Battery disconnect switch

Tiny
CDPOW
  • MEMBER
  • 2005 CHEVROLET COLORADO
  • 5 CYL
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 85,000 MILES
Parasitic battery drain. Spent $675.00 on fixing with no luck. So installed Summit Racing's battery brain disconnect switch. Worked great until I had to park truck for a week and then it would not start. Had juice but not enough.

What is my next step?
Sunday, February 2nd, 2020 AT 10:00 AM

3 Replies

Tiny
STEVE W.
  • MECHANIC
  • 12,998 POSTS
What was fixed that didn't help? Are there any other issues besides the battery drain?
Do you have any aftermarket items like remote start or alarms on it, or a different radio?
The old standby test was to connect an ammeter in between the negative battery post and the cable, normal reading would be very low, less than 60 milliamps or so, then start pulling fuses until the draw went away, then you looked at the circuit that fuse feeds and traced out the problem. It still works, but on the modern vehicles that have high amperage fuses that feed the lower circuits you need to be sure to start with the lower amp fuses and work your way up.
A better method uses a good multi-meter to measure the voltage drop across the fuses and see which one is active when it shouldn't be. As even faster method involves the use of a thermal camera, you simply look for the warm spots with the vehicle shut off.

Reading this might give an idea or two:
https://www.2carpros.com/articles/car-battery-dead-overnight

This video shows the way to use a meter to measure the current across the fuse without removing them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRcj1fQcWwU

link to the conversion charts for the various fuse types.
https://www.powerprobe.com/fuse-voltage-drop-charts
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Sunday, February 2nd, 2020 AT 12:10 PM
Tiny
CDPOW
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
Never mind. Had battery tested at O'Reilly's and it was bad and under warranty so I got a replacement. Hopefully the Summit Racing disconnect is not at fault. My mechanic had been certain that the battery was good. We shall see. Thanks for responding.
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Monday, February 3rd, 2020 AT 5:32 AM
Tiny
STEVE W.
  • MECHANIC
  • 12,998 POSTS
I would still track down the drain, however it is your vehicle. Good luck with it and thank you for using 2CarPros.
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Monday, February 3rd, 2020 AT 6:35 AM

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