Battery Drain

SBGGrace

SBGGrace

INSANE Member
Hi Guys. I'm at my wits end on this one so ANY suggestions will be welcome. My L lives on the battery charger. If it sits for more than a couple of days, the battery drains. Its not totally dead, but it doesn't have enough juice to start the truck until after sitting on the charger for an hour or so.

What I have:

Pioneer in dash DVD/GPS connected to a JL Audio Amplifier, XM Radio Receiver, 6 disc CD Changer,a JL Audio 10" sub, LFP eFan, and an Autopage alarm system.

What I've done:

I've already checked the current draw from the battery and its 0.60a with the battery fully charged (I believe this is within specs?). I've started the truck and pulled the positive battery cable to test the alternator, and the truck ran with no problems. I disconnected the amplifier for a couple of days, and the battery still drained. The truck has been to the dealer twice for this problem and ford just says they can't find anything wrong.

So I need all of the help I can get! :) Any suggestions?????? Thanks in advance for your help. :eek:ldtu:
 
Hey Jeff. This battery is less than a year old. Bought a new battery then in hopes of resolving this issue.
 
Ok guys, here's the latest. I went through pulling all of the fuses one at a time. When I pulled fuse #15 my current draw dropped from .5a to 2ma!!!!!! Now according to the factory manual, fuse #15 is a 5a fuse that controls Stop lamp switch (speed control, brake shift interlock), and GEM. Since I had no clue what the GEM is, I called my guy at the Ford dealership. Apparently the GEM controls all of the accessories and other electronics. It is supposed to go to sleep after the vehicle has been shutdown for 45 minutes. Ford says max current draw should only be 5ma after the GEM goes to sleep. I suspect that the GEM is NOT going to sleep in the L. But I do not know how I can test it. :sigh:

The way I have been testing is by removing the negative(-) battery cable and placing my V/A meter between the - cable and the - battery post. I don't believe I can do that to test the GEM because once power is lost and restored, I believe it wakes up. So any suggestions for testing would be appreciated.

Also, I did follow your suggestion Jeff. I fully charged the battery Wednesday night and left it on a trickle charge all night long. Thursday morning it was fully charged. I took it with me in the car on an errand I had to run Thursday morning that took a couple of hours. Afterwards, I went by Autozone to get the battery tested. The battery tested good, but the test machine said it had a low charge! :headscratch: So I let Autozone charge the battery for four(4) hours and went back to pick it up. I let the battery sit all night Thursday night. I did not hook it up to the L or to the charger.

Same thing.....Friday morning I had an errand to run that took a couple of hours. I took the battery over to Autozone afterwards and it failed the test! :bm: The battery is less than a year old and has a three(3) year replacement warranty. So I will take it back and get a new one. I don't want to do that without finding the source of the problem because I suspect that the many discharges of the battery is what caused it to go bad to begin with. So I want to get this riddle solved. If anyone has any idea how to test the current draw on the GEM while its supposedly sleep, please chime in. Thanks.
 
Hey guys. I just have a question. If the headlights are left on on the L, does the on board computer turn them off automatically if the switch is NOT in the auto sensing position? I am still troubleshooting my problem. the dome lights turn off automatically if left on, but the headlights don't. Not sure if they are supposed to. Thanks!
 
SBGGrace said:
Ok guys, here's the latest. I went through pulling all of the fuses one at a time. When I pulled fuse #15 my current draw dropped from .5a to 2ma!!!!!! Now according to the factory manual, fuse #15 is a 5a fuse that controls Stop lamp switch (speed control, brake shift interlock), and GEM. Since I had no clue what the GEM is, I called my guy at the Ford dealership. Apparently the GEM controls all of the accessories and other electronics. It is supposed to go to sleep after the vehicle has been shutdown for 45 minutes. Ford says max current draw should only be 5ma after the GEM goes to sleep. I suspect that the GEM is NOT going to sleep in the L. But I do not know how I can test it. :sigh:

The way I have been testing is by removing the negative(-) battery cable and placing my V/A meter between the - cable and the - battery post. I don't believe I can do that to test the GEM because once power is lost and restored, I believe it wakes up. So any suggestions for testing would be appreciated.

