megacabdad

Maybe I missed something...who is this "kid" you are talking about?

I know you told me, but where did you buy the batteries at? Did you go back there and tell them about your situation?

It seems to me like it's one of those things that you are going to kick yourself after you get it figured out.

Did you try those suggestions I gave you the other day, yet?

Don't make me come up there...

John Faughn

Yes the link worked , but a couple things , it only goes to 400 amps , should be a safety margin after the highest draw , if something is bad 2 x 850 cca batteries = 1,700 .
So for less money , the ones I pointed out , have , as I remember 600 amps , but that looks like a good deal for a combo meter .
You do need to separate each wire individually to test .

xtoyz17

Autozone is where I got 'em. The kid was a worker at autozone that brought the load tester out to the batteries. I still have my old ones that are probably good, I could always swap those back in I suppose...

John, the snap-on guy tried talking me out of those gauges and into a dv inductive meter? He said those gauges are good for finding "shorts" and not "current draw"?

Seems like a load to me, unless I'm missing something? I know craftsman has some more expensive ones that go much higher, which I wouldn't be adverse to getting...

megacabdad

This is one of the meters I have...

http://www.ueitest.com/productList-clampon.html

The hook makes it easy to amp out wires in hard to reach places.

I also have a Craftsman one that works great too.

xtoyz17

Ok boys, I played with it a bit. I disconnected the edge from the battery, and undid the fuse for the underhood lamp, IOD, and whatever else was on that circuit to eliminate any draw from that. With one battery disconnected completely and the cables tied up out of the way, my clamp on ammeter is showing 2amps of draw off the main positive cable on the passenger battery. I didn't have a chance to pull fuses to watch which circuit was pulling the current, but I'm going to in the morning. In the meantime, I'm charging the batteries so I have a full charge to work with in the morning.

One thing comes to mind though, and you guys are gonna have to tell me if I heard this incorrectly. I remember reading before that to put the truck in sleep mode or whatever it's called, where all the on-board computers go into standby, you need to lock the truck and wait 30 seconds? The truck was unlocked while I was doing all of these tests, but the doors were closed and no lights were on. I'm also going to pull both batteries tomorrow and take them to get load tested individually again.

Does it sound like I'm on the right track now guys?

Shawn

Pooter

Pull the edge off totally, takes 15minutes tops.

Not sure which edge you have, but is it the new version with the harness that disconnects from the edge box itself?(With 3 wires that go to the fuse box instead of the old box that just had one power wire)

If so, the new Edge box also has the turbo timer option, which keeps the truck running when you turn the key off until the EGT is reached or time runs out. It COULD be keeping power on to something and draining the batteries after you shut the truck off?

I also noticed in your sig it says rear seat DVD? Its not drawing any power after the truck is off is it?

Do you have heated seats? Might be worth a look.

I really hate electrical gremlins, just trying to toss ideas out to you short of going over every plug/wire with a voltmeter
Its hard to find out what is drawing enough of a draw that it kills the batteries, but obviously isnt noticably on when the truck is off...

xtoyz17

It's an 06, so it only has 1 wire to the TIPM, and it does have a turbo timer. The rear DVD is turning off as far as I know, and to be honest I forgot about it completely until you mentioned it. I DO have heated seats, those are also not running as far as I can tell. Unfortunately, it seems like I'll need my GF to watch the ammeter while I pull each fuse to see which one gets rid of the draw. Not a huge deal, but certainly a nuisance. I hope it's something like the radio circuit where I can leave it unplugged and see how the batteries hold all weekend...

xtoyz17

Think I figured it out guys, just not entirely. Did some playing around this morning, and with everything hooked up I had between 2.5-3 amps being drawn after doors locked and 2-3 minutes went by. If I shut the hood so the light went off, the draw dropped an amp. After pulling fuses, I found the 30A fuse for electric brakes dropped the draw down to roughly .90 amps plus or minus about .10. If I closed the hood, the draw dropped to 20-30 milliamps. If I plugged the fuse back in for the electric brakes, the draw jumped back up 2 amps or so. For now I have the fuse out, the batteries are again being charged, and I'm going to check it out more later.

The only thing I'm not sure of is how in the heck I got the truck jumped on Monday, and it charged for awhile and then somehow managed to drain the batteries in the next 20 minutes once the check gauges came one. I'm thinking their may be something else going on as well, but only time and testing will tell for sure.


