2011 Ram 1500 Laramie - Drained Battery Computer Issue?

I Have A Truck said:

I recently purchased a used 2011 1500 Laramie with 98k miles. The previous owner failed to tell me that the truck was experiencing a draining battery issue. I should have known something was up when he said that he had to replace the starter. But I received a good deal on the truck, so i decided to keep it.

Here's the issue: When I disconnect the battery and recharge it, the battery will remain charged until after I drive the truck a few times. However, if I charge the battery while it is still connected, then the truck will continue to drain and will be dead in several hours. My assumption is that the issue is computer related since the issue seems to reset when I disconnect the battery.

I also assume that it is not a short circuit / grounding issue, because draining would persist regardless of resetting the battery. Just wanted to see what you guys think?

I also hooked up a voltage data logger to see what the battery was doing overnight. Here's two graphs, the first when I "reset" the battery and there are no drainage issues. The second was after driving the truck a few times and then letting it sit.

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I Have A Truck said:

@CVX20 makes sense, thanks.

I used the method that @OCDTech recommended (thanks again). The weird thing is that I didn't encounter any voltage drop among any of my fuses (maybe all of my multimeters are not sensitive enough). Almost all of my fuses registered as 0 amps.

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I Have A Truck said:

@averageguy that was a good suggestion. I bought a load tester and the battery passed.

@CVX20 I think there's a good chance that it's a relay. But at this point, I'm dropping the truck off to a Dodge service center to fix some recalls, so I'm going to have them take a look.

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