parasite drain on 05 impala

641 Views 15 Replies 7 Participants Last post by reubenswinks, 13 d ago

thatoneshep

Discussion Starter · 21 d ago

Hello. im making a post here to see if anyone can help come up with an idea where a parasitic draw might be coming from. i have an 05 chevy impala 9C1. an ex police car and as recent of the start of winter last year i had began to experience a parasitic draw and draining of my battery till one day the battery was just flat dead. ive been unable to work on it till this summer as well, good weather. i had spent all day today running around my car with both a multi meter and a digital test light. trying to find any parasite draws on my electrical and ive not been able to find any. ive checked the fuse boxes and checked as many connectors i could from the fuse box outward. But i have not found any parasitic draws. is there any places that could causing a draw on my electrical and draining my battery between the fuse boxes and the battery? i highly doubt its something from the fuse boxes out due to every circuit being dead when the key is off.

any help on getting this fixed would be appreciated. even electrical schematics or pointers would be great. thank you.

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metalmike187

· #2 · 21 d ago

Check around for any auxiliary wiring that gets added to these cop cars, like light bars and sirens, gun locks and stuff in the trunk. Often times when these cars are retired the mechanics just chop wires and leave harnesses. They never actually get reverted back to a non-police setup. You'll have to poke around and look for anything exposed, still attached, accidentally contacting or whatever. Electrical gremlins are the worst, and their even more sinister on former police vehicles.

Good luck.

Reactions: 1

reubenswinks

· #3 · 21 d ago

Have you actually measured the current being drawn from the battery when everything is off? If not, I would do that first. Make sure it is actually a draw instead of a battery going bad. Disconnect the negative battery terminal and place your multimeter in line with it (between the negative lead and the negative battery terminal) with it set to DC current. Make sure everything is off before connecting it. Most multimeters have a 10amp fuse in them, so if you have your headlights on or something else, you may blow it. Normal draw is around 50 milliamps with everything off. If it is much higher, you do have an issue. Now you can just start pulling and replacing fuses while looking at the draw to see if anything makes a change. If you see it drop, you will know what circuit it is in based on the fuse you pulled. Should help narrow down your issue.

Reactions: 2

thatoneshep

Discussion Starter · #4 · 19 d ago

reubenswinks said:
Have you actually measured the current being drawn from the battery when everything is off? If not, I would do that first. Make sure it is actually a draw instead of a battery going bad. Disconnect the negative battery terminal and place your multimeter in line with it (between the negative lead and the negative battery terminal) with it set to DC current. Make sure everything is off before connecting it. Most multimeters have a 10amp fuse in them, so if you have your headlights on or something else, you may blow it. Normal draw is around 50 milliamps with everything off. If it is much higher, you do have an issue. Now you can just start pulling and replacing fuses while looking at the draw to see if anything makes a change. If you see it drop, you will know what circuit it is in based on the fuse you pulled. Should help narrow down your issue.

cool i went out to do that today after i have gotten work done. i had ran through the entire car again. this time doing as you had suggested. multi meter between the battery negative and battery negative terminal. and there was a consistent draw of 12.60 volts. i had pulled every fuse and no change was seen. i am using a bluepoint MT501C multi meter i had laying around. not entirely sure where to find miliamps on this.

reubenswinks

· #5 · 19 d ago

thatoneshep said:
bluepoint MT501C

Ah, unfortunately your multimeter seems like it can only do voltage and resistance.
You would need something like this

www.amazon.com

Etekcity Digital Multimeter, AC DC Voltmeter Amp Volt Ohm Current Meter, Electrical Voltage Outlet Circuit Tester With Continuity Resistance Diode Test ,Two Build-In Ceramic Fuses, Red, MSR-R500: Amazon.com: Tools & Home Improvement

Etekcity Digital Multimeter, AC DC Voltmeter Amp Volt Ohm Current Meter, Electrical Voltage Outlet Circuit Tester With Continuity Resistance Diode Test ,Two Build-In Ceramic Fuses, Red, MSR-R500: Amazon.com: Tools & Home Improvement

www.amazon.com

You would need to swap the red lead to the 10 amp hole, and then set it to the 200m setting.

Reactions: 1

Big Buford

· #6 · 19 d ago

Voltage is different from current. You're measuring voltage at 12.60 volts....that's a measurement between the positive and negative battery terminals when the engine is not running.

Engine stays off for this test. Disconnect all battery connections at the negative battery post, but leave the positive connections hooked up at the battery. Set your multimeter to measure amperage (aka, amps or current). Connect (touching should be enough) one multimeter lead to the negative battery post and the other multimeter lead to those disconnected negative battery cables. A parasitic draw will show up on your multimeter and you can read the amps or milliamps in this case. This is the exact same test as explained by reubenswinks...I'm repeating with different words perhaps to help with comprehension. Let us know how it goes.....

thatoneshep

Discussion Starter · #7 · 19 d ago

Big Buford said:
Voltage is different from current. You're measuring voltage at 12.60 volts....that's a measurement between the positive and negative battery terminals when the engine is not running.

