Anyone know what current a stock 3rd gen draws from its battery when parked?



Just wondering how long one can be parked before risking a no-start.

Mine was parked for 5 days and it was very sluggish today, starter could barely turnover.
(3yo KJ so all its fruit probably draws more batt than base TJs).

I'll hafta go yank a terminal off & put an ammeter in the circuit to check soon.

I think your battery is on its way out. The current drawn when the car is off should be minimal. I left mine for over 3 weeks once and it started again without hesitation.

If you have a multimeter you can check the DC voltage when you park and then again the next day, there shouldn't be any detectable difference.

DC voltage was usually about 14.0V across the terminals straight after taking off charger,
then it gradually fell away to about 12.5V after a few hours - pretty normal.

Yeah, time to get a new battery.


Methink Verada sucks quite a bit of power after engine off too.
Fancy dimming interior lights (arrgh, can't manually turn them ALL off!),
5 doors' worth of klunk sucks about 10A+ each time it activates, plus
the stock alarm & keyless receiver must consume some energy too.

I ain't used to all this modcons!! :redface:

My weekend toy - that gets parked for 2 or 3 mths at a time, starts fine.
Then again its battery has an isolation switch on it, zero current drain.

If your battery is still good, the only thing i can think of is that you have been making really short trips before the 5 day park, and cranking your sterio to the max. Cos sterios can draw more than you can imagin. i was at a party once and they had this really ****ty sterio inside, so i reversed my car up the drive way and pumped the party with my tunes. sweet. But when i wanted to go home (about 2 hours latter) did not even kick over at all.

Back to my point.. if you where cranking your sterio during short trips your battry does not have time to recover. then again the most likely thing is that you battery is f**ked.

Then again i work at a car yard and sometimes we get brand new cars with new batterys that don't start.. so its anyones guess

Annoying thing is... battery only went like that after the car spent a day at Mitsu dealer
getting the CD unit pulled out. So yeah, half my soundsys is missing and the other half
ain't worth listening to :confused: so it won't be audio overuse.


Really need to install a dash voltmeter...
(TN had one)

A magna alternator is more than adiquate for even the biggest stereo/car options. It will still charge the battery fine even if you have everything on full blast, unless something is wrong with it.

Auto elecs can check how much current is being used while the car is off, have them check that and if above normal then its most likely not your battery. They will check this for free because its a 2 minute test

If your battery is still good, the only thing i can think of is that you have been making really short trips before the 5 day park, and cranking your sterio to the max. Cos sterios can draw more than you can imagin. i was at a party once and they had this really ****ty sterio inside, so i reversed my car up the drive way and pumped the party with my tunes. sweet. But when i wanted to go home (about 2 hours latter) did not even kick over at all.

Back to my point.. if you where cranking your sterio during short trips your battry does not have time to recover. then again the most likely thing is that you battery is f**ked.

Then again i work at a car yard and sometimes we get brand new cars with new batterys that don't start.. so its anyones guess


yeh i used to have a seriously powerful stereo in my old magna (1st Gen) and i would always leave it on pumping for 2hrs and it would always start first time, maybe i was just lucky or something. And i also dont drive my 3rd gen verada all week and it always starts on the weeknd without hesitation everytime first time.

cheers
jaz

yeh i used to have a seriously powerful stereo in my old magna (1st Gen) and i would always leave it on pumping for 2hrs and it would always start first time, maybe i was just lucky or something. And i also dont drive my 3rd gen verada all week and it always starts on the weeknd without hesitation everytime first time.

cheers
jaz

1 had a decient stereo, and ran it for a good 3 hours over the weekend at a car show and it started first pop... i have one of them useless mini batterys too.

1 had a decient stereo, and ran it for a good 3 hours over the weekend at a car show and it started first pop... i have one of them useless mini batterys too.

you mean a charade battery?
hows the sale of the charade going? Im still interested but couldnt be buggered driving long way to see it so if you ever in NSW let me know as my misus would love me if i got her a charade
cheers
jaz

battery is on way out, by the sounds of it mine starts after 2 weeks or so if i have it sitting there that long i usaully disconnect battery

could be possible that ur car could still b drainin the battery even when turned off. say ur boot light or somethin mite not come off when ur boot is closed. a quick visit 2 auto electrician should tell u this

yeh i used to have a seriously powerful stereo in my old magna (1st Gen) and i would always leave it on pumping for 2hrs and it would always start first time, maybe i was just lucky or something.
Stock Bosch alternator in my TN was rated at 85A I think.

I too gave the TN a nicer HU and that's fine... most audio don't draw too
much current *continuously* - even if you have separate amps maybe 5A max.
Any decent battery should pump at least 8hrs at that rate, and still start.

But managed to break the alternator's back when I modded the aircon to R134a.
Aircon clutch must draw about 10A... then I added TWO extra fans (total 3)
to the radiator & condensor. Those fans probably drew another 10-15A.

Running my supercold aircon AND headlights... 85A wasn't enough to keep up. :badgrin:

Can fit bigger alternators etc... but cheaper way was to disconnect 1 fan.
3rd fan not necessary unless its 40+degsC, and that'll be daytime (no lights) anyway.

could be possible that ur car could still b drainin the battery even when turned off. say ur boot light or somethin mite not come off when ur boot is closed.
I got 5 doors, no boot. :cool:

KJ's got all the fancy interior lighting (footwells, C-pillars, dome light, loadarea light)
that have soft on/off. Times like this, wish it was as simple as a basic switch.



a quick visit 2 auto electrician should tell u this

Don't need to, just take off a battery terminal and put an ammeter in between
terminal and battery. Good cars will have minimal current leakage eg 50-100mA.

Just gotta find 10 mins in the carpark with my multimeter. Been too busy lately
but will have to do it pretty soon and wondering what current readings
anyone else has found.

Anyone measured yours before?

Sorry guys, didn't get time to do any measurements.

Starting was very dodgy on Sat morning but it eventually started (clock reset to 12:00);
once it got going it was ok for the day. It gets pretty cold in the garage.

Sun morning it did the same thing again... but by then I already had a new Exide Premium
being charged up (always charge your new batterys before installing!) overnight.
Had to install it "quick" as the wife wanted to go for lunch. :doubt:


Oh yeah... learn to read the Date Code on your new battery too.
Buy the freshest stock you can find - mine was only about 3 wks out of the factory.