Battery Drain

mawint · May 20, 2013

Hey everyone,

Looking for a kind of a consensus from the community.

I hadn't driven my truck for two months (gmt 800 avalanche) and went to go start it on Friday and lights and everything came on but not enough to start it. Would you guys say this is too fast of a battery drain or probably on par with just a vehicle sitting? I know batteries drain over time if not driven.

txab · May 20, 2013

I'd say within the range of normal. Still drawing power just sitting there.

mawint · May 20, 2013

That's what I figured.

I know it still drains while parked, just wasn't sure if that was an acceptable amount of time.

waumo1 · May 20, 2013

Typical parasitic drain on most vehicles is about 30 to 50 mA or 0.030 to 0.030 Amps. So 60-90 days will discharge many batteries depending on the Amp hour rating of the battery and battery condition. Battery condition is a big variable.

Another thing to consider is do you have any aftermarket devices or plug ins?

For example, a cell phone charger I checked drew 200 mA with no phone attached.

A mini plug in mp3 player drew 130 mA even when it was turned off.

I suggest getting a Battery Tender or unhook the battery. Every time you let your battery discharge below

11.5 volts (approximately), you are reducing the life of the battery.

mawint · May 21, 2013

Only thing I have installed is an isimple aux input. It also charges my iPhone.

Letting it sit wasn't really wasn't planned. Started carpooling with the lady friend and haven't needed to drive it, went to take it somewhere and before I knew it, it was two months later.

tanked_darren · May 21, 2013

Disconnecting the negative might prolong the life, surprisingly my battery is still over a month strong when sitting and it's over 6 years old. Now that I have said this I'll have to buy a new battery.

mawint · May 21, 2013

Always seems to work that way. I changed the battery a year ago and I just happened to bad mouth the old one and wouldn't you know, the next morning it was freezing and no longer had enough juice to start it. Opened the hood and I could have swore the battery was original, should have checked the date stamp but since it was freezing outside, totally forgot.

waumo1 · May 21, 2013

Only thing I have installed is an isimple aux input. It also charges my iPhone.

Letting it sit wasn't really wasn't planned. Started carpooling with the lady friend and haven't needed to drive it, went to take it somewhere and before I knew it, it was two months later.

I'm not familiar with this unit but if it hooks to 12 volts on an "always hot" connection, it could be the culprit. You might want to check into it and maybe move to an ignition switched source, etc if it is the problem.

mawint · May 22, 2013

It's this device here: http://www.amazon.com/Isimple-Isgm575-iPhone-Auxiliary-Interface/dp/B00455RAD6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369186491&sr=8-1&keywords=isgm575

Plugs in-between the vehicle plugs for the radio and the radio, hijacking the xm input for audio also allowing radio buttons to operate the phone.

It does charge the phone while key is out but I would think it only gives it the same amount of power with the radio off. I know electronics do go out but I have never had an issue with it as I don't leave my phone plugged into it with the key off.

I have been driving the truck every couple of days and haven't had any issues with rapid battery drain, I think I am going to attribute this to just sitting for a prolonged period of time.

My truck does have the DVD player and RSE along with all the fun little gadgets though. One thing I always found weird was with all of the electronics in the truck, they gave it the smaller alternator. It should really be switched out for the bigger one but I'm not going to change it unless it's broken.