Parasitic drain

[Batram]

I'm having a similar battery drain issue as others yet different. If I leave my '13, 1500 for 5-6 days the battery will be completely dead and truck won't start. At the same time, it's currently -30c outside and the truck starts fine without even being plugged in (as long as I drive it every day). I pulled the negative cable and tested it. It's drawing over 3 amps when shut off. I tried pulling all the fuses and nothing seemed to make a difference with the amp draw. I've read that the fuel pump relay can be an issue and is soldered into the bottom of the TIPM so can't be tested without removal of the TIPM. The battery is less than a year old and I don't hear any noises coming from anywhere when the truck isn't running. Any thoughts?

 

[62Blazer]

Did you let all of the modules "go to sleep" before testing it? You usually have to make sure all the doors and such are shut and let it sit for some time to let all of the modules power off. If you do indeed have a 3 amp parasitic draw that is pretty big. Would suspect the battery would dead after just a couple days at that rate.

 

[RamDiver]

I'm having a similar battery drain issue as others yet different. If I leave my '13, 1500 for 5-6 days the battery will be completely dead and truck won't start. At the same time, it's currently -30c outside and the truck starts fine without even being plugged in (as long as I drive it every day). I pulled the negative cable and tested it. It's drawing over 3 amps when shut off. I tried pulling all the fuses and nothing seemed to make a difference with the amp draw. I've read that the fuel pump relay can be an issue and is soldered into the bottom of the TIPM so can't be tested without removal of the TIPM. The battery is less than a year old and I don't hear any noises coming from anywhere when the truck isn't running. Any thoughts?

When you say all the fuses, did that include the hidden radio fuse?

And as 62Blazer mentioned, have you closed all the doors and waited for everything to sleep?

.

 

[Batram]

I let the truck sit for about 30 min before I did anything. I even checked the hidden radio fuse, on the drivers side since I heard that could be a cause.

 

[turkeybird56]

Does your 2013 Have an Interior fuse box and if so, did U check those fuses? ALSO, on fuses, did U just "pull" fuses and check or did U pull "RELAYS" also?

 

[Batram]

It just has the fuse box under the hood. I pulled the relays as well. I pulled everything that wasn't bolted down, haha.

 

[HEMIMANN]

I just bought a battery maintainer instead of fooling around pulling fuses and such. Also got AGM instead of flooded wet cell. It helps some.

Be sure to get a battery MAINTAINER - not a trickle charger. Trickle charger is stupid, will keep charging after full charge is reached. Boils batteries.

 

[62Blazer]

To be honest, I really think you are missing something. A true 3 amp parasitic draw is very big and should be easy to find. A vehicle with nothing on should only read around 0.05 amp or less when everything is in sleep mode. I also wouldn't think a 3 amp parasitic draw would take 5-6 days to drain the battery.....I would guess more like the battery would be dead overnight at that level. The batteries on these are usually rated around 80 aH (amp hours), so 80 divided by 3 = 27 hours to completely dead, and less time to get low enough to not start the engine. A parasitic draw that takes 5-6 days to drain the battery (maybe not completely dead, but enough to not start the engine) would be very small, like maybe 0.10 - 0.30 amps. I suspect what is happening is that the truck is not fully in sleep mode and showing you 3 amps. That is so big it just overshadows the 0.10 amps or so decrease (i.e. you simply don't notice that small of a drop on the meter).
Fuel pumps are usually always on a fuse or relay. You should be able to look at the diagram under the fuse box lid and see what fuse is the pump. Would expect one of the bigger fuses, like 30 amp or so.

 

[KansasArt]

When you pull fuses & relays it sometimes can ‘wake up’ systems when re-energized, leading to false positives.

 

[Batram]

To be honest, I really think you are missing something. A true 3 amp parasitic draw is very big and should be easy to find. A vehicle with nothing on should only read around 0.05 amp or less when everything is in sleep mode. I also wouldn't think a 3 amp parasitic draw would take 5-6 days to drain the battery.....I would guess more like the battery would be dead overnight at that level. The batteries on these are usually rated around 80 aH (amp hours), so 80 divided by 3 = 27 hours to completely dead, and less time to get low enough to not start the engine. A parasitic draw that takes 5-6 days to drain the battery (maybe not completely dead, but enough to not start the engine) would be very small, like maybe 0.10 - 0.30 amps. I suspect what is happening is that the truck is not fully in sleep mode and showing you 3 amps. That is so big it just overshadows the 0.10 amps or so decrease (i.e. you simply don't notice that small of a drop on the meter).
Fuel pumps are usually always on a fuse or relay. You should be able to look at the diagram under the fuse box lid and see what fuse is the pump. Would expect one of the bigger fuses, like 30 amp or so.

I'm definitely missing something. That's why I'm asking, haha. From what I've read, the fuel pump relay is soldered into the bottom of the TIPM.

 

[jws123]

Did you have the battery tested? sometimes they can short internally and self drain you can also leave the battery disconnected next time its going to sit and see if it starts upon re connecting. Also do you have any aftermarket led lights installed? Have had nothing but issues with them any time i get a car/truck in with them installed with a drain issue its always the culprit.

