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Battery Drain

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Old Aug 5, 2012 | 09:50 AM
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HopperC
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Battery Drain

OMG, I can’t find this thing Please Help.

Current Facts:
1. 2001 Ford Excursion
2. 7.3 Turbo Diesel.
3. Two battery System.
4. Currently no Alternator installed in the truck. New one in the box.
5. With one battery disconnected and your Resistor applied to the driver side battery I show a drain of 267.9 mV.

I cooked an alternator and really had no reason why. Everything in the truck has been running great. Problem happened the day after taking my truck to Tires Plus for a realignment. They told me about my back up light being out and said they did a basic electric evaluation. My son did recently crack a tail light on my truck and I did find a blown back up light. The reason it blew out was water in the light fixture. I replaced the light and repaired the crack and the light is now functioning correctly.

Next, I discovered that I had a problem due to dead batteries one morning. I tested the batteries and they show aprox 11 volts. So I charged the batteries and started the truck. Once started I tested the alternator. It presented as no charging current to either of my batteries. I replaced the batteries and replaced the alternator. The truck ran ok for the next two days then I noticed when I started the truck a little reluctance to turn over. So I got out the volt meter again and tested the voltage while running and got a reading of 12.1 volts. Bad charging system again.

I now have another new alternator but this time started looking for a parasitic drain. I made and attached your resistor tool to one of the batteries with the other one disconnected. I found a drain of 267.9 mV over the resistor. Then I started pulling fuses in the under hood fuse box. My finding were no drop until I pulled fuse 105 what is listed as the Junction Block Battery Feed (no idea what that is). I assumed this was a general fuse for the in cab fuse box. So I put 105 back inline and started pulling fuses from the in cab fuse box. Again no change until I pulled the Battery Saver Relay and the voltage dropped to 111.2 mV. The relay was also warm to the touch. Next I bought a new Battery Saver Relay and put it in the in cab fuse box. No change.


I still have the same drain of
1. 267.9 mV with both the Fuse 105 Under Hood Fuse Box (Junction Block Battery Feed)
2. 111.2 mV with the Relay 2 In Cab Fuse Box ( Battery Saver Relay) removed.

Assumption:
1. Fuse 105 (Junction Block Battery Feed) is a general fuse for the current going to the In Cab Fuse Box
2. Drain is somewhere in the circuits related to Relay 2 ( Battery Saver Relay).

Internet reports for Relay 2 ( Battery Saver Relay):
1. One states that it is there to prevent the truck from starting when the battery voltage is low and thus protects the batteries from being over depleted by attempting to start the truck with batteries that are not charged to optimum level.
2. Another state that it is a delay to allow some circuits to remain energized for a short period of time after the truck is turned off.

My final assumption is that my drain is on this circuit related to Relay 2 (Battery Saver Relay). So, I need to know which description of the function of Relay 2 ( Battery Saver Relay) is correct and determine what is on this circuit and where to look next for my problem.

Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated!

Added pics of Fuse Boxes and Volt meter reading in case I and just not seeing something correctly. Pictures are in the Albums under "Battery Drain Pics" The volt meter was attached to a 1 ohm 10 watt resistor connected between -N bat terminal and -N bat cable. Got this procedure of a ScottyKilmer website.
 

Last edited by HopperC; Aug 5, 2012 at 09:59 AM. Reason: Links to pic of volt meter and fuse boxes
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