My daughter got linked to a site explaining parasitic drain on her Honda Element. We ran a bunch of tests and it's a challenge trying to figure out what triggers the higher than normal drain.
Apparently the computer needs some power but boosts that to around 200 ma depending on a system of doors and hatches opening and being left open. We ran some tests and recorded the differences then started the car, all going well, we thought.
Two days later the car wouldn't start (Battery 4 volts) so we must have interrupted the sequence in the wrong place. It didn't help that the battery was 11 years old.
One of the things that concerns me if the balance of anything electrical in a newer car. In the old days you spliced in a trailer light harness. Do that today and you fry a module. ($1,000 to $2,000).
Adding an ammeter isn't hard but are they available to detect normal draw and the low parasitic draw?
Will they mess with a module somewhere?
Apparently the computer needs some power but boosts that to around 200 ma depending on a system of doors and hatches opening and being left open. We ran some tests and recorded the differences then started the car, all going well, we thought.
Two days later the car wouldn't start (Battery 4 volts) so we must have interrupted the sequence in the wrong place. It didn't help that the battery was 11 years old.
One of the things that concerns me if the balance of anything electrical in a newer car. In the old days you spliced in a trailer light harness. Do that today and you fry a module. ($1,000 to $2,000).
Adding an ammeter isn't hard but are they available to detect normal draw and the low parasitic draw?
Will they mess with a module somewhere?