 

[RamDiver]

I'm definitely missing something. That's why I'm asking, haha. From what I've read, the fuel pump relay is soldered into the bottom of the TIPM.

According to this site, the fuel pump is fuse #F70.

Ram 1500, 2500, 3500 (2013-2018) Fuse Diagram • FuseCheck.com

Fuse box diagram (fuse layout), location and assignment of fuses and relays Ram Trucks 1500, 2500, 3500 / Dodge Ram (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018).

fusecheck.com

.

 

[caulk04]

I'm not sure of your method, but it seems like you're letting it sleep THEN disconnecting the battery and putting your meter in line. That won't get you an accurate account, many things wake up and stay up for a while.

Put your meter inline measuring amp draw, then put it to sleep with all doors latched and locked and hood latched. Once it's all settled down, check the amp draw and then use another meter to check voltage drop across fuses.

As soon as you disrupt a circuit in modern vehicles, something will wake up.

 

[62Blazer]

I'm definitely missing something. That's why I'm asking, haha. From what I've read, the fuel pump relay is soldered into the bottom of the TIPM.

Keep in mind that a typical relay does not offer any circuit protection like a fuse does. A relay will always draw power from a fused source. So even if the relay is somehow hard-soldered into the circuit there should still be a fused power source feeding it. As mentioned above try the F70 fuse location, or simply look at the diagram that should be on or below the fuse box cover.

The voltage drop across the fuses is a good way to test for this versus actually pulling fuses because it won't wake up any systems. Do a search on the 'net or YouTube, but basically unhook the battery and check for the amps between it and a body ground. Then take another meter (set on volts..usually in the millivolt range) and touch each side of the fuse. If there is zero volts across the fuse that circuit is dead. If you read any voltage (i.e. even 0.040 volts) there is power going across that circuit.

 

[Batram]

According to this site, the fuel pump is fuse #F70.

Ram 1500, 2500, 3500 (2013-2018) Fuse Diagram • FuseCheck.com

Fuse box diagram (fuse layout), location and assignment of fuses and relays Ram Trucks 1500, 2500, 3500 / Dodge Ram (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018).

fusecheck.com

.

Weird. Thats not what my fuse box looks like. It looks like this one;

 

[Batram]

Did you have the battery tested? sometimes they can short internally and self drain you can also leave the battery disconnected next time its going to sit and see if it starts upon re connecting. Also do you have any aftermarket led lights installed? Have had nothing but issues with them any time i get a car/truck in with them installed with a drain issue its always the culprit.

I do have led lights installed but I puled the fuses for them as well and it didn't make a difference. I'll try disconnecting the battery cable and see what happens after a few days

 

[Batram]

I'm not sure of your method, but it seems like you're letting it sleep THEN disconnecting the battery and putting your meter in line. That won't get you an accurate account, many things wake up and stay up for a while.

Put your meter inline measuring amp draw, then put it to sleep with all doors latched and locked and hood latched. Once it's all settled down, check the amp draw and then use another meter to check voltage drop across fuses.

As soon as you disrupt a circuit in modern vehicles, something will wake up.

I disconnected the battery first, then came back after 30 min or so and tested the fuses.

 

[caulk04]

I disconnected the battery first, then came back after 30 min or so and tested the fuses.

I don't follow.

Can't check for draw with the battery disconnected and if you just reconnected it, many things will be active so you can't find a problem.

Low hanging fruit; do you have anything plugged in to your 12v power port or obd2 port?

 

[Mister Luck]

Does your 2013 have a couple of fuses on top of the battery for the alternator ? Could be a bad diode in the Alt

 

[62Blazer]

I disconnected the battery first, then came back after 30 min or so and tested the fuses.

When you say disconnected the battery, did you pull the negative cable, connected the meter in line, than waited 30 minutes? Or did you disconnect the battery and just leave it unhooked, than came back 30 minutes later and connected the meter? If you did do it this way, as soon as you hooked up the meter (same is reconnecting the battery) it would wake everything back up.
One way or another, after you disconnect the battery and hook up the meter (and leave it hooked up), you should periodically see a drop in the amps as modules go to sleep. Even if you have a parasitic draw the modules that are still awake will be drawing current and will go away and reduce the amp reading, eventually leaving only the parasitic draw.
I will say it's great that somebody is actually doing some trouble-shooting and trying to diagnose the problem. However there is just something that doesn't add up, and think you are maybe not quite doing the procedure correct and getting some false numbers. Again, the reason I say this:
If you had a true 3 amp parasitic draw the battery would likely go dead overnight, and not take 5-6 days to go dead. If a parasitic draw took 5-6 days to drain the battery I would only expect to see maybe a 0.1-0.3 amp parasitic drain. This means if you are seeing 3 amps then either the vehicle is not truly in sleep mode or you are reading the wrong thing or something. Or maybe the meter isn't reading correct?
Maybe a quick check. Disconnect the negative battery and put the meter in line. Simply open and close the door so the interior light goes on and off and see what the amp reading says....you should be able to see the amp reading fluctuate up and down as the light turns on and off. Keep in mind you need to keep the amp meter connected the entire time.