okay, so my alarm just started killing my battery if i arm my car and leave it on over night. I noticed it on saturday, i came home friday night, armed the car came back saturday afternoon disarmed, and normally it beeps loud when i disarm it, but it was a really quite beep and the lights barly flashed, i knew my battery was dead. I pulled it and stuck it on the charger and it was totally dead. I charged it, and had it tested, its a good bat. I brought it back, and did the samething just to test it, and it killed it again.

I then recharged it, and drove the car around, and havent been putting my alarm on and its been fine. My alt, is also fine and is charging the battery when the car is running, i just when i leave the alarm on it kills the car within a night.

Any help is appreciated

 

I would do a current draw test on the vehicle, this will give you the ability to see what the entire vehicle is drawing, you can isolate the alarm as well. Standard batteries will not recover from a deep cycle, they will become weaker and weaker every time it is deep cycled and recharged. Was the battery "load tested" or simply placed on a voltage meter? I would ask.

Most alarms will draw around .03 milivolts, but if a relay was wired to be "latched" when the alarm is activated, it will draw excessive current. In most cases, its not the alarm causing the draw, is is possible.....sure.

Kirk R

 

i took it to autozone and they put it on there machine, and it tested it and said it was good

 

"Good" is a relative term, that’s why I would ask if a load test was performed. You can charge a battery and get a 12 volt reading, that doesn’t tell you what the condition of the battery is or how it will perform when a load is placed on it. This is the time of year when battery issues will surface, we are all using our wipers, heat, defrosters, headlights, etc.

Just don’t rule the battery out.

Kirk R

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by KRock459 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">"Good" is a relative term, that’s why I would ask if a load test was performed. You can charge a battery and get a 12 volt reading, that doesn’t tell you what the condition of the battery is or how it will perform when a load is placed on it. This is the time of year when battery issues will surface, we are all using our wipers, heat, defrosters, headlights, etc.

Just don’t rule the battery out.

Kirk R</TD></TR></TABLE>

i will take it to napa and get a 2nd opinion.

 

I don't know about that Autozone but everyone I was ever in had a load tester and I personally checked batteries on a load tester and took it to them for the hell of it and it tested good.

 

just want to make sure i do this right, ive never drawn a current on a car. To do this you

1. unplug neg bat cable
2. put voltmeter neg, on neg bat post
3. put voltmeter pos., on neg bat cable

is this the correct steps.?

also what should the draw be around?

 

It is pretty obvious that the alarm, [when armed] is the problem, if this is a new problem, you have had the alarm for some time without any problems and you have not added anything to the alarm but now it is a problem, tells me something has gone wrong with the alarm, either as KRock459 mentioned a relay is staying energized, [latched] or more likely, a capacitor in the alarm has sprung a leak.
Again, the above assumes you have not "added" anything to the alarm. 94

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fcm &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> It is pretty obvious that the alarm, [when armed] is the problem, if this is a new problem, you have had the alarm for some time without any problems and you have not added anything to the alarm but now it is a problem, tells me something has gone wrong with the alarm, either as KRock459 mentioned a relay is staying energized, [latched] or more likely, a capacitor in the alarm has sprung a leak.
Again, the above assumes you have not "added" anything to the alarm. 94</TD></TR></TABLE>

i have had the alarm for a while. i havent changed to added anything to it. I do wonder now if its the battery i started thinking about it last night and ive killed that battery quite a few times and i wonder if it could be testing good even though it really isnt.

 

I thought you said there was no problem as long as you did not arm the alarm...

and havent been putting my alarm on and its been fine is that not the case? 94

 

i did, but if i havent changed anything on the alarm, what exactly on the alarm could be causing the draw? its a viper 5900, setup just to arm/disarm, lock/dislock the doors and thats it. no remote start or anything else hooked up, a while ago i think a wire came loose under my dash and its stopped unlooking/looking my doors when i disarm, or arm it. could this have something to do with it.

 

What wire came loose and have you repaired it?

The most probable thing that may have gone wrong in the alarm brain is a capacitor is "leaking", [constantly drawing current] the alarm would still work but it would have excessive current draw when armed.

