My battery keeps dying

[mynameis940]

My battery has been dying if I leave the car for 50 hours. The only mod I have is the winjet fog lights. The power to the lights is straight from the battery but the power to the switch is from a power source that doesn't have power unless the car is running. Is it possible that there is a slow power drain even when the car isn't running or did I mess something up?

[Koa]

Some more Q's to give people a better idea on how to help:

- Is it normal for you to leave the car uncranked for 2+ days before the Winjet fogs?
- Who installed the foglights?
- Have you had the car in for maintenance recently?
- Have you disconnected the fogs from the battery to try and determine if that is the source of the draw?

I'm shooting in the dark without these answers, but part of best practice for any electrical troubleshooting involves (1) checking the circuit as a whole with a multimeter to try and find a draw that isn't supposed to be on car 'off' mode, and (2) having the battery tested.

[FRSBRZGT86FAN]

Originally Posted by mynameis940

My battery has been dying if I leave the car for 50 hours. The only mod I have is the winjet fog lights. The power to the lights is straight from the battery but the power to the switch is from a power source that doesn't have power unless the car is running. Is it possible that there is a slow power drain even when the car isn't running or did I mess something up?

How To Perform a Parasitic Draw Test - EricTheCar…: [ame]http://youtu.be/KF1gijj03_0[/ame]



For your case the first thing to disconnect rather than going to the fuse box should be the wiring on the winjet foglights then move onto the box.

[feldy]

I have had battery issues a few times this year. both times was leaving the car in auxiliary mode while working on it. Had to jump it both times. I felt it was strange that it happened while only being in that mode maybe 30 minutes at most.

[Imrac]

Originally Posted by feldy

I have had battery issues a few times this year. both times was leaving the car in auxiliary mode while working on it. Had to jump it both times. I felt it was strange that it happened while only being in that mode maybe 30 minutes at most.

If you have it in Aux, make sure your HVAC fan settings are turned off. It can be a pretty hard drain on the system. (no idea if that is actually the cause, but throwing it out there as something I noticed)

[mynameis940]

Originally Posted by Koa

Some more Q's to give people a better idea on how to help:

- Is it normal for you to leave the car uncranked for 2+ days before the Winjet fogs?
- Who installed the foglights?
- Have you had the car in for maintenance recently?
- Have you disconnected the fogs from the battery to try and determine if that is the source of the draw?

I'm shooting in the dark without these answers, but part of best practice for any electrical troubleshooting involves (1) checking the circuit as a whole with a multimeter to try and find a draw that isn't supposed to be on car 'off' mode, and (2) having the battery tested.

I had left it before and it was fine, I installed them myself. I'm going to take It off The battery next time I leave my car for two days. I was planning on doing that but I'm not sure why it would cause it to drain when the switch is connected to aux power inside the car. It shouldn't be draining the battery but I don't know.

[Foobar]

Panasonic usually makes pretty strong batteries, but in my experience with our OEM model, once I accidentally ran the battery down leaving my dome light on, it never retained a strong charge thereafter.

I've swapped out for the Optima YellowTop Dual-Purpose Battery, Group 75/25, 620 CCA - Model # D35, no problems since, even after accidental run downs.

[mynameis940]

Originally Posted by Foobar

Panasonic usually makes pretty strong batteries, but in my experience with our OEM model, once I accidentally ran the battery down leaving my dome light on, it never retained a strong charge thereafter.

I've swapped out for the Optima YellowTop Dual-Purpose Battery, Group 75/25, 620 CCA - Model # D35, no problems since, even after accidental run downs.

That might be the cause I left my dome light on 2 weeks ago and now it dies after then often. I'll try removing the fog lights off the battery and if it still dies that may be the cause.

[billwot]

Originally Posted by mynameis940

My battery has been dying if I leave the car for 50 hours. The only mod I have is the winjet fog lights. The power to the lights is straight from the battery but the power to the switch is from a power source that doesn't have power unless the car is running. Is it possible that there is a slow power drain even when the car isn't running or did I mess something up?

Uhh...that really doesn't make sense.

Correct switched power circuit:

Source>switch>load device.

How can you have "power to the lights straight from the battery" if you have a switch to control the power to the light lights?

If you actually have "power to lights straight from the battery", then then the lights are energized continously and the switch plays no role.

[mynameis940]

I thought it was weird as well but look up the winjet fog lights. The lights turn off when the switch or car is off. It goes power > lights > ground but then the switch also has power and a ground. The switch is connected to an aux power and the headlights are connected to the battery. The winjet how-to video shows it.

[billwot]

Originally Posted by mynameis940

I thought it was weird as well but look up the winjet fog lights. The lights turn off when the switch or car is off. It goes power > lights > ground but then the switch also has power and a ground. The switch is connected to an aux power and the headlights are connected to the battery. The winjet how-to video shows it.

Ahh...OK. They're using a switched ground to make and break the circuit.

[mynameis940]

No theres a ground next to the lights and another one for the switch.

[fritzburg]

Originally Posted by mynameis940

I thought it was weird as well but look up the winjet fog lights. The lights turn off when the switch or car is off. It goes power > lights > ground but then the switch also has power and a ground. The switch is connected to an aux power and the headlights are connected to the battery. The winjet how-to video shows it.

^this

[mynameis940]

Alright so it's still happening and I bought a multimeter and when the car is off it's drawing .68 amps. I pulled the dcc fuse and it dropped down to .2, so then I unplugged my ca-fi dashlinq head unit inside the car and put the dcc back in and it was at .2. Why is this head unit drawing so much power when its off? I haven't seen anyone have a problem with this