Parasitic current draw - anyone have specs?

[DiMora]

I'm trying to determine if I have solved all my electrical woes or not. My alternator issue is now solved (bad clutch pulley in a dedicated thread). Now onto this next gremlin...

I've always had the car battery die after only 3-4 days if not kept on a battery tendere or charger. I have decided to finally figure out that issue and fix it. I picked up a UNI-T UT210E Mini Digital Clamp Meter and I'm going to see if I can find out which circuit is causing the issue (or if my SJB needs replaced).

This car almost never sees water, so I doubt that I have the typical SJB water damage, but I suppose anything is possible.

My new meter is saying I'm drawing 160mA just sitting in my garage with the battery fully charged. I read on another website that for newer cars, a parasitic draw of 50-85mA is acceptable and anything over 85mA causes issues (like dead batteries).

Have any of you ever measured parasitic draw after the car has sat for some time? Please post up any numbers you might have so I can compare and see if my car is wack, or if anyone knows the Ford spec on that I'd love to know it. Car is technically a 2006 GT. I'm going to dig in teh maintenance manual to see if I can find a number from Ford on this topic as well.

Thanks.

 

[Juice]

Yea, I measured mine. And IIRC, 150 mA is the lowest it ever draws with everything off. My battery will tolerate 6-8 weeks of no use/no charger.

 

[DiMora]

Found a spec. Service manual 414-00-15 "Charging System - General Information - Diagnosis and Testing"

"No factory-equipped vehicle should have more than a 50-milliamps (mA) or .050 amp draw"

*Vehicle must be at rest for at least 40 minutes.

*Procedure is to remove fuses from SJB one at a time. If not victorious, you then go to the BEC and do the same. Ugh.

As someone stated in another thread, it might be easier just to replace the SJB for $150 with a used known good unit and see if the issue goes away vs. doing the fuse thing. We shall see....

 

[hammeron]

if you still have stock radio, pull fuse 56 in BEC and measure again.

 

[DiMora]

if you still have stock radio, pull fuse 56 in BEC and measure again.

I've got an aftermarket Eclipse.

 

[Windstang]

I had a power off draw on a Ram once and pulled fuses until the mA load dropped. As said, wait a while before measuring to allow things to timeout. Once I found my issue (it was power running boards that weren't completely closing each time and would continue to try to retract). I tried to fix the issue but it was intermittent because if a small rock got stuck in the RB's, problem would be back so I bought a Time Delay De-energize 12vdc relay on Amazon and wired that in to the fuse circuit so that after 20 minutes, it dropped out and the load was isolated. Worked great - no dead battery since. Of course the other option is to fix the problem once you know which circuit is the issue. Now the relay is stupid expensive (was cheaper when I bought it 2 years ago) - you can probably find it cheaper in the US from some other supplier.
HELLA 5HE 996 152-131 12 Volt 5 Pin 0-900s Delay Off Time Control Unit, Relay Control Module - Amazon Canada

 

[datmbn]

if you find multipel fuses that has draw than it is probebly an relay that not relases

 

[theRedStorm]

After tackling a few issues, I have dropped the current draw from .43 to .115
I can't seem to get it drop any lower. Is this too high that it'll cause too Much drain? ?

 

[datmbn]

Have you tryed to disconekt the generator

 

[07gts197]

I wouldn’t read too deep into those numbers unless it dies after a few days.

I had an issue where my 09 p71 would die overnight. It could sit at work or in my driveway for 8-12 hours during the day but even just 8 hours overnight it would be flat dead. I tried doing an amp draw test but it showed everything was fine. The biggest draw was from the lighting control module but it was within spec. On the advice of others, I unplugged the alternator charge wire and let it sit overnight and it started right up the next day. Don’t rule out the alternator. Mine was brand new from Ford and was defective.


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