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Battery Drain - 2001 Chevy Suburban?
I had the battery load tested and its good. I started the truck and disconnected the Neg. terminal to check the alternator, Truck stayed running. I turned the truck off, disconnected the hood lamp and engaged the dome bypass, with the Neg. disconnected from the Batt. I inserted a test light to verify a draw and with the test light lit I pulled each fuse 1by1. Light stayed lit. I disconnected the alternator, light stayed lit. I pulled all the main fuses at the same time, light stayed lit. I pulled all the relays in the fuse blocks and it stayed lit. What am I missing?
7 Answers
- PatrickCLv 79 years agoFavorite Answer
What are you missing? What or who told you that was a good way to test for battery drain? Since you have a meter, the best way to test for battery drain is to shut the car off. Put your meter in the amps mode and connect it between the negative terminal on the battery and the connector to the battery terminal.
The current draw should be no more than 5 ma. (Milli amps) This is to keep your presets in your radio and your computer safe. Anything higher (80 ma +) could be a lamp still on or bad wiring. Then and only then can you start pulling fuses to find the offending circuit.
Source(s): Electrical Engineer for 38 years retired. Cars as a hobby. - Anonymous9 years ago
Kevin,
When testing this particular aspect of your truck's electrical system (and many others) there is no reason to keep it running. From a safety standpoint, I would highly recommend you turn the truck off for this test.
With regards to draw on the battery, you hit the nail on the head by testing at the negative terminal, but use a meter and switch it to amps. Your truck is automatically going to pull a small number of milli amps, should be <5ma. This is primarily for your computer and radio as the previous poster pointed out.
If you are higher then 5ma (with all the fuses in), you can find the circuit causing the problem by pulling one fuse at a time with your meter connected between the neg terminal & terminal connection. Essentially (and I think this is where you were headed), once the ma draw decreases, you found the circuit pulling off the battery.
For more information regarding electronics within your suburban, check out www.gmc4x4.com This is a new web community specifically for GMC/Chevy enthusiasts.
Source(s): http://www.gmc4x4.com/ - HumveetechLv 79 years ago
first off, your checking for drain the wrong way. You need a multimeter with AMPS to measure the amount of amperage flowing in order to check drain. Your on the right side, you always check the negative side but you cannot use a test light. The lowest amount of amperage drain is .30mA
So if you connect a test light to it, it should still light up
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- 9 years ago
why did you do all this with the truck running?
does your truck come with an alarm? mine did and there were fuses under the steering wheel...alarms are notorious for parasidic draw
- 9 years ago
Parasitic drain usually caused by something left on, make sure nothing is draining your battery. Btw, please dont remove battery cables while car is running. Big no no
Source(s): Uti technician
