Power Draw, Battery Dying, Help Please

[DuckHuntINPro]

Hey dudes,

I recently bought a used 2003 Limited XLT explorer. I had an old '92 XLT and that thing was falling apart. Love the explorers which is why I stuck with them. I am having a problem with my battery dying every few days, especially if the car is started once or twice the time it stays charged is decreased. I put the same system that was in my old explorer back into my new car. Its a 1000 watt mtx system, a 1 farad digital cap, 2 mtx 8000's and a clarion tv in the dash. I figured since i got the car used the dealer may have sold me a pos. I had the electrical checked out yesterday and before they tested it I unpluged the fuse running to my amp, and cap at the rear of the car. They said both my battery and alternator are fine however i have a 290mA draw going somewhere. They said you can safely run a 10mA draw overnight but im obviously out of that range. Since the amp and cap are unplugged the only thing i can think of is A) I shorted the wiring somehow behind the dash with the tv, or its staying on somehow.... but all power shuts off B) my remote wire is somehow drawing more power than it should be to the amp, and just grounding it, or C) which i think is the biggest chance of being the problem, the fact that I never bypassed the factory amp in the rear panel. I remember having to do this in my old explorer but never did it in the new one. The guy at the audio place said i needed to but when I pulled the dash wires out there were 3 different plugs, i figured that since I only used one plug, with all the speaker + and -, illumination, acc, etc that the other cords had to be used to power on the external amp, so i figured that if it was never powered, i would have no problem. I think I am going to test for the draw today, then pull off that back panel and bypass it like he said. I guess I should have done it in the first place, but being lazy and how much of a pain in the ass it is to remove that panel i never did... also figured that my speculation was correct. I bought a trickle charger at wally world just to keep my batter charged until i can figure out the problem... as we all know killing lead batteries is hard on them, and this is probably the 4th time ive done it since i bought it a month ago. Anyways, sorry it got long but...

Anyone have any insight on this? Id be glad to hear from you

Thanks,
Paul

 

[ExplorerDMB]

Well, for being a new member - this is one of the better questions I've seen here. You atleast have some more insight than just "hey my truck wont start, what's wrong?" Anyhow, a 50 mA draw is max when considering the computers/alarm systems on todays vehicles. Now, 290 is obviously out of the range. I would first start by pulling out fuses and seeing if it drops any. The radio may be an issue, but that usually only draws power on accessory - unless your power wire isn't secure. Just check everything out and double check everything you did. Then start pulling fuses and watch for a drop

-Drew

 

[expo5.0]

have an aftermarket alarm? remote start?

i've seen almost exactly this before

 

[DuckHuntINPro]

theres no aftermarket alarm or remote start... just the tv in the dash, and the sub system in the back. Like drew said i will start by hooking up my meter to the battery and pull fuses, watching for the problem... i guarantee that if the radio fuse pulls and the problem is gone, it wont help me much besides eliminate the fact that something else is wrong, which i highly doubt. I will then first bypass the external amp, test, if not fixed, test by unplugging the remote wire to the amp, test, if not fixed, pull out the dash, which i really dont want to do being it would be a huge pain in the ass.

Thanks for the insights,
paul

 

[expo5.0]

strange thing is- we are both Drew- random

 

[ExplorerDMB]

haha freaky