I'm probably just back to square one here - the .5A drain is only initially and then it goes down to ~30mA. Every time I pulled the BAT fuse and put it back it would 'reset' and go to .5A for a short period (30 seconds). If I sit there long enough that goes down to 30mA. I haven't sat there long enough to study the pattern and can't find any details in the FSM on whether .5A is ever normal and what the pattern is...
did you drive the truck after replacing the battery? is it possible your alternator went out instead of the battery and when you drove it the battery drained? if alternator is ok i would disconnect those sat/ipod modules and start there. good luck.
liveoak, to answer your questions:
- After the first battery replacement, I never tested the battery's state of charge b/f installing it and I do not know if it was fully charged after driving it - I don't remember exactly how much I drove it but it was definitely not more than once or twice/week.
After the second dead battery, I definitely fully charged it with a proper battery charger using the documented settings (it's a diehard platinum p5 battery and I used a sears diehard platinum charger with a special setting for their diehard platinum battery line). It took hours to complete charging. I verified it was very fully charged (~at least 12.7V iirc). However, I did not drive it more than once a week after that and possibly only short trips. In some cases my once a week could have been a <10 minute trip.
Regarding the sat/radio, if the radio fuse had no effect on the current draw does it make any sense to look there?
A couple of things. First, that’s a very unusual low battery voltage reading. A completely discharged battery will read around 10.5 volts and the 6.5 volts you found is weird. You wouldn’t be the first person to buy a new battery that was defective with an internal short right off the shelf. However, if your reading of a ½ amp load is correct, that will also discharge a standard battery to about half capacity in 6-7 days. I can’t figure out anything useful from the ’04 EWD or the FSM, other than replacing things downstream of the ECU-B2 fuse that you measured as causing the draw.
Sandroad:
- agree, 6.5V scared me. I charged it and it appears to be holding it's charge 2 days later at 12.75V after starting her up for a few minutes since. Technically fully discharge is 10.5 (1.75V per cell), and mine was at about 1V per cell. I don't know if I should replace it or not since it appears to be holding it's charge at this point? I have found some generic information about the advantages of AGM over flooded - for example typical flooded is considered bad if it dips below 10.5 and can't recover from that, but AGM apparently can handle deep discharges, just haven't found any concrete information about just how low it can go b/f it can't be fully recharged...
-regarding the .5A reading, I looked again and I definitely get it intially, but after 30 seconds or something it goes down to 30mA for an extended period. Only thing is I can't find details in the FSM about how much current is normal, and what the cycle is for the anti theft system. So I'm guessing this is not a real parasitic draw, and just the anti theft system doing it's thing.
- Furthermore, regarding your math:
I have a Diehard Platinum P5 with the following specs (
Sears: Online department store featuring appliances, tools, fitness equipment and more)
59 Amp Hours
100 Minutes Reserve Capacity
740 CCA
For interest's sake, the OEM group size is 27F I believe, which is larger than the 35 that Sears maps our trucks to. Also interesting is that the Diehard Gold comes in a 27F, the Diehard platinum does not appear to, so they map us to the next closest (in their book) which is group 35.
The 27F Diehard Gold has 165 Minutes Reserve Capacity vs. Diehard Plat Group 35's 100 Minute Reserve Capacity...
If I had a constant .5A draw (I don't), with only 59AH, I believe the battery would be drained at about 5 days. With the OEM Spec 27F or better, presumably I'd have 8.5 days (assuming .6*165 = 99Ah = .5A*24*8.5 = 8.5days).
Also, it seems to be common knowledge that AGM batteries require higher charging voltage than conventional wet cell batteries, and combine vehicles that weren't specd for AGM with high mileage alternators that aren't necessarily performing at their peak, I wonder whether that is a factor.
Also, I don't know what's normal for an LX470 that isn't driven daily. They are luxury cars with lots of battery drain - tilting steering wheel, running board courtesy lights, daytime running lights, all the other normal stuff light dome lights, radio, anti theft system, etc.
Even with a tip top alternator and a flooded battery, if I'm not driving the vehicle enough (what's enough...) will I need to either:
1) disconnect negative cable during the week (ghetto)
2) get a battery tender and use it during the week (my LX is not parked in the garage so this is a PITA)
3) get a battery kill switch so I disconnect the negative cable from within the cabin during the week
4) get a solar trickle charger
I don't know what I should expect in terms of how long/often I need to drive it to keep the battery charged. I would love to hear some anecdotal info from others that don't daily drive their LX or LC - how infrequently do they drive with no issues?