Engine stays off for this test. Disconnect all battery connections at the negative battery post, but leave the positive connections hooked up at the battery. Set your multimeter to measure amperage (aka, amps or current). Connect (touching should be enough) one multimeter lead to the negative battery post and the other multimeter lead to those disconnected negative battery cables. A parasitic draw will show up on your multimeter and you can read the amps or milliamps in this case. This is the exact same test as explained by reubenswinks...I'm repeating with different words perhaps to help with comprehension. Let us know how it goes.....

you are repeating. i do apologize for that. but what you had described was exactly what i had done. positive still connected and with the multi meter between the terminal on the battery and the hook up point.

rubenswinks did address my problem. apparently the multimeter i have is not one to do the test. and im going to have to source a multimeter that can amps.

Reactions: 1

Impoor

· #8 · 19 d ago (Edited)

I hook up a 1 ohm 10 watt resistor between neg post and neg cable....then on either side of resistor l use a multimeter in milliamp scale and record the draw
Then keeping the multimeter hooked up pull the fuses out and back in till the fuse with the record draw is found
Note 35 to 45 milliamp draw is normal for most vehicles

Impoor

· #9 · 19 d ago

1ohm 10 watt resistor for protection

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thatoneshep

Discussion Starter · #10 · 15 d ago

update. i bought a cheap multimeter from lowes, a cobalt DT103, and did what was suggested. to try and find the amp draw and i get nothing pop up on the DC amps. i think its probably a bad multi meter. but i wonder what you guys have to say if it could be a problem in the car as well? i have tried a few configurations and cleaning the terminals to expose fresh material for better contact. made sure battery was fully charged before doing the tests. and i get nothing popping up. i checked volts on this meter and volts works fine. it was the same reading as my other multi meter. i was just making sure it worked, comparing one to the other. but i am not sure what could be going on.

Bill58

· #11 · 14 d ago

thatoneshep said:
update. i bought a cheap multimeter from lowes, a cobalt DT103, and did what was suggested. to try and find the amp draw and i get nothing pop up on the DC amps. i think its probably a bad multi meter. but i wonder what you guys have to say if it could be a problem in the car as well? i have tried a few configurations and cleaning the terminals to expose fresh material for better contact. made sure battery was fully charged before doing the tests. and i get nothing popping up. i checked volts on this meter and volts works fine. it was the same reading as my other multi meter. i was just making sure it worked, comparing one to the other. but i am not sure what could be going on.

That multimeter only goes to 200ma. You probably blew the fuse in the meter.

thatoneshep

Discussion Starter · #12 · 14 d ago

Bill58 said:
That multimeter only goes to 200ma. You probably blew the fuse in the meter.

damn. what kind of amp rating should i look for in a multimeter then? and i still get readings on the volts side of things? im not sure man. im not an electrician. im learning along the way.

Brhatweed

· #13 · 14 d ago

Something with a 10 amp and 1 amp scale

reubenswinks

· #14 · 14 d ago

Yeah, I think they are likely right. If you do have a larger draw, you likely blew the 200mA fuse. If you look at the multimeter I originally linked, you can see they have a 500mA fused port you plug into, which is where you do most of the voltage and resistance reading, and then there is also a 10A fused port, that you would use for reading higher current. I can't say for sure if the other settings would work with the blown fuse or not. You could also have a bad multimeter, but either way, I would be looking for one with that third port that allows for higher current.

Reactions: 1

thatoneshep

Discussion Starter · #15 · 14 d ago

reubenswinks said:
Yeah, I think they are likely right. If you do have a larger draw, you likely blew the 200mA fuse. If you look at the multimeter I originally linked, you can see they have a 500mA fused port you plug into, which is where you do most of the voltage and resistance reading, and then there is also a 10A fused port, that you would use for reading higher current. I can't say for sure if the other settings would work with the blown fuse or not. You could also have a bad multimeter, but either way, I would be looking for one with that third port that allows for higher current.

yeah you might be right. i tried to be cheap in that i was trying to get it done today. so i bought one local and didnt want to wait the shipping time. classic inpatients on my part. yeah imma have to get that one off amazon you linked. i heavily apologize for that.

reubenswinks

· #16 · 13 d ago

thatoneshep said:
yeah you might be right. i tried to be cheap in that i was trying to get it done today. so i bought one local and didnt want to wait the shipping time. classic inpatients on my part. yeah imma have to get that one off amazon you linked. i heavily apologize for that.

It happens. If you are close to a harbor freight, they have one for ~$7 that has a 5A fuse in it, which I would think would be enough.

Reactions: 1

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