well my car dies out if i park it over night. i hooked up an ammeter to test for battery drain. it read .25, looking at my alarm system i pulled the fuse out for the door locks and retested the battery drain again and it read .003. i have aftermarket two wire actuators and a clifford 10.5. could someone tell me what could be wrong. like could the actuators be somehow grounding out or something. (the alarm locks and unlocks like normal)

 

make and model of the car.

 

If you had a relay constantly triggered it could drain the battery overnight. But out of the hundreds of cases where a customer has blamed one of our installs for battery drain, I've never had a single one that wasn't due to either a weak battery or alternator.

 

have you guys ever noticed all the battery drain customers never show up until its cold out and the batteries cant hold up. but it has nothing to do with the temp. its ALWAYS the install....

 

sorry man didnt mean to thread jack. does that fuse only run the locks, or the entire security system?

 

Unless there is short of some sort in the door lock system, in this case inside the alarm brain, where the built in door lock relays are, if pulling that fuse, in the common fuse holder on the violet and violet/black leads, drops the draw from .25A to .003A I would say there is a problem with the alarm brain, maybe a blow diode or resistor on the door lock circuit, [in the alarm brain].

Have you tried leaving the fuse out over night to see what happens, have you tried leaving the batt. disconnected over night to see what happens?

I would take the car to a batt./alt. shop and have them do a proper load check on the charging system, it should not cost anything it only takes a min. or so to do. 94

 

thanks for the info. i did some more testing and i think its the alarm brain.

im just going to hook up a new battery and leave it in the trunk, the front battery would be connected in parallel with the trunk and have a switch to it. front battery would be for alarm and rear for car. switch would be to cut the two batteries for overnight parking and turn the switch on during driving so both batteries would charge. good idea? let me know what you think. thanks

 

Yes parallel, use a solenoid instead of just a switch, trigger solenoid with a true ign. and it will automatically connect/disconnect the rear batt. from the front batt. and alt.
With the above said when using 2 batt. it is always best if both batt. are the same, and new to start with. 94

 

thanks, a triggered solenoid does sound better than a switch. s 4 gauge wire ok for this use? what kind of trigger solenoid should i get and where to get it? all i got are relays (the alarm ones).... i was thinking about using a relay in connection with the ignition wires and hook up the batteries in parallel like that but are the relays too small for that use?

 

No! do not use a relay, find an RV shop or most car parts shops will also have "Battery. Isolation Solenoids"... http://www.bcae1.com/battiso.htm

Don't forget continuous duty solenoid. 94

 

thanks. how much do it cost?


Modified by truevietluv636 at 5:54 PM 2/10/2007

 

why not just fix the problem

 

aamp, metra select products, etc. all sell high current relays. we use their 80 amp relays on hiway patrol cars at my work, weve only had one go bad out of hundreds, and thats cause the terminals were overtightend. something like this could be an option. i think they have larger also.

 

cant fix the problem.... the fuse is only connected to the door locks system. i used an ammeter and there was battery drain so i pulled out the door acturators and still a drain so the problem cant be the acturators, pulled out the relays and used new ones and had the same battery drain. so now cant be the relays or acturators so all i could think of is that the alarm brain is draining power somehow.

 

you should have a buddy hold the ammetter between the battery and the terminal, and you should start pulling fuses and putting them back 1 by 1 until you see the current draw drop.

 

yeah, i did that and found out that the draw was comming from the alarm system's power locks on the doors. once i pull the fuse it goes from .25 to .005....

 

are they oem locks or aftermarkt? did you add relays or what?

 

aftermarket with relays. i dont think they're relay problem because i swapped the relays out with some new ones and had the same readings.

 

Why are you using relays? The Clifford Matrix 10.5X has door lock relays built in. 94

 

really? u sure? damn, i never knew that.... i'll try and pull out the relays and see if they work later today.

 

http://www.directeddealers.com...5.pdf page 12 of install manual. 94

 

thanks for the info. removed the relays and alarm works perfectly. i'll test if there is any battery drain this weekend.

 

do high current relay isolators have any battery drain? i emailed Stinger about their SR80 Relay and they said it doesnt have any battery drain. i think they're just trying to sell their crap but i want to make sure. the relays are really cheaper compared to the battery isolation solenoids so i was thinking of just getting the relays. what you guys think?

 

They are correct, when relay is not energized, but then neither does a solenoid, keep in mind a solenoid is just a relay that uses a slightly diff. way, [still electromagnetic] of closing it's high current switch.
As for price, if you want a REDARK 100A continuous duty, automatic solenoid, then yes you can pay $150 or more for one of them, however they can be had for as little as $15, like with relays price will go up as amperage goes up. 94