Battery Drain Advice Request

[JF757]

I have a 2000 LX 470, ARB Sahara bar with fog light kit, Nakamichi stereo, 68k miles. There is a 140ma electrical draw always vice a normal aprox 50 ma draw. The vehicle sits 3 times a month for 4-8 days at a time due to job travels. I destroyed a dealer installed battery in about 7 months. Bought an Optima Red Top 90 days ago. Yesterday vehicle barley cranked over to start. Battery is almost drained. I have found a 90ma draw in the stereo ecu circuit that shuld not be there. I bought the vehicle with 61 k miles and the fuse block has not been updated. I have 3 options I believe.
1. Fix the problem - I would have to utilize a $dealer$ because problem is beyond my abilities. Anybody else have this stereo draw problem?
2. Live with the 90ma draw and disconnect the battery when gone for long period of times. Pain in the but if wife has to use it due to weather and I am not home. I always use supreme gas ...will constantly errasing ECU memory involve any performance trade offs?
3. Live with it and switch to a deep cycle battery like an optima yellow top?
All advice and opinions welcomed. Great site, great people, m first post.

 

[hoser]

I'm not sure how much current it should draw when parked but I had mine sit for over 3 weeks and started up on return. I hooked up a charger and charged afterwards though. My Honda wouldn't crank after the same amount of time.

Anyway, batteries don't like to be stored discharged as you know. They'll alkso last longer if topped. I use a Battery Minder on my other cars that sit for long periods of time. You can mount a plug in the footwell or near the gear shifter and plug/unplug quite easily.

Either of these will work better than a standard trickle charger:
http://www.batteryweb.com/batteryminder.cfm
http://www.batterymart.com/battery.mv?c=battery_tender

 

[vcheng]

I would second that. Too much to fix at the stealership out of warranty, too much hassle to disconnect the battery everytime you park for a longer period. A battery minder would be the best choice as suggested by hoser (unless of course you are leaving it in a place such as long term parking at an airport).

May I also suggest something like these in addition to those suggested by hoser:

http://www.copelandengineering.com/products.html

http://www.4lots.com/browseproducts/Battery-Saver-Plus-1.0-Watt.html


Also, there are other add-on devices that automatically isolate the battery if the voltage drops below 11.5 volts or so, thus always leaving enough juice to restart. You do have to open up the hood and push a reset button though.

 

[NMuzj100]

I would try and fix the problem of the faulty stereo draw rather than just cover it up by feeding it more power. The truck is still practically new and worth over 20-25 grand. Too early to start "bandaiding" problems in my thinking. Electrical problems tend to effect other systems and there are a lot other expensive electrical components in the 100.

I would skip the dealer since it is out of warranty and go to a auto electrical expert. A battery tender would be good until you get it in the shop and are always handy to have in the garage.

I have not heard of this Nakamichi stereo draw problem before. Have you double checked the ARB foglight install ?

 

[mobi-arc]

Take it to a savvy auto-electrical shop and they should be able to narrow the focus.

 

[DMX84]

Disconnecting the battery will not only re-set your ECU, but it will more than likely wipe out all you stereo presets etc. Not to knock Nakamichi, but they always seemed problematic to me.
I would connect the hot wire (from stereo) to a switched power to completely turn it off, and then see if all is ok, then you might want to pull the Nakamichi.
DMX

 

[spressomon]

Every Nakacrappi product I have ever owned has been a POC: Overpriced & Overhyped.

 

[DMX84]

Every Nakacrappi product I have ever owned has been a POC: Overpriced & Overhyped.

I thought for sure I was going to get flamed for my comment about Nakamichi.

Here’s some info about battery drains and Nakamichi.

http://groups.google.com/groups/search?hl=en&lr=&q=nakamichi+draining+car+battery&qt_s=Search
DMX

 

[dfmorse]

Pull the fuse related to the radio; then check for current draw. You will probably lose cig lighter and something else. I don't have schematic for this cruiser, so I can't shoot this out.

See if fuse pulling will reduce current draw. This will help an auto electric guy solve problem.

...

 

[vcheng]

I was merely suggesting a working shortcut. However, to try and trace the problem would be ideal. A word of caution though. I have been known to obsess endlessly over trying to maintain my vehicles to perfection, usually successfully. If you can put in such an effort, or afford paying for the expertise, your rig will of course be all the better for it.

 

[spressomon]

I thought for sure I was going to get flamed for my comment about Nakamichi.

Here’s some info about battery drains and Nakamichi.

http://groups.google.com/groups/search?hl=en&lr=&q=nakamichi+draining+car+battery&qt_s=Search
DMX

Sorry Dean...it has been 15-years since my last Nakamichi product...and I still can't get over it

 

[hoser]

My Nakamichi Home Receiver is bomb-digity!

 

[DMX84]

It was around 1986 when I was looking for my second high end car stereo. I was single and had money to burn- lol (seemed like it then). But was looking at Kenwood & Nakamichi etc. seemed like every store I went to, one of them was broken or had problems.
Those stereos had some of the best features + looks. I just couldn’t get over the problems they showed in the stores.

DMX

Since history repeats itself, I’m holding out for digital audio 8 track!!!