Battery drain

[kyle dehart]

I have a 2007 tahoe LTZ and after a few days or multiple short trips the battery is dead. Battery is good and the charging system works but when checking a voltage drop on the fuses the #41 RDO 15A fuse has about .05mV or 109A running through the fuse while everything is off and the vehicle has sat over night it is an aftermarket radio as well. I have also checked a voltage drop on all the other fuses even in the dash and they all go to 0mV and I have turned the exit lighting to off but the radio will stay on and still play music after that for about 10 minutes till it turns off so I have had to click the tab to disconnect the face plate but still having a bead battery just wondering it the amount of mV and amps is enough to drain the battery

 

[OR VietVet]

Welcome to the forum from Oregon.

Yes, that is enough draw over a long enough period of time.

I found this clear definition:

"A normal amount of parasitic draw for newer cars is between 50-milliamp to 85-milliamp current draw. A normal amount of parasitic draw for older cars is a reading less than 50-milliamp. Anything past these amounts indicates an electrical issue and should be addressed by a mechanic."

If you meant to type .05ma instead of .05 mv that is one thing because that would be 50ma, but if the 109A reading is correct, then that is quite a big draw. 109amp is the same thing as 109000 ma.

That radio is "bad juju". I can only assume that if you remove power to radio, the problem goes away.

 

[kyle dehart]

I was using the power probe chart and at .05mV that translates to 109mA just didn’t know if it was enough to drain it and I’ll see about disconnecting power and see if that works

 

[Fless]

...I have turned the exit lighting to off but the radio will stay on and still play music after that for about 10 minutes till it turns off so I have had to click the tab to disconnect the face plate but still having a bead battery just wondering it the amount of mV and amps is enough to drain the battery

Removing the radio faceplate won't change what the radio draws.

Your testing criteria wasn't clear to me, so try this. Run the truck for a few minutes or do this when you park it after a trip.
With the engine running, turn the radio on so you can hear sound in the speakers.
If you have one, push the interior lights override button so the dome lights will come on normally. In other words, don't force them off.
Now turn off the engine and remove the ignition key. Radio still on? It should be, powered by RAP.
Open the driver's door. Does the radio turn off? It should, since opening any door should turn off the Retained Accessory Power (RAP).
With the door open are the interior (dome) lights on now?
When you close the door, do the interior lights fade out and turn off within 20 or 30 seconds?

Let us know what happens.

 

[kyle dehart]

Removing the radio faceplate won't change what the radio draws.

Your testing criteria wasn't clear to me, so try this. Run the truck for a few minutes or do this when you park it after a trip.
With the engine running, turn the radio on so you can hear sound in the speakers.
If you have one, push the interior lights override button so the dome lights will come on normally. In other words, don't force them off.
Now turn off the engine and remove the ignition key. Radio still on? It should be, powered by RAP.
Open the driver's door. Does the radio turn off? It should, since opening any door should turn off the Retained Accessory Power (RAP).
With the door open are the interior (dome) lights on now?
When you close the door, do the interior lights fade out and turn off within 20 or 30 seconds?

Let us know what happens.

When you open any door the lights come on and after a bit the go out but the radio stays but will go off after 10 minutes and the dash lighting and lights for the buttons around the radio use to stay on too for 10 minutes but I went into the settings in the cluster and turned that off but the radio still stays on

 

[OR VietVet]

The radio, as @Fless said, should shut off immediately when open the door if the key is off.

 

[Fless]

If the radio doesn't shut down when you open any door, the RAP is not being controlled. You either have a bad door latch or something is going on with the BCM or the wiring to the BCM (body control module).

Or the radio is mistakenly hardwired.

 

[nath]

Sorry guys, not to hijack but the latch on the door control RAP so it is not the key switch.? I have the same problem turn of truck and open door radio plays for 10 min... Mine is factory stereo....

 

[OR VietVet]

May be something totally different so I would post a new thread in this section. But I would also monitor this thread in case.

 

[Raptor Tahoe]

I have had the same issue with my 2007 LTZ and just found this on a Chevy service forum:

“BCM's had an issue back in 2007 leaving some of the components powered up, and their load was amazingly high; enough to drain the battery within several hours. The issue was fixed with recall 07033 which involved a reflash of the BCM. I had this problem with my 2007, and the reflash cured my battery rundown problem.”

Not sure how to check the BCM flash revision number, but worth a check. Good luck.