Battery Drain (Page 6/7)
Patrick APR 14, 02:01 PM

quote
Originally posted by seajai:

That's 150mA, 15mA would be .015



Thanks for the info and the lesson.

Looks like I do have a battery drain then after all. No wonder the battery keeps going dead if I don't drive this car at least once a week. Hmmm... now to track down where the drain is. (I'm going to guess it's a diode failure in the regulator/alternator, but I'm totally unfamiliar with Hyundai electronics.)


quote
Originally posted by Neils88:

Normal draw with everything shut down should be about 15mA.


[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 04-14-2016).]

carbon APR 14, 05:39 PM
Could always start the way you would for any other car... pull each fuse and use your meter as the fuse*, with the ignition off of course, and measure the current draw on each circuit. You should see a little on the circuit that powers the ECM and some on the circuit for the radio... everything else should be nearly dead or zero.

Starting with the hot lead on the alternator would be easy enough though...

* With the meter in the 10 AMP ammeter setting and the test leads connected to the correct contacts for measuring high current. You will blow the fuse every time if you try to measure current with the leads configured for measuring voltage, so don't do that.

[This message has been edited by carbon (edited 04-14-2016).]

Neils88 APR 14, 06:17 PM
Exactly what Seajai said.

Some cars do draw a little higher than 15mA. Not sure what the draw should be on the Hyundai, but 150mA is definitely too high.
Patrick APR 14, 11:11 PM

quote
Originally posted by Patrick:

Looks like I do have a battery drain then after all. No wonder the battery keeps going dead if I don't drive this car at least once a week. Hmmm... now to track down where the drain is.



I'm a little bit excited as I make this post...

In the Elantra there's a fuse box in the engine compartment as well as inside the car. I figured I'd start pulling fuses under the hood first as that's where the multimeter was connected to the battery. I pulled one fuse after another and nothing was making any difference with the .15 (150mA) reading... until I pulled the 30A power window fuse. The reading immediately went down to .01 The strange thing is... I don't have power windows in this car!

As if that wasn't good enough news... after I started the car I discovered that the blower selector, which was always stuck in the defogger position, now worked properly for the first time EVER. And I've had this car for eleven years!

There have always been a few electrical oddities with this car that I could never figure out. There's more to mention (plus I want to do some further tests), but I'll probably post about this in the "Other Cars" section of the forum.

I'm stoked. Thanks for your help guys!

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 04-14-2016).]

Neils88 APR 14, 11:19 PM

quote
Originally posted by Patrick:

I'm a little bit excited as I make this post...

In the Elantra there's a fuse box in the engine compartment as well as inside the car. I figured I'd start pulling fuses under the hood first as that's where the multimeter was connected to the battery. I pulled one fuse after another and nothing was making any difference with the .15 (150mA) reading... until I pulled the 30A power window fuse. The reading immediately went down to .01 The strange thing is... I don't have power windows in this car!

As if that wasn't good enough news... after I started the car I discovered that the blower selector, which was always stuck in the defogger position, now worked properly for the first time EVER. And I've had this car for eleven years!

There have always been a few electrical oddities with this car that I could never figure out. There's more to mention (plus I want to do some further tests), but I'll probably post about this in the "Other Cars" section of the forum.

I'm stoked. Thanks for your help guys!




The big question is....did you lose anything by pulling that fuse? It would be interesting to follow the wiring on that circuit and see where the short was. (150mA is still pretty minor, so it might be hard to locate on that circuit)

[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 04-14-2016).]

Patrick APR 14, 11:24 PM

quote
Originally posted by Neils88:

The big question is....did you lose anything by pulling that fuse?



I was wondering the same thing, and that's part of what I want to check further. I started the engine and everything else appears to be functioning fine (or even better than before!)... but it's too early to say for sure. I do have the wiring diagrams here for this car, so I'll be looking over them. But at this point I'm pretty happy.
Neils88 APR 14, 11:29 PM
I just scanned some Elantra wiring diagrams. The circuit runs from the under hood fuse, through the ignition switch, then to the power window relay at the under dash fuse box. Does your car have the relay? if so, I'd pull the relay and plug the other fuse back in just to see if the problem is still gone. Not that it really matters, since there doesn't appear to be anything else on the circuit (of course I guessed the year... )
Patrick APR 14, 11:34 PM

quote
Originally posted by Neils88:

Does your car have the relay? if so, I'd pull the relay and plug the other fuse back in just to see if the problem is still gone.



Thanks Neil. I'll check for the relay tomorrow morning.


quote
Originally posted by Neils88:

...of course I guessed the year...



No need to guess!


quote
Originally posted by Patrick Here:

I've been checking for a possible parasitic draw on my '94 Elantra.


[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 04-14-2016).]

Neils88 APR 14, 11:42 PM

quote
Originally posted by Patrick:

No need to guess



...that would mean I would actually have to read posts fully... For some reason today I have been answering lots of posts...but not actually reading them. I'm not sure why I'm missing all the details today!? I guessed mid 90's anyway lol
85 SE VIN 9 APR 15, 01:41 PM
Could it be somebody installed a fuse just because they found one missing and that created a path that wasn't intended to exist?