I had a weird battery thing happen while I was out on a camping trip. I did a two-night/three-day trip with some friends in Death Valley. Each night we stayed in a different place and I left my fridge battery (Goal Zero Yeti 400) plugged into the rear cargo outlet. I also left my OBD Reader (OBDLink MX+) plugged in as well. On the third day as we were getting ready to leave to go back home, I went to start the GX and it seemed that the battery was dead. I checked that my fob was on me and pushed the start button a few times, but nothing - no chimes, no dashboard lights, etc. I'm positive I did not leave any lights on. As my buddy was working on repositioning his truck to give me a jump, I tried one more time to start the GX. It magically started up without requiring a jump. My radio station presets and time were preserved, but the seat position settings and trip odometer were cleared. Since then it's been running as normal. I'm trying to figure out what might've happened. The temps got into the 20s at night. Could the cold have affected something? It seems that the battery died overnight, but then somehow got a second wind as my buddy was positioning his truck to jump mine.
Can leaving an OBD Reader or device plugged into cargo outlet drain battery?
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I have never had the OBDLink MX+ adapter cause a drain but have you made sure the firmware has been kept up to date?
Something to keep in mind as well as might be a back-feed issue could have occurred with the Goal Zero as well
Something to keep in mind as well as might be a back-feed issue could have occurred with the Goal Zero as well
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The drain from the OBDII reader is pretty small. Mine is plugged in all of the time and always has some level of drain. Sometimes my GX has sat for over a week with no issues. Perhaps if you left the GX sitting for weeks or a month, it might drain it down, but not overnight.
You might just have a weak battery or some corrosion on your battery cables. Corrosion or a poor connection might cause your battery to seem dead, but then magically come back to life and start after a couple of failed tries. I'd take a look at your terminals, clean them up if they are corroded and apply some terminal sealant (I like NCP2 or Fluid Film), and double-check that they are tight and you have a good connection
Or, automotive batteries really have a lifespan of 4-5 years; I've never had one last past 6. If your battery is 3+ years old it might be near the end of it's life. It's worth it to get your battery tested (most auto parts stores will do it for free) and potentially get a new one. However, that seems less likely to be the culprit as the battery shouldn't magically come back to life if it is dead.
You might just have a weak battery or some corrosion on your battery cables. Corrosion or a poor connection might cause your battery to seem dead, but then magically come back to life and start after a couple of failed tries. I'd take a look at your terminals, clean them up if they are corroded and apply some terminal sealant (I like NCP2 or Fluid Film), and double-check that they are tight and you have a good connection
Or, automotive batteries really have a lifespan of 4-5 years; I've never had one last past 6. If your battery is 3+ years old it might be near the end of it's life. It's worth it to get your battery tested (most auto parts stores will do it for free) and potentially get a new one. However, that seems less likely to be the culprit as the battery shouldn't magically come back to life if it is dead.
I've not experienced significant battery drain with my bluetooth OBDII reader. It's left in the OBDII full-time and the truck is only driven a couple times a week.
r2m
Richard
You could go with an OBDII extension cable:
This way, it's easily accessible so you can just unplug the dongle when you're not using it. No climbing under your dash.
Just an idea...
This way, it's easily accessible so you can just unplug the dongle when you're not using it. No climbing under your dash.
Just an idea...
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I've left the OBD reader plugged in for long extended periods of times without issue. The main battery has an 8/20 date code. The back-feed phenomenon on the Goal Zero battery seems interesting. It was just really strange that it wasn't starting initially, but then fired up fine a minute later. Suffice to say, I won't be leaving the Goal Zero plugged in overnight anymore.
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I’m an idiot. The connection to the positive terminal slipped off. The positive terminal has a cover on it that I have to pull up on to hookup my air compressor. I think the repeated pulling of the cover caused the connector to creep up the terminal until it was barely touching.
r2m
Richard
Just be glad it was simple and cheap.
Bang Bang
Age is a state of mind.
We all have those moments. I swapped my low beams for HID's a couple days ago. Driver side worked fine, passenger side not so much. I did an online chat with XenonPro and swore to the guy that I had checked all my connections and they all snapped in without issue. Long story short and 20 min later I realized I had one of the connectors in backwards. I dined on a little crow that afternoon. 
