Shaker 500 is draining my battery :-(

[LordBritish]

I have an 05 GT with a Shaker 500.

I've been having battery problems for a while and a few times I've been unable to start the car.

I've even replaced the battery with an Optima Yellow Top.

However, yesterday, when I started the car I heard that tell tale click-click sound. It still fired up but I knew it wasn't healthy.

I got my trusty Radio Shack Multimeter and the battery measured 11.5v at idle - too low. I then measured the voltage when the car was running. That measued 13.5+. That seemed normal enough so it did not appear to be the alternator.

Next I started measuring the current draw when Idle - it read 1.3A !!!!

No wonder my battery was draining !!!

So I started pulling fuses from the fuse box. I tried various fuses but when I pulled the radio fuse, the current draw when down to a normal 150 mA. I put back the fuse and it read 1.3A again. Repeated the test until I was satisfied - it's the Shaker 500 POS !!

I've already read that if you don't turn off the Shaker 500 when you shut off the engine, it'll still draw current but turning it off didn't help, it's still drawing about 1.2A.

For now I'm driving around with the radio fuse out. I can't use my Shaker 500 but at least my battery won't drain.

But I still don't know what's wrong or even how to fix it. I just know that's it's the Shaker 500

Any ideas folks?

 

[TexasBlownV8]

Common problem. Turn off the radio before turning off the ignition. That'll help.
Leaving the radio in the on position when the key is off will draw down the battery. Do a search for more info.

 

[LordBritish]

Common problem. Turn off the radio before turning off the ignition. That'll help.
Leaving the radio in the on position when the key is off will draw down the battery. Do a search for more info.

Like I said, that did not seem to help. It still was drawing 1.2A.

To be clear, i just pushed the volume knob down to turn it off.

 

[michael.konor]

Okay, a few things to check:

1. When you turn the car off and exit the car, does the stereo stay on? (It should turn off completely when you open a door after pulling the key)

2. Looking at the Audio System schematic, I can see the main power going to the stereo from Fuse 56 under the hood, Fuse 20 from inside the car which goes hot when you try and start the car, and Fuse 5 from inside the car which goes hot through the accessory relay.

So... If your accessory delay relay (inside the car) is hung closed, it would be telling the stereo to stay on.

3. Subwoofer Amps. The Subwoofer Amps themselves are powered via Fuse 16, 6, and/or 9 from under the hood. They're power on all the time, and get a control signal from the head unit to power up. If you pull Fuse 16, 6 and 9, and reconnect the Head Unit Fuse (Fuse 56), do you still have the drain? If yes, the drain is from the head unit. If no, the subwoofers are being commanded to stay on instead of shutting off.

To troubleshoot this, re-insert the fuses and remove the connector from each SW one at a time to figure out which one is staying on.

If you go through this and can't figure out anything, let me know in a PM and I'll help you out. I fixed aviation and communications electronics for a living...

Last thing, has anything else electrically weird been happening in your car?

Mike

 

[kevinatfms]

the factory headunit and shaker 500/1000 amps are known for bad current draws. do as stated in the above post and you should be able to figure out where the draw is coming from.

 

[LordBritish]

Last thing, has anything else electrically weird been happening in your car?

Mike

Other than the battery draining, no.

I'll try what you suggest and I'll report back.

 

[LordBritish]

Okay, a few things to check:

1. When you turn the car off and exit the car, does the stereo stay on? (It should turn off completely when you open a door after pulling the key)

I see that the display on the stereo turns off when I open the door.

3. Subwoofer Amps. The Subwoofer Amps themselves are powered via Fuse 16, 6, and/or 9 from under the hood. They're power on all the time, and get a control signal from the head unit to power up. If you pull Fuse 16, 6 and 9, and reconnect the Head Unit Fuse (Fuse 56), do you still have the drain? If yes, the drain is from the head unit. If no, the subwoofers are being commanded to stay on instead of shutting off.

I have a shaker 500 so fuse 6 and 9 do not apply to me. I pulled just fuse 16 and the power drain was still there.


One thing I did notice is that when I pull out fuse 56 and reinsert it (with the battery connected) the stereo will make this whirring/clunking noise for approximately 1 minute. I see nothing displayed on the stereo. After a minute, the stereo is quiet again. WTF is it doing ? Having a fit? It might be a normal initializing process.

