This is not a troubleshooting thread. I put it here as a game.

After three roadsters over Thirteen years, I now finally have my first battery drain issue. After helping so many others with this "horrible" problem, I now have the problem. I'ts not fixed, but I know what the issue is, I had it isolated in maybe fifteen minutes. So the battery is disconnected until I 'fix' this.

So now we start the game: Guess what the cause is. The only hints are these:
It is NOT the alarm siren.
It isnt any aftermarket item that I've added.

 

Something related to our RCU ??

 

NAPA alternator.

 

I bought my last Alternator from Autozone.

But, BINGO, it's the alternator. 150-210mA on the battery lead to the alternator. GGrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
I even went from a Valeo to a Bosch and STILL ended up in the crap.

 

What do I win?

I don't recommend buying rebuilt ones, they have new ones made by your favorite Valeo for like 225.

 

I will NEVER buy a rebuilt alternator again.
You can get on that.

 

So I am re-writing my guide to measuring and finding battery drain. It occurred to me that my previous procedure works, but I didn't actually follow it when working on MY car.
I"m also adding photos and more detail. But this time, I am not in a hurry. I want to produce something way better than before.

 

Waiting anxiously.

 

Yea, I have two requests on Facebook as well. Working today but I'll try to get it done tonight.

 

I fixed my battery drain quite simply, I just had to change the washer.
You were wondering how my post count was so high, this should give you a clue.

 

Not everyone has your skill.


And certainly, not your wit.

 

Let me tell you my FUSE 9 story. My SRT6 was in the hangar for about a month on a Battery tender. so I know the battery was fully charged. I went to the hangar and thought I'd take a ride to the gas station. I arrived, shut the car off and told the attendant (I'm in NJ) to fill with Premium. He then told me he couldn[t open the fuel door. We both tried but it was locked and would not open even though the doors were unlocked. It just would NOT unlock, so I pulled away to a spot and finally got it open by unlocking the car with the key in the door. By then I couldn't start it due to low battery!!!

I got a jump and got it back to the garage and after much troubleshooting found that there is a 4 ohm ground when FUSE 9 is plugged in.

My next step is to check what the current draw is when the fuse is inserted and the car is shut off. I read here that the normal draw should be less than 55ma so I will post an update once I get that reading. I will pull the siren fuse in the Control module box to at least eliminate that next.

Also, can't seem to locate the ILLUMINATION CONTROL MODULE as I'd like to disconnect that as well.
Any other suggestions welcomed.

 

The Illumination Control Module is your headlight switch in the dash. If you remove the panel on the side of the dash, on the driver side, you will find all of the fuses on the module.

 

So the battery went down that far while messing with the car at the gas station? A 4 ohm load is 3 amps at 12 volts - you are not going to take the battery down THAT far in such a short time with that current.
I agree 3 amps thru that fuse is not right, but I"m having a hard time putting this together.

Was the alternator charging?
How old is the battery?
Have you measured overall current in the ground cable of the battery?