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Typical Battery Drain
http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=82502		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  LibertyFever [ Tue Jun 30, 2015 12:01 am ]
Post subject:  Typical Battery Drain
What is the typical drain on the battery of a gas powered Jeep Liberty?

My 04 Jeep Liberty isn't my daily driver. I only drive it on the occasional weekend trip. Over the winter I found that the battery would often die. I'd have to recharge it and keep a trickle charge on it if I ever wanted to be able to drive it on the weekends.

When the weather began to get warmer this spring the battery became a bit more reliable. Still I decided to replace it with a Optima Yellow Top battery.
But surprisingly last week I discovered that even the Yellow Too failed, even though the weather was warmer. I'm not sure how long it took to kill the battery, maybe a week of so parked in my driveway.

After recharging and reinstalling my new battery I checked the battery drain and found a drain of 0.175 amps. Is this normal? It seems like a small amount.
Until I can figure this out I'm keeping a trickle charger on my battery.


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Author:  tommudd [ Tue Jun 30, 2015 5:12 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Typical Battery Drain
Wouldn't use a Optima anyways
But mine has sat for a month without trickle charger etc on it before when I go to Tanzania
Author:  LibertyFever [ Tue Jun 30, 2015 7:19 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Typical Battery Drain
Yes, an Optima is overkill when you don't have a winch but it was on sale for only $150. I simply couldn't resist a sale.
While shopping for a new battery I wasn't satisfied with the quality of the batteries available.
I may just throw the Optima in my YJ because it does have a winch.


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Author:  flash7210 [ Tue Jun 30, 2015 8:25 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Typical Battery Drain
LibertyFever wrote:
I checked the battery drain and found a drain of 0.175 amps. Is this normal?


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Yes, thats normal.
Have you tested your alternator?
Author:  LibertyFever [ Tue Jun 30, 2015 12:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Typical Battery Drain
flash7210 wrote:
LibertyFever wrote:
I checked the battery drain and found a drain of 0.175 amps. Is this normal?


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Yes, thats normal.
Have you tested your alternator?

So 0.175 amps draw it normal? It does seem a pretty low level.

Why should I test the alternator? It isn't the charging that's the problem it's the slow drain.


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Author:  mass-hole [ Tue Jun 30, 2015 12:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Typical Battery Drain
Question: did you install the 7 pin trailer harness or have it from the factory. If so, pull the fuse for the front power outlet and see if that helps.

The way they wire the harness is to have the relay in trunk triggered by the cigarette lighter that was in the early model KJ's which was activated with the ignition. In other words, the trailer wiring was only supposed to be activated with the key on. On the later model KJ's they removed the cigarette lighter so you must use the 12v power outlet to trigger the trailer wiring. The power outlet is always on which means the relay on the wiring is always active and it seems to slow drain the battery. I have found that after only a few days my battery will be weak with the power outlet fuse in place. If I pull the fuse it is much better.

.175A seems plausible for an active relay like the one in the trailer harness.
Author:  LibertyFever [ Tue Jun 30, 2015 3:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Typical Battery Drain
mass-hole wrote:
Question: did you install the 7 pin trailer harness or have it from the factory. If so, pull the fuse for the front power outlet and see if that helps.

The way they wire the harness is to have the relay in trunk triggered by the cigarette lighter that was in the early model KJ's which was activated with the ignition. In other words, the trailer wiring was only supposed to be activated with the key on. On the later model KJ's they removed the cigarette lighter so you must use the 12v power outlet to trigger the trailer wiring. The power outlet is always on which means the relay on the wiring is always active and it seems to slow drain the battery. I have found that after only a few days my battery will be weak with the power outlet fuse in place. If I pull the fuse it is much better.

.175A seems plausible for an active relay like the one in the trailer harness.
Now that's an interesting suggestion, thanks.
I do happen to have the Mopar Class 3 hitch and wiring harness, 7 pin I think.
And I have an aftermarket electric brake controller. Maybe that's draining some juice.

I'll check out my fuse box when I get home later this week.


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Author:  mass-hole [ Tue Jun 30, 2015 4:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Typical Battery Drain
LibertyFever wrote:
mass-hole wrote:
Question: did you install the 7 pin trailer harness or have it from the factory. If so, pull the fuse for the front power outlet and see if that helps.

The way they wire the harness is to have the relay in trunk triggered by the cigarette lighter that was in the early model KJ's which was activated with the ignition. In other words, the trailer wiring was only supposed to be activated with the key on. On the later model KJ's they removed the cigarette lighter so you must use the 12v power outlet to trigger the trailer wiring. The power outlet is always on which means the relay on the wiring is always active and it seems to slow drain the battery. I have found that after only a few days my battery will be weak with the power outlet fuse in place. If I pull the fuse it is much better.

.175A seems plausible for an active relay like the one in the trailer harness.
Now that's an interesting suggestion, thanks.
I do happen to have the Mopar Class 3 hitch and wiring harness, 7 pin I think.
And I have an aftermarket electric brake controller. Maybe that's draining some juice.

I'll check out my fuse box when I get home later this week.


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I am very interested in what happens. I noticed the wiring issues when installed mine and was suspicious, but then i started having the battery drain issues and build up on my battery terminals. I cleaned the terminals and pulled the fuse permanently and it all seemed to go away. Of course my wife has no way to charge her cell phone now so my plan was to either find a better switched power source or wire in a switch so I can activate the trailer wiring myself. Either that or just unplug it all together since I have an F150 that I will probably tow with instead.
Author:  tjkj2002 [ Tue Jun 30, 2015 4:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Typical Battery Drain
0.175 amps is 175 milliamps which is over twice what is the norm,should be no more then 50 milliamps(or 0.050 amps).Measure on the negative cable after the vehicle has sat idle for at least 15mins to make sure all the computers have gone into "sleep" mode.
Author:  mass-hole [ Thu Jul 02, 2015 2:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Typical Battery Drain
So my jeep got in a deer strike last week and has been sitting in the garage waiting for the insurance to come through. The battery was almost 100% dead when i went out to wake it up today. I left the outlet fuse in by accident with nothing plugged into the outlet.
Author:  mass-hole [ Thu Jul 02, 2015 7:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Typical Battery Drain
I just checked and rechecked mine with and without the fuse and got the following results:

Power outlet fuse removed : 185 mA
Power outlet fuse inserted : 350 mA

Nothing was plugged into either 12V power outlet, so the relay in the trailer wiring def makes a difference but it looks like i have something else going on too.
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