Parasitic draw test

Just a heads up when testing for parasitic draw .I found my battery so low that I got the dreaded clicking noise two days ago and was concerned that my stereo amp, sub amp, or loc 7 were all of a sudden not properly shutting down .After pulling all the inline, under dash and under hood fuses, the amps tested normal= 0 amp key off exept there were three fuses/circuits which were registering .25 amps. When these were pulled, it allowed the amp draw at the battery to return to .02 amp. These three were 1)the under dash 20 amp Am2 no2, 2)the under hood10 amp Ecu-B no.3, and 3) the under hood 20 amp Ign 2 main .When doing a parasitic drain test on the battery please be aware that the hood warning light and therefore the computer remains active when you are under the hood. In order to get an accurate draw test you must defeat the sensor and allow final system shut down which gave me the acceptable .02 amp reading .first I pulled the sensor wire at the latch and that worked but when I pulled and replaced the EcuB no3 fuse it came back on and stayed on .I then pushed the hood latch down with a screw driver and the amp reading again went from .25 to .02 amps. Beware the hood latch!

 

Smart key vehicles need the hood latch secured for draw.

Also make sure the key is far enough away from the truck when its parked, it can kill the battery and the fob battery quickly.

 

Thanks for this tidbit. It will come in useful someday I’m sure..

 

How far is a good distance?

 

Read this as plastic straw test. I’ll see myself out now

 

Thanks for the key fob reminder, I thought of that for the test but not for the post .I'm still not sure of the best way to cancel the open hood signal .Pulling the wire by the latch worked and then didn't . Holding latch closed with screwdriver is good for a few seconds. I did not try to push the latch all the way down so I don't know if it will stay locked, I assume just pulling on the latch part with the small spring attached would unlock it?

 

How far away for the key fob to activate the computer is a great question .The draw test would be a good way to test this .I assume the results would vary slightly depending on the condition of the fob battery .I will try to test this when I am sure that my problem is resolved .As near as I can tell I either have a bad 2016 battery or a bad 2016 $140 craftman jump/charger .