Parasitic Battery drain nw 2012 Mitsubishi Pajero

[drgtr]

I been having an ongoing issue last few months

Bought the car then starting installing accessories-

-Double Din Stereo
-Roof Top Screen
-EGT Guage
-Heads up display via OBD2
-Obd2 Dongle via OBD2


all accessories are using accessory power so definitely do not come on when key is removed!

Now I was having a daily battery drain. Even with brand new battery.

I noticed the Obd2 dongle had a light on even when key was removed.
So disconnected that and its been good.
Today it drained again but I didnt drive all weekend. Got in car to go to work.

So jump started and away I went
Tested battery is good after a drive
12.9 volts
Engine on at 14.08 volts so alternator is working.


now...
Did a parasitic drain test.
With heads up display OBD2 plugged in. I get a fluctuating 2 milliamps to 50 milliamp drain.

Without it. I get only a 2 milliamp drain.


is a fluctuating 50 milli amp enough to drain a battery if a drive is not long enough over the week?

[Dicko1]

The 50milliamp drain would be a lot less than 10amps per week. Shouldn't really affect a daily driver with weekend work thrown in. I,d be worried if it was say 80-100 or more. Radio presets, alarms, ecu, obd2 unit , led lights on alarms etc.etc. ....many things will draw small amounts of power even with ignition off. I,m a great believer in putting the battery on a good 240volt 5-7 stage charger once a month as short trips don't see the battery charged enough.

[drgtr]

The 50milliamp drain would be a lot less than 10amps per week. Shouldn't really affect a daily driver with weekend work thrown in. I,d be worried if it was say 80-100 or more. Radio presets, alarms, ecu, obd2 unit , led lights on alarms etc.etc. ....many things will draw small amounts of power even with ignition off. I,m a great believer in putting the battery on a good 240volt 5-7 stage charger once a month as short trips don't see the battery charged enough.

5-7 stage charger? I have a smart trickle charger that has a "repair" button.
It does pulse charging? Sorry. Im crap with this.

Is it the same thing?

[erad]

Regarding the fluctuating parasitic drain from the battery, the variation could be due to the interior lights staying on for a time and eventually turning off. If you had recently opened the door, the lights would still be on for a time.

[drgtr]

Regarding the fluctuating parasitic drain from the battery, the variation could be due to the interior lights staying on for a time and eventually turning off. If you had recently opened the door, the lights would still be on for a time.

No lights off interior. I made sure

Tested with interior lights on and it drains at 2.4amps

[drgtr]

Also Im probably reading wrong.

0.02 on the multimeter probably means 20 milli amps?

while 0.50 means 500 milli amps?

[Dicko1]

5-7 stage charger? I have a smart trickle charger that has a "repair" button.
It does pulse charging? Sorry. Im crap with this.

Is it the same thing?

Repair is really only for a battery that has been severely depleted. Last resort really. I,ve had a few suspect batteries that I,ve used recondition on and haven't had much success. Pulse charging is ok.. If its a good name charger you will have no problems. 3,5 or 7 stages depending on what charger and quality you buy.


500milliamps is half of an amp...= .5 amp
0.02 = 20 milliamps




If you jump onto you tube there are some excellent demos of using a multimeter correctly..

[drgtr]

So obd2 draining at 500 milli amps is alot then. I suspect its that.

Thanks for your input too Appreciate it !

[Keithyv]

Also Im probably reading wrong.

0.02 on the multimeter probably means 20 milli amps?

while 0.50 means 500 milli amps?

Depends on what scale you are on!
If on a 10A scale then yes your suggestions are correct.
If it is then in fact 500mA then something is seriously wrong.

[drgtr]

Depends on what scale you are on!
If on a 10A scale then yes your suggestions are correct.
If it is then in fact 500mA then something is seriously wrong.

Yes it was on 10a scale. Thanks for that

only fluctuate to 500 milliamps when the heads up display is plugged into obd2 or the obd2 dongle for torque is plugged in.

The obd2 plug in the pajero seems to stay on all the time.

I had the plug plugged into my two hondas and not a problem.

All good. Process of elimination and now knowing through parasitic drain test I can see its the obd2

[drgtr]

So this morning the car started fine. No hint of slowness of cranking

Tested battery before i started

It was on 12.54 volts


is this okay?

[gas55]

As usual Dicko1 is talking common sense.
We ask a lot of car batteries these days.
Especially with several stop-starts per day.
When you crank over a motor (especially a diesel), it's not far off a dead short to the battery. Then we load it up with heaps of accessories.
If I have had a couple of days of stop-start with the Child Bride in tow, I whack the battery on the charger over night, and I have had over 6 years out of some batteries. Of course if the motor is in good shape and starts quickly!
Greg

[Dicko1]

So this morning the car started fine. No hint of slowness of cranking

Tested battery before i started

It was on 12.54 volts


is this okay?

12.7 is considered 100% charged. Your figure is showing about 85% charged capacity. Even though some wet cell batteries may show 12.8 or 13.1 volts....this is only a surface charge and normally takes between 12 and 24 hours to disappear and a truer reading.. My agm,s show 13.1 quite often...until something consumes some power on start up and they quickly settle down to 12.6/12.7. Agm,s fully charged at 12.7 as well....Each battery has 6 cells and these are normally 2.15 volts...so 6 x 2.15 =12.9..on a brand new, perfectly manufactured battery with top class internals you may get 12.9. 12.7 is the accepted figure for 100% charge..regardless if its showing higher figures.

[drgtr]

Thanks Dicko1

Been learning abit with some baseline data .

So tested my other car and neighbours two cars in the morning left overnight.

all of them show around 12.43 to 12.54. all crank perfectly so this voltage seems normal for overnight.

Now anything higher than 12.6 to 12.7 after a drive is surface charge. Which dissipates in an hour or two.

I been told by autoelectrician that morning voltage is totally normal and isnt really an indicator of anything unless its really low like 11 volts or more. Battery not holding charge or parasitic drain.

Naturally all batteries while cranking is above 10 volts.

Just to update. Shop has replaced this new battery under warranty and its been great for last 2 days so see how it goes.