I posted this over in 240tech with no replies so im trying here.

if i leave my car sit for longer then 3 days the battery goes dead. I had the battery tested and it check out good. I did an amperage test on the battery and with all the fuses in i'm getting 240 mA and if i pull the fuse for the fan controller it drops down to 130 mA. i tested the controller by it self and its drawing 110 mA by itself. is that enough to drain the battery i three days. the dif controller is new and it didn't work when i got it. I had to send it back to them for repair and now i think its draining my battery. and yes the fans turn off after i cut the car off.

does anybody on here know about parasitic battery drain and how much is exceptable?

I did some more testing and this is what i found

total mA draw is 240 mA with everything connected and plugged in.
Is that to much, i have a few aftermarket electronics: gauges, ebc, electric fan controller, radio (no amps). with all my after market electronics disconnected im getting 20mA draw on battery. so i tested each electronic individually and here's what i came up with.

radio= 7mA
fan controller=110mA
boost glow gauge=60mA
oil pressure glow gauge=40mA
Wide band=0
EBC=0

So what going on here, my glow gauges and my fan controller are draining my battery in 2 to 3 days? A lot of people i know have after market eletcronics in there car, some more then me, and their battery's dont die off as fast as mine. i've been through 4 battery's in the past 6 months do to discharge. I have to remember to go outside and start my car atleast once a day unless i want to jump it off.

My guess is alternator. Once the car is running the battery isn't in the equation, it just sits there taking a charge for the most part.

WDRacing wrote:My guess is alternator. Once the car is running the battery isn't in the equation, it just sits there taking a charge for the most part.

A few people mentioned that but it just don't make since to me because if i drive or start the car every other day the battery will stay charged (which tells my the alternator is doing it job) are you saying the alternator might be draining the battery after its off. I'm going to pull it tomorrow and get it tested just to rule it out.

Doesn't sound like the Alt then. Can you wire a toggle to the ground side of the items you think are draining the battery and simply toggle the ground off when the car isn't running? I know that's ghetto, but I hate wiring and that's probably what I would do...

Sorry I can't help more...

WDRacing wrote:Doesn't sound like the Alt then. Can you wire a toggle to the ground side of the items you think are draining the battery and simply toggle the ground off when the car isn't running? I know that's ghetto, but I hate wiring and that's probably what I would do...

Sorry I can't help more...

I know this is the turbo section not the 240tech section but i wasn't getting any help over there. i talked to glowshift gauges today and asked them how many mA does their gauges draw while the cars off. thinking that they wouldn't be able to give me an answer or tell me that they would call me back, the guy answered the question without hesitation. He said that the gauges draw 40mA each while the car is off. Wow that's a lot of mA's for such a little gauge. next i need to get in touch with DIF and see how much mA's their unit is supposed to draw while the car is off.

you prolly have to change the power input for gauges and controllers to something which stays off once the key is off. I have the same thing on my greddy gauges but thats coz i used a wire which gets power even when the key is off, they would drain my battery in three days too. I will be installing a breaker switch which can be turned off once the car is parked. this is not a fix but a bandaid solution. eventually i will have to rewire the gauges to be completely off when the key is out. this drain is happening by only two guages wired in incorrectly. the other two gauges turn off when key is out.

trackslut240 wrote:you prolly have to change the power input for gauges and controllers to something which stays off once the key is off. I have the same thing on my greddy gauges but thats coz i used a wire which gets power even when the key is off, they would drain my battery in three days too. I will be installing a breaker switch which can be turned off once the car is parked. this is not a fix but a bandaid solution. eventually i will have to rewire the gauges to be completely off when the key is out. this drain is happening by only two guages wired in incorrectly. the other two gauges turn off when key is out.

well my gauges are wired correctly. I have a ignition, ground and a 12v battery wire for each gauge. the gauges can change to any color i set them to and the 12v battery wire is for the memory for the color i set it to. with out the 12v wired to hot it would lose memory and i would have to reset it to the color i want it to each time i start my car. But heres the kicker, the default color the gauges go to is blue and that is the color i set them to anyway.

I would start with the biggest source of power drain first. Make sure that is working correctly. What is said fan controller doing while the car is off anyways? Is there a need for it to have such a draw in power? It would seem to me if it didn't have any necessary functionality, 110 mA is a lot of draw just to remain in standby. If its not something that is needed, to be on while the car is off just wire it to a relay so its completely off when the car is.

C-Kwik wrote:I would start with the biggest source of power drain first. Make sure that is working correctly. What is said fan controller doing while the car is off anyways? Is there a need for it to have such a draw in power? It would seem to me if it didn't have any necessary functionality, 110 mA is a lot of draw just to remain in standby. If its not something that is needed, to be on while the car is off just wire it to a relay so its completely off when the car is.

dif controller is a programmable dual fan controller that turns the fans on at a set temp. http://www.diftech.com/index.php?target ... t_id=29778. that's what i was thinking was to hook it up to where it would cut off completely but I'm afraid it might mess the controller up. it needs a constant 12v to hold memory because its universal and it has to be programmed to work for my vehicle. I'm waiting on a reply from DIF to see if its defective or not.

I just skimmed the manual for it and here's what is says:

"The unit will enter programming mode ONLY during initial power up. If power is disconnected from the unit for any reason, please be sure to disconnect the manual switch wires or have the temperature switches to different settings otherwise you will have to re-program the unit."

C-Kwik wrote:I just skimmed the manual for it and here's what is says:

"The unit will enter programming mode ONLY during initial power up. If power is disconnected from the unit for any reason, please be sure to disconnect the manual switch wires or have the temperature switches to different settings otherwise you will have to re-program the unit."

yep your right, must have missed that part. what the hell is the point of it being hooked up to a 12v constant. that's just dumb if it hold memory while its power down but it has a 12v constant going to it. i just got a reply back from DIF and they said the the controller should be drawing no more then .02a or 20mA while the car is turned off. so i'm going to do a test the e-fans and make sure they're not bad and try and re-wire the controller to see if maybe its in the wiring or something. if everything test out ok, i'm sending it back a demanding a new one. when i first got the controller i had to send it back because it wouldn't program, now this.

That is WAY too much of a draw. 35ma is acceptable. Any more than that and you will have issues. Are you certain you're doing the draw test correctly? How exactly are you doing it?
And if they say those gauges are "supposed to" pull 40 ma each then they are garbage. Anybody who works on vehicles electronic systems will tell you that. That fan controller pulling that much is also ridiculous.

C-Kwik wrote:I just skimmed the manual for it and here's what is says:

"The unit will enter programming mode ONLY during initial power up. If power is disconnected from the unit for any reason, please be sure to disconnect the manual switch wires or have the temperature switches to different settings otherwise you will have to re-program the unit."

Leave it to Chano to actually read the manual

WDRacing wrote:Leave it to Chano to actually read the manual

You probably would too, but you have to be able to read to do that...

If it doesn't have nudes....i aint reading it

So what happened with the parasitic draw? was it the controller or the fans?

How do you do that test?

im gonna say the battery is BAD --optima!

If you have to jump it off here and there and starts now and then BATTERY. You probly do have some parasidic draw maybe but if you check voltage after a few hours and its about the same your good. Plates bounce around and you may test it and its good but......its not

just get a tender charger. plug it in every night, easy fix.