Shawn

xtoyz17

I feel like I'm posting a ton in my own thread, but here goes anyways. I'd rather post too much, then solve my problem and never respond again or let anyone know what the problem was. I tried searching, but no one has seemed to ask this question. Anyways, my defroster/heated mirror button is flashing constantly. I checked draw on the circuit, and there is none. Not sure if this is a problem or a symptom, but man it sure seems like I keep finding electrical gremlins!

I drove the truck for an hour tonight after I got the batteries charged up AGAIN, and parked it in the driveway. Batteries are testing at around 13 volts, and there is no draw measured across any of the positive cables coming off the batteries after locking the doors and waiting for a few minutes. Everything else works on the truck besides that flashing button, and I'm not sure but I think low beams may be staying on with my high beams?

Only time over night will tell, but it seems like I've got the battery draw solved until I can figure out what specifically is drawing off the electric brakes circuit. I'm gonna trace the wires on my brake controller tomorrow.

Well, that's all for tonight I'll keep you guys updated with how tomorrow goes.

megacabdad

I'd love to be able to help you more bud, but it's kinda hard from 2.5 hours away over the computer...

If you want me to come up there and help you troubleshoot, let me know.

Adaminak

Two thoughts: 1) What flashing button? If you mentioned it before, I can't find it. 2) It sounds like you bought the truck used, and if your low beams are staying on with your high beams, maybe the previous owner installed a Brite Box to make that happen. If one of the Brite Boxes (1 per headlight)fail, it can draw a pretty decent charge, and would certainly kill your batts overnight.

diesel4play

Do not use your Fluke 87 to test for current over 1Amp. It will take a 10 amp surge but the 1amp fuse will blow and you will be sol. Do you have an amp meter attachment for the 87 or a seperate meter? They make an amp meter that does not have to clamp all the way arround the wire to measure the load. You shoud be able to test each circuit for load before the batteries die. In 8 to 10 hours a reasonably low current can drain your batteries. An 20amp load for 10 hours = 200amp hrs and the 850 amps from the battery is for a very short period of time.
The wire size does not limit the current draw other than melting the wire when enough is drawn. The fuse limits the current of the circuits, in the same way. You can draw about 80amps through a #12 wire for a ling while without before melting. However, if you are not blowing fuses it has to be before the fuse block or one or more smaller, 20 amp, loads.
Hope this helps.

xtoyz17

Oh don't be such a baby! I'm goos though, I'm getting there but this 3rd gen is a new ball game compared to my 99.
3rd sentence of my last post. The heated mirror button is flashing constantly. No brite-box, and before the incident monday low beams turned off when highs turned on.
This is all being done with a craftsman clamp on ammeter, so no worries there.

I've narrowed it down to which circuit had the draw, removed the fuse, and watched the draw go away. I need to figure out now if it's the trailer wiring, brake controller, or something else. Now I'm more or less confused about the issues that sprang up after I got the truck up and safely running again.

Thanks for the help so far though!
Shawn

xtoyz17

Well, I had very little time to play with it this weekend, but I seem to be finding the light at the end of the tunnel. Had to get an inspection today, shopping, birthday gift for niece, etc... Just poked around a little more and it appears that unplugging the blue 4 pin brake controller connector from under the dash eliminates any electrical draw I was seeing on the "electric brake" circuit. Now, the previous owner also tee tapped off the +12V on the electric brake circuit, and has some power wires running up under the dash somewhere with it's own fusible link. So, without pulling the dash or cutting wires I've narrowed my issues down to a brake controller or some mystery wiring.

Overall, a pretty good weekend. I got my baby back, I'm heading in the right direction, and next weekend looks wide open for me so I can really dig into the dash and figure out what this guy did once and for all. I also bought myself a gift from Circuit City (nice Pioneer in-dash navi for DIRT cheap), which is my motivation for tearing the dash apart next weekend to undo anything the previous owner did.

Thanks again for all the help guys!

diesel4play

I bet the previous owner had an after market stereo or something and took it out. I had this on a used truck I bought in the past. The guy took the amp out and left the wire hanging and it shorted against the chassis after a couple of weeks. I noticed mine because the support for the dash got hot and I smelled it. I have a sensitive nose for electrical burning having done trouble shooting for most of my life. Sorry I did not think of it yesterday, your comment just reminded me.