How to diagnose an intermittent parasitic battery drain?
Everyone has a favorite diagnostic method for finding the source of a parasitic battery drain. Even so, some draws are more difficult to locate, especially when they’re intermittent.
How to find an automotive parasitic draw dead battery?
At night look under the vehicle to check for light near the engine bay, to fix this problem replace the light assembly. If you can’t find the cause of the battery drain, a manual draw check of the electrical system will need to be performed.
How often does a car battery drain overnight?
Because it is an intermittent problem (on the order of once every couple of months), it’s no surprise that mechanics find nothing when doing an overnight draw test. That is to say that the problem has never occurred when the car is in the shop. FWIW, I have not left the lights on on the nights that the battery drains.
Why does my Nissan Frontier battery keep draining?
Alarms are a common source of parasitic drain. No need to guess. Disconnect the power or ground wire to the alarm, and measure the current flowing in it with your meter. If less than 0.1 Amp (100 milliAmps), it’s not your problem unless you only start the truck once a week and drive a few miles.
Why does my GMC Terrain battery drain after one night?
If it has gone dead (I am talking totally dead like not even a faint light) then that does decrease the life span of a battery. very few 2 watt bulbs can drain a battery in one night. You are looking for something bigger, or a bad ground. Do a proper load test done on your battery. It could just be a bad battery.
Because it is an intermittent problem (on the order of once every couple of months), it’s no surprise that mechanics find nothing when doing an overnight draw test. That is to say that the problem has never occurred when the car is in the shop. FWIW, I have not left the lights on on the nights that the battery drains.
How many Watts Does It take to drain a battery?
It’s going to take some testing with a multimeter to tell how much voltage will develop during small current draws, but it’s probably at least 10 watts to drain a healthy battery overnight during the summer. Use the dome light to calibrate.
Why does my Nissan QX56 battery keep draining?
Once the batteries in the lojack or onstar equivalent system go bad, it creates a continuous parasitic main battery drain. Also quit using relabled, substandard, blem, nissan oem batteries.