I suddenly had a thought that the power draw I was reading on my multimeter may be this "initializing" fit that the Shaker 500 does. I measure the current draw by disconnecting the negative cable from the battery and putting my multimeter in between the cable and the negative post of the battery. I'm making contact manually with probes - I dont have clips for my multimeter yet.

The power draw may go back to normal if I hold the probes for at least a minute w/o breaking contact - I'll have to test that later.

 

[Riptide]

Not saying it isn't the factory head unit.

However I also have made certain to turn the gdamn thing off before shutting the car down and opening the doors. And 3 days later had a dead battery. Charged it back up, drove the car again, and it was fine. Then randomly - it does it again some point in the future.

Very aggravating and this is one of the gremlins and design problems Ford left us with on these earlier model cars.

 

[michael.konor]

One thing I did notice is that when I pull out fuse 56 and reinsert it (with the battery connected) the stereo will make this whirring/clunking noise for approximately 1 minute. I see nothing displayed on the stereo. After a minute, the stereo is quiet again. WTF is it doing ? Having a fit? It might be a normal initializing process.

That clunk and thunk you hear is the stereo reading all of the CD's you've got inserted.

Did you pull out fuse 5 and 20 in the car, while still leaving 56 inserted and check for drain?

Did you pull out the accessory delay relay, with all fuses inserted, and see if you've still got the drain?

I've attached the schematic so you can see what I'm looking at.

The "SJB" is the fuse box on the passenger side interior.

 

[LordBritish]

If it turns out to be the head unit I could always hook up relay that will turn if off when the ignition is off.

Or just simply replace the god damn thing.

We'll see. My investigation is not over yet.

 

[LordBritish]

That clunk and thunk you hear is the stereo reading all of the CD's you've got inserted.

But i have no CDs in it?? I removed them all. What's it looking for?

Did you pull out fuse 5 and 20 in the car, while still leaving 56 inserted and check for drain?

Did you pull out the accessory delay relay, with all fuses inserted, and see if you've still got the drain?

Haven't tried that yet.

Thx for the help.

 

[michael.konor]

Mine still does it whether I have CD's in there or it. It's also looking to see if there are some in there.

 

[TexasBlownV8]

I like the idea of putting in a couple relays, one for F16 to the amps (shaker500), and one F20 for the h/u. Of course you'd lose the clock and your last selected source and channel if F20 is not on; may or may not need to relay the h/u, and just relay the amps.

But yeah, since I replaced my battery a couple years ago, it still died after only 2 days of not running, with the shaker turned off as well. Hasn't done it since, though.

Interested in seeing where the draw is coming from, of course after the h/u stops searching for CDs.

 

[james432]

Same problem i had it was a pain found out it was the amp in the shaker 500 pull the fuse under the hood for it and see wut happends thats wut i did....

 

[LordBritish]

Well the solution might be as simple as turning the Shaker 500 off before shutting the engine off.

The current draw I was measuring (1.2A) was in fact the Shaker 500 initializing itself. After measuring the current for more than a minute the current dropped down to 150 mA which seems closer to normal. I don't have an ammeter so I'm using my multimeter with probes to measure the current - that's why the Shaker 500 goes through it's "initializing" phase when I make contact with the probes.

 

[Riptide]

That didn't solve the problem in my case. My car still randomly and very intermittently kills batteries. Even after I know that the head unit was turned off before shutting the car down.

 

[LordBritish]

That didn't solve the problem in my case. My car still randomly and very intermittently kills batteries. Even after I know that the head unit was turned off before shutting the car down.

Well, if this problem isn't solved by turning off the Shaker, i'm going to simply pull the fuse for now and deal with it later. I can live w/o music but I need a functioning car - it's my DD and my only car.

 

[michael.konor]

If you pull the fuse and your problem goes away, that doesn't leave any wiggle room on what's the cause after all the other eliminations you've done.

 

[Riptide]

Replace the head unit.


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[07VistaChicago]

I replaced the skipper 500 due to the terrible sound it produced and killing my battery. Now no problem at all with the new BT3200 and it is like a night and day difference with regards to the sound!!!