Also, I did follow your suggestion Jeff. I fully charged the battery Wednesday night and left it on a trickle charge all night long. Thursday morning it was fully charged. I took it with me in the car on an errand I had to run Thursday morning that took a couple of hours. Afterwards, I went by Autozone to get the battery tested. The battery tested good, but the test machine said it had a low charge! :headscratch: So I let Autozone charge the battery for four(4) hours and went back to pick it up. I let the battery sit all night Thursday night. I did not hook it up to the L or to the charger.

Same thing.....Friday morning I had an errand to run that took a couple of hours. I took the battery over to Autozone afterwards and it failed the test! :bm: The battery is less than a year old and has a three(3) year replacement warranty. So I will take it back and get a new one. I don't want to do that without finding the source of the problem because I suspect that the many discharges of the battery is what caused it to go bad to begin with. So I want to get this riddle solved. If anyone has any idea how to test the current draw on the GEM while its supposedly sleep, please chime in. Thanks.
Click to expand...

Im not sure what the draw amps specs are but, what I can tell you from experience is before you start troubleshooting electrical problems, you must have a good battery. Make sure the battery has that proper CCA. I believe it need to be at least 750CCA. Yes, the more times you recharge a battery it decreases its life. Also, after recharging, check the water level. Charging a battery causes the water to evaporate but sulfuric acid doesnt. What ends up happening is you cook the plates.

I dont know what test Autozone is running but, there are two that need to be done.
(1) is a hydrometer test which measures the amount of sulfuric acid to the eletrolye. All 6 cells need measure similar readings. You may just have one cell thats gone bad.

(2) Is a load test which puts a load on the battery to see if the battery can hold a load.

If the negative cable was pulled off at night and in the morning the battery is dead, then the battery is bad.
 
The maximum load allowable is .1A, and that will still drain the battery over time. The 2mA you had with the fuse pulled is good.

Fuse 15 only directly powers two things: the brake light switch and the GEM. All of the other things listed are controlled indirectly by the GEM, which is Fords fancy acronym for body computer. The GEM is supposed to take a nap after inactivity, but it won't if it think it still has work to do. The most common causes are things like stuck door lock or window switches/relays. Other things that could cause it are stuck door ajar switches, but those should give you other symptoms like a dome light that won't go off. The GEM does store data and codes that can be read with a scanner, so that might be an option to help you get headed the right direction. I would start unplugging lock and window switches and see what the drain does.
 
lightningone said:
Im not sure what the draw amps specs are but, what I can tell you from experience is before you start troubleshooting electrical problems, you must have a good battery. Make sure the battery has that proper CCA. I believe it need to be at least 750CCA. Yes, the more times you recharge a battery it decreases its life. Also, after recharging, check the water level. Charging a battery causes the water to evaporate but sulfuric acid doesnt. What ends up happening is you cook the plates.
Click to expand...

I have an Exide Orbital Battery. It has 770CCA and is maintenance free. I took it back to Exide as they have a three(3) year replacement warranty (and my purchase date was 2/15/2006!) My hesitance in getting the battery replaced again is this is the third battery. First the factory, then another Exide.
 
I had the same problems and you may have just had a bad battery to begin with... My battery went though within months of putting it in my truck... I had quick disconnects because my truck sits in the garage alot and to my suprise when i replaced my original (that still worked) but had 6 years of duty on it with my new and higher cca battery and it went dead within 2 months... After 2 years of charging it and it working for 2 weeks and then dying i replaced it and now my truck will start up everytime... So maybe you had a bad battery and it took awhile to drain it , but i think you have solved your problem...

Justin
 
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