Current Draw while car is off.

[LS-N-IT]

I need some advice from my fellow Lincoln LSers..

I have an '06 LS. My factory battery died finally (I had drained it dead before, so I knew it wouldn't last forever). I bought a new battery.. when I installed the new batt I decided to check for excessive draw at rest. I was not sure what it should be at rest so I brought it to the dealer, so they could verify that everything is ok.

They said the car should only pull .40 amps at rest, after it has been sitting off for 20 mins. My car is pulling .70 amps when my Kenwood Excelon H/U and 10 disc changer is connected. When they pull the 5 amp factory radio fuse, the extra .30 amp draw disappears. Is .30 amps excessive for an aftermarket HU and Changer when off? The wiring looks perfectly fine, the units sound great, and neither has any warmth to it (shouldnt it be slightly warm if it had an internal short of some sort?).

Thanks for any help you can provide,
J

 

[joegr]

0.30 A at 12V is 3.6 watts. 3.6 watts spread out in a large assembly is probably enough heat to feel, but it won't seem like much.

If you have a 50 Amp/hr battery, then the 0.7A load would drain it in 3 days. Even 0.4 A sounds excessive to me. I would have expected it to be less than 0.1A, after the car sat undisturbed for 30 minutes or an hour.

(I'm not sure of the Amp/hr rating of the LS battery, but 50 is on the high side of typical. This has nothing to do with the 650/750 CCA rating.)

 

[owlman]

I think you (or your dealer) is off a decimal point. My 06 service manual says.......

NOTE: No production vehicle should have more than a 50 mA (0.050 amp) draw.

 

[LS-N-IT]

Yes you are definately right. And thanks for the confirmation!
He clearly wrote his report up wrong.

I just did my own test.. with everything off after 20 mins the car is only pulling .4 MILLIAMPS. Not amps.. that spank. Also, with all my stereo stuff plugged in and off it goes to .5 mA.

Ive got no worries Thanks for the 411 guys! LVC rox.

 

[joegr]

Yes, 50mA sounds much more reasonable. However, I question your measurement some. It sounds too low. I would expect a few mA just to power the keyless receiver. That said, I've never had cause to measure either of mine, so I don't know. It is a pain to do.

 

[LS-N-IT]

Yeah.. my decimal is still in the wrong spot.. my multimeter has alot of steps in sensitivity. It is pulling 40 mA with everything off.. and 48 mA when all of my stereo equip is connected. Needless to say, no problems. At least I know now.