Dying Battery & Question on battery draw while "off"

Steve777 · **Joined:** Fri Oct 16, 2015 11:31 pm **Posts:** 279

So the last few nights of below zero temps have put a real strain on my 06 CRD's battery. Charged it back up and had it tested today at Autozone and it failed. Since it isn't that old (2.3 years) I will be seeing if I can get some credit towards a new one. I am pretty sure that no lights were left on overnight yet the battery was fairly weak the next mornings, needing a charge to turn over the engine.

Before I throw a new battery in there I wanted to double check that the current draw on the battery when its off was reasonable. Figured I'd throw a VOM set to current in line with one of the battery terminals as I am removing the old battery and see what's being drawn with everything off. As I recall from other vehicles I've had 50-60ma seems to be a reasonable draw with everything off. Just curious of anyone here has numbers for a CRD.

papaindigo · **Posted:** Tue Jan 10, 2017 11:09 am

Don't have the CRD #s but there are plenty of hints of how to check if you Google "battery draw when ignition off".

Yep cold starts combined with short drives can kill a relatively new battery. If your battery had a 3 year warranty and you have 2.3years on it in these conditions I suspect it's dead.

69Hcode · **Posted:** Tue Jan 10, 2017 12:03 pm

A lot of cars will pull more amps when you first hook the battery up. Just wait a little bit and see of the draw drops to what you're happy with. I just put a new battery in my CRD. I got an AGM battery with dual terminals from Sams Club for $130. 3 year free replacement. I think it was a group 78. Same specs as the 34 but top and side terminals and cost less. Made hooking my amp and off road lights up easier.

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Tue Jan 10, 2017 12:07 pm

Normal amp draw is 50ma or less,anything above and you got a parasitic draw.

You must wait at least 15-20mins after removing the key so all the computers go into sleep mode 1st,do not open the door or anything or you will "wake up" the BCM giving you higher then normal amp readings.

Hexus · **Posted:** Tue Jan 10, 2017 10:44 pm

Change your ASM relay. Mine had failed open and the only indicator was a dead battery every 4-5 days if I didn't drive it.

Steve777 · **Joined:** Fri Oct 16, 2015 11:31 pm **Posts:** 279

OK Hexus, Thanks. Can you tell me where that relay is located, and what other symptoms of it failing would there be I could check?

Stan Wright · **Posted:** Wed Jan 11, 2017 11:26 am

Hexus wrote:

Change your ASM relay. Mine had failed open and the only indicator was a dead battery every 4-5 days if I didn't drive it.

What is the ASM relay? I have similar symptoms.

Steve777 · **Joined:** Fri Oct 16, 2015 11:31 pm **Posts:** 279

I did check the battery draw and it is >200ma but less than 1A (could not get more accurate with the meters I have). It stays at that level even an hour + after everything is shut off.

I thought I would spend some time trying to find out what is using power with everything off. No lights on (they would draw more than 200ma or 1A anyhow). The PO did put in a brake controller; I've never used it so I don't know if it is wired in correctly but that is a possibility. That ASD relay, what and wherever that is. Any other common things people can point me to for checking?

Going to try and get to the bottom of this and clean it up before putting a new batt in. For now I am just disconnecting the neg terminal whenever I not using the truck.

Thanks

Steve777 · **Joined:** Fri Oct 16, 2015 11:31 pm **Posts:** 279

Did some checking and got a better meter.

With the new meter, draw starts out at 130ma then goes down to ~12ma after 30 mins or so. So I think the electronics are good, and the issues after cold nights are the battery.

BTW, I think did try to find an ASM relay, but no such thing that I could find, either in the service manual or online searches. I suspect that Hexus meant an ASD relay, which is in the Power Distribution Center under the hood. Wasn't my problem, but others who see this and are wondering might want to check the ASD relay.

Anyhow, I can now go back and get a new battery which should solve this.

mass-hole · **Posted:** Mon Jan 16, 2017 1:21 pm

One think you might check is the trailer wiring if you have it. The way the harness I installed was setup was that it would only trigger the relay in the trunk with the key on by pulling power from the cigarette lighter in the dash. The problem is, our Jeep CRD's dont have a cigarette lighter, only the power plug, which is always ON. This means that the relay and all the crap for the trailer wiring are powered at all times which will put at least a minor draw on the battery. Not sure if it would be enough to cause problems or not. I ended up removing the plug from the power plug behind the dash so that the trailer wiring relay was not being triggered all the time.

Steve777 · **Joined:** Fri Oct 16, 2015 11:31 pm **Posts:** 279

You might be right Mass. When I got the new meter, I also traced the electrical source to the brake controller, it goes to the Power Distribution Center on the battery cables there. So it could in theory pull power all the time. I ended up pulling the brake controller out (unplugged it from the wiring harness and moved it to storage), since I am not using it now no loss to me. This was before retesting currents with the new meter. So it is possible it was a drain from that controller.

At some point, when I need the controller again, I will need to test that out.

Dying Battery & Question on battery draw while "off"

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