses from the electrical box in the engine compartment, this number drops to 20mA. Pulling the wire to the amplifiers drops it to 2mA. I would assume this last 2mA run the ECU.

I'll take a look at the grounds... thanks. The battery's relatively new, though I suspect I'll need to replace it since it's been discharged a few times.

Electrical demons are never much fun...

That's kind of odd to me though...I have 0 (overkill) guage wire ran to my trunk to run about 1000watts of sound to the cabin+gps with monitor+power inverter for my son's dvd player/laptop and none of them drew enough while the car was off to kill the battery alone. Then again, that might be your scenerio while mine was the bad ground at the battery.

Oh yeah, those units pulling power with the car in the off position is normal to keep the settings in place, nothing unusual there really.

 

[Calmor]

That's kind of odd to me though...I have 0 (overkill) guage wire ran to my trunk to run about 1000watts of sound to the cabin+gps with monitor+power inverter for my son's dvd player/laptop and none of them drew enough while the car was off to kill the battery alone. Then again, that might be your scenerio while mine was the bad ground at the battery.

Oh yeah, those units pulling power with the car in the off position is normal to keep the settings in place, nothing unusual there really.

Yeah, I remember leaving the battery in my Cobra for four months over the winter with no battery tender on it, and it firing right up in the spring with no problem, no change to the driveability or the clock... and the Eclipse won't last three days without driving it... I knew there was a problem. WTF

Sounds like you have quite a setup in your ride though. I've about 500 watts of sound, driven by a PC with a fiberglassed-in touchscreen in the factory radio location (SpeedFreak - I removed the stock stereo and grounded the PC's 12V power supply to the chassis - no inverters needed)

 

[silvercoupe97]

Yeah, I remember leaving the battery in my Cobra for four months over the winter with no battery tender on it, and it firing right up in the spring with no problem, no change to the driveability or the clock... and the Eclipse won't last three days without driving it... I knew there was a problem. WTF

Sounds like you have quite a setup in your ride though. I've about 500 watts of sound, driven by a PC with a fiberglassed-in touchscreen in the factory radio location (SpeedFreak - I removed the stock stereo and grounded the PC's 12V power supply to the chassis - no inverters needed)

Sounds to me like you have quite the setup too, my friend and thanks. Finding a good ground isn't horribly hard but you would expect it to be there from the start.

 

[DSM2GNT95]

I have been having a problem with my battery draing within a matter of 1 or 2 days...I'm not any kind of experts with electronics ! , I have a multi-meter and all that....What are some things that could be cause this parastic drain...I have searched many times but it wasn't much help...thanks guys

 

[poppyseed]

when the car is off you can go through all the fuse boxes and pull each fuse individually and have the multimeter ready to measure current. Next use the multimeter leads and stick one on each side of where the fuse blades go. Measure each fuse spot for current draw when the key is out of the ignition. Do this for every fuse spot under hood and under dash then get back to us. Also do you have any aftermarket stuff in there. if you do measure that to.

 

[luv2rallye]

Finding a short, partial short, or battery drain: http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=179481

 

[smuckles]

Finding a short

Why would he be looking for a short? It says battery drain, not blowing fuses.

 

[ddavisaf]

If something is held closed after the car is turned off it will still be drawing power. With the car off and testing the fuses and such you'll be able to see what exactly will be held closed.

 

[smuckles]

If something is held closed after the car is turned off it will still be drawing power. With the car off and testing the fuses and such you'll be able to see what exactly will be held closed.

I believe you should read up on what causes a short and what causes a battery drain. A short is a bypass of the load to ground which means with equations current will equal close to infinity. If that was causing the battery drain then it would burn itself open, or destroy the device that is in circuit with or blow a fuse. Some thing he added is staying on for say an amplifier with the remote hooked up to a constant 12V or a radio he installed.

I can see why poppyseed told him to do that, because it would help to isolate which circuit is still drawing power after the car is off. This way he can trouble shoot what device is causing the excessive power drain. Also, when doing what he says make a table, so you know which fuse is drawing such and such amperage.

Define what you mean by something held closed????????? Do you mean a relay staying closed i am puzzled here. A switch stuck closed isn't a short, its a bad switch, not a bypass of the load to ground.

 

[ddavisaf]

A closed connector in relation to any component is causing something to function. That something is a variable. There is power supplied after the car is turned off. Because there is constant power applied does not mean that it will burn itself as long as it's in range. Indications of a switch or relay being shorted due to welding of the contacts are operations continue even in the OFF position. This can be caused by overcurrent conditions or dirty contacts. If you think that this is wrong then pm me and we'll discuss this further as to not highjack this thread.

Just remember though. There are different kinds of shorts also... Shorts that cause circuits to not operate, periodically operate, and not operate at all. It all depends on the kind of short. This information btw is taken directly out of book

 

[smuckles]

book schmook that is the authors opinion, a switch stuck closed can easily be argued. Also this is car stuff technology from early 1980 nothing to complex, betcha he hooked something up and didn't know what he was doing, betcha, betcha, betcha