Parasitic draw question.

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Sep 6, 2025 | 04:49 PM

Hootr

Thread Starter

Tuned

Joined: May 2017

Posts: 284

Likes: 42

From: Colorado

Parasitic draw question.

Was doing some regular maintenance on the truck and decided to do a parasitic draw test just to see where it was at.
When the truck was awake, the draw was 0.179. When the truck went to sleep it dropped to 0.009. Is that normal?

Just seemed low to me...I was expecting between 15-30ma.

Sep 6, 2025 | 06:57 PM

John in OkieLand

Lead Driver

Joined: Aug 2022

Posts: 5,098

Likes: 1,423

From: Oologah, OK

that is what it should be, higher values indicate something is pulling more current than it should.

with your 0.009 value, the truck could set for six months and still have a battery good enough to start it up.

Mine?
nope, it has enough draw to pull the batteries down in 3 weeks.
so, I keep it on a battery tender.

got tired of fooling with it, 2 years ago, then a family crisis intervened and have not got back to the truck again.

Sep 7, 2025 | 07:20 AM

danskool

Go Bills !

Joined: Jan 2008

Posts: 2,778

Likes: 65

From: Buffalo, NY

Ha ha.
mine is out sitting in front of the camper , looks likes Christmas if you peek in the windows . All the charging cords, tire pressure monitor charger, android charger. Battery voltage thingy, dash camera running. Mx+ dongle light . Will sit for a few days . I dont worry about it .

when not out , parked at home. I unplug everything. It will sit for a couple weeks .

six months in unheated shop , I open my stabs.

Those are low numbers , wish I had that.

Sep 7, 2025 | 10:40 AM

Hootr

Thread Starter

Tuned

Joined: May 2017

Posts: 284

Likes: 42

From: Colorado

Thanks for the replies, I pretty much disconnected everything when I did the test.
I wasn't expecting to be that low, but glad it is.

Sep 7, 2025 | 11:13 AM

Texmax

Cross-Country

Joined: Aug 2025

Posts: 78

Likes: 22

Might want to check the Body control module or GEM, whatever you wanna call it, Mine was shorted to ground on my Excursion. My battery draw would kill the battery if I didn't drive it for a week or two. I put disconnects on both batteries as a patch until I figured out the real issue. BCM/GEM aren't easy to find and they go by VIN to match. Good luck.

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