If as you say there is no problem when alarm is not armed then it only makes sense that it must have something to do with the alarm, [when armed].

Where did you get the alarm and who installed it? 94

 

i got it from a dealer online, and desmon margen (wrx-killer-sti-eater) came to my house and did it.

 

well i was wrong, i havent armed the car for two days, went out and the bat was dead.

For when i do a draw test, what is an acceptable draw rate?

 

.05 miliamps, put the multimeter on AMPS or CURRENT, place the mm leads in series with the neg or pos of the battery (make sure all doors are closed), you should be around .05 or less. Did you have the battery load tested yet? a bad battery will go dead w/o a draw.

Kirk R

 

with a multimeter is the best way.. but ive also found a test light alot of the times acceptable.

normally a decent draw will light up your test light very brightly. once the draw is eliminated, the glow will be very very dim, almost out. i know its not precise as you could put a amp draw value with a multimeter, but if one of your dome lights, or door switches are shorted out, you'll be drawing way over your acceptable 30-50 miliamps...

put your meter, or test light in series with your battery, and start pulling fuses.. the light will go out, or your amps will drop when you kill the circuit with the issue.

 

well i did the parasatic load test and it was .03, so i dont have a draw, i think my bat just took a crap on me. sucks i just bought it in march, but bought it out of town, and no one in town carries the brand, so i cant get a replacement, just have to buy a whole new one.

 

its very possible the plates in the battery are broken, or shorting out, and making contact, hard to say. but a load test, and a static charge would tell you.

another good reason not to buy walmart batteries, you thought you were getting a good deal, but after 6 months now you have to buy another... so think twice next time.

 

How long after we installed the alarm did this start to happen? I don't want to go into details about your setup but I know its not the kill switch. Please give me a pm.

 

it just started about a week ago. has nothing to do with your setup des. It was the battary, it was a cenntinal battary i got at an import shop when i dyno'd my car my battary went dead, so they had a stock of them i bought one and was on my way. I took it to a centennial dealer here, they put a different tester on it then autozone did and said it was no good. they didnt have my battary model in stock so they gave me the next model up for free and replaced it for free.

Thanks for your guys input

 

Thanks god because your a 10 hour drive away. Please make sure every 30 days your still getting that message

 

Alright im bringing this back from the dead again, cause at this point i am completely lost and nothing makes since.

okay i got the new bat, and drove my car everyday the other week i left my alarm on for like 2 days without driving my car, came out and the bat was dead again.

charged it and everything was fine, cause i was driving everyday. then came home from work wednesday at 230 and put it to the test of if it was the alarm.ii didnt arm it wednesday when i got home and left it the rest of the day wednesday and all day thursday, came back out this morning and wouldnt start, was dead again.

So i know its not the alarm draining it, but it prolly is making the drain faster/stronger. So any ideas what it could be, weird thing is i put the multimeter on it and it reads .03 milliamps... from which i hear is normal. Anyone have any ideas at all, the only other newer thing i installed in the car is my avic-f900bt, i installed it myself but always install all my own decks and never had a bad install. Plus if the amps was during power wouldnt it read higher then .03?

help again guys, thanks

 

.03 miliamps? wow.. thats really really low. i think you might have your meter in the wrong range.

30 miliamps is acceptable even by todays new car standards.. with all the GPS, ECU's, and sensors.. 30 miliamp is good for a 2007+. so check your range.

anyways.. ide be currious to see whats making this draw. im talking down to 0.0 amps.

with your volt meter in series, checking draw... start disconnecting ****. unplug the ECU, then start pulling fuses. under the hood, and dash. see what circuit is keeping that draw live. it could be as simple as a bad door switch, a shorted out relay.. anything.. lets go from there.

 

Thats my plan for the weekend, i will keep all informed, was just wondering if anyone else had any heads up

 

.03 miliamp isn't right. if anything, its 3 amps. which could drain a battery in 24 hours. so thats more realistic.

gotta start pulling those fuses. you need to isolate the problem. from there you can start looking into that circuit.