Is a .26-.27 amp draw enough to drain a battery?
- Thread starter AshleyQuick
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When my 2007 Ram Laramie started killing my battery in a couple days, I pulled the fuses and relays and it was still drawing 280-290ma. In desperation I tapped the fuse panel firmly with the handle of a large screwdriver, the drain abruptly dropped to 50ma. Battery stopped draining and it has been that way since. I have seen this condition in X-Ray equipment and consumer electronics. A bug or insect or mouse has the ability to become a resister. I assume that was my short.
i had a spider trip a fuse in our house... crawled into a socket and got fried a few times. when she was boiled dry it stopped and by then I knew where the problem came from and found her
How old, what make/model/year vehicle? If it is carbureted it could conceivably use only 2.7mA, to power a clock or radio memory, very minimal electronics, but if new enough to be electronic fuel injected, among those 3 it would be 0.27A in an "awake" state, or potentially 27mA in its long term, sleep state. If it is 0.27A perpetually in it's long term state, either you have a fault causing excessive parasitic draw, or your method of measuring is causing the vehicle to wake up.
Coincidentally enough, I'm chasing a parasitic drain of about 0.29 A (290 mA) on our car, and can verify that it does drain the battery over several days. I'm keeping the onboard charger plugged in until I can find the culprit.
Something's off here - these are not equivalent values.
27 uA = 0.027 mA = 0.000027 A
2.7 mA = 2700 uA = 0.0027 A
0.27 A = 270 mA = 270,000 uA
Typical dark current seems to be 20 - 40 mA.
If your reading is 27 mA (0.027 A), your current draw is normal.
If it's 270 mA (0.27 A), it's excessive and will drain the battery in a few days.
djr319 was another one of the drive-by mystery posters that come in with a big question but haven't been seen since nor logged on since the post.
Here's my theory - the OP's computer was an old mainframe running tubes and relays, and was run off an inverter powered by the OP's car's battery. The current draw was actually 270 A, which drained the battery in minutes. (I jest.)
