Battery drain protection claim was not true - anyone understand why?

Don't know, but I plug mine in, if I know I wont drive for a few days.

 

Glad you figured out how it actually works. Just as an FYI, my '14 RAV works just like what you highlighted out of the manual, so it's certainly not a 'new' 3rd gen thing.

And thanks for this

That is an awesome example of an oxymoron! Well, at least for those who don't think complexity is always better.

 

Tough crowd, my only advice is do your research before you ask the question.

 

My 2011 dome light slowly turns it's self off when I close the door well did, 2 days latter the battery was like real dead 2 volts. Got a charge back in the battery hum, interior light is on didn't matter what mode other than off! So yeah there is some thing in there that is toes up no it's not the door switch, Further investigation in order kind of like the dome light.

 

Pretty much all modern vehicles will automatically turn off lights after a period of time and otherwise limit the battery draw to only what is necessary (nanny features to protect us from ourselves, yay). But there is no vehicle out there that can guarantee that the vehicle will always start. Batteries get old and fail.

 

no, i really don't think it is.

but i'm glad you got your answer.

 

Sales people in any line of sales have a few potential fatal flaws from the customer perspective:

1) they don’t actually understand the product and are unintentionally misleading you

2) they are deviously taking advantage of the English language to intentionally mislead you using semantics and relying on you to jump to conclusions even though they didn’t actually say the thing you are assuming

3) they’re straight up lying

On the other hand there are plenty of good salespeople out there doing none of the above. There really are. And if you find one you keep going back to that person because they’re gold.

Obviously your only protection from the bad salesmen is to know more than they do, and fact check via the manual and any other source documentation. Either it’s in writing or it doesn’t exist.

 

A dead battery happened to me a few weeks ago on an almost 2yr old battery, when I left the '16 Taco unused for several days.

When I came back and we were all ready to leave and I turned the key, Nothing! Nada, I was stunned. Never happened to me before under similar conditions on the same vehicle. I hooked up the charger and let it trickle charge for a couple days to save my new 2yr old battery. Afterwards, when I had some juice the next morning, I started trouble shooting the source of the drain.

My usual suspects took the first hit, the aftermarket mods.

I have a front & rear windshield cams that are supposed to go off when the battery gets too low to start. I have a radar speed detector hard wired to the ignition on and off and a port installed overhead cab and bed lights. I noticed the light would stay on in any position other than off.
To make a long story short, after disconnecting everything aftermarket and scratching my head, I went back to basics because the dome light stayed on and found a barely shut rear door. Once slammed it closed, problem solved! So embarrassed! Grrr…

I should mention, that as far as I remember, when and if a door was left wide open, the truck would turn it off to save the battery, so a door left open was not on my list to check because I was thinking like the OP. Was I wrong?

 

My daughter has left the rear interior lamp on a number of times, and I discovered it the next day or even a couple days later. I never had a dead battery as a result. The Body Control Module shut power off to the lights after approximately 20 minutes of time with no activity. I tested that after I found the lamp had been left on and wondered why the battery had not died.

 

Got in my truck this morning, as soon as I started the truck the rear dome lamp turned on.

My daughter left it on Saturday night, didn't drive it Sunday, no dead battery Monday.

 

Yes, our truck does have battery drain protection. However some aftermarket accessories not so much.

My port install LED bed and rear cab lighting gets it power from an always live circuit like the brake lights and I had always left them off, but this time I had left them to come on with the door and the rear door was not fully closed, so I go t nailed.

 

How do you know the battery was over discharged by your Taco? You may be having issues with your battery (low on electrolyte - add distilled water, old battery - replace, defective battery - replace, old alternator - not charging the battery / carrying the electrical load when driving which then depletes the battery - replace alternator). <- Any of those situations could be contributing factors to a dead battery.

How were you able to isolate the issue to a taco system draining issue?

 

Here's my solution for the aux fuse panel: