Distro block always on, will it drain battery?
02-22-2009, 12:01 PM
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Distro block always on, will it drain battery?
Check out the pic I attached. It shows my distro block as still reading the voltage even though my car is turned off. Will this drain my battery over time, or is it too insignificant of a draw to be worried about?
02-22-2009, 03:44 PM
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no, its an led. led's can run forever off of a button battery so you have nothing to worry about unless you plan on leaving your car sitting for the next 120 years
02-22-2009, 05:23 PM
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All LEDs are not created equal. The only way to know if it will drain your battery is if you do a current draw on it and determine what kind of current it will pull. A "traditional" LED doesn't use much power, but once they start getting "super bright" current draw has to be considered. I've seen 7 segment displays that pull ~20mA per segment. It looks like you have ~10 segments lit, which could mean 200mA - enough current to kill the battery in less then 5 days.
Are you sure it doesn't shut off after 5 minutes or so of stable voltage? Most of those little dispalys go to sleep once voltage stablizes. You have to be tricky though to catch them sleeping, as any lights or door lock activity will wake them up.
As far as hooking up a relay, I would assume it is getting it's power from the main power cable and that there is a ground. You could wire the ground through a relay -
Pin 30 - ground
Pin 87 - Output to block
pin 86 ground
pin 87 switched igntion source
Some of these little things also have remote turn on leads - if you have one you can hook it to your radios remote out.
You could also, possibly, hook the ground up to a sensor that only allows it to turn on when you can see it (when the hatch is open, or when the seat is folded down, etc). I can't really tell where it is in the car but I'm sure there is a way to make it "smart".
Are you sure it doesn't shut off after 5 minutes or so of stable voltage? Most of those little dispalys go to sleep once voltage stablizes. You have to be tricky though to catch them sleeping, as any lights or door lock activity will wake them up.
As far as hooking up a relay, I would assume it is getting it's power from the main power cable and that there is a ground. You could wire the ground through a relay -
Pin 30 - ground
Pin 87 - Output to block
pin 86 ground
pin 87 switched igntion source
Some of these little things also have remote turn on leads - if you have one you can hook it to your radios remote out.
You could also, possibly, hook the ground up to a sensor that only allows it to turn on when you can see it (when the hatch is open, or when the seat is folded down, etc). I can't really tell where it is in the car but I'm sure there is a way to make it "smart".
02-23-2009, 04:45 AM
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All LEDs are not created equal. The only way to know if it will drain your battery is if you do a current draw on it and determine what kind of current it will pull. A "traditional" LED doesn't use much power, but once they start getting "super bright" current draw has to be considered. I've seen 7 segment displays that pull ~20mA per segment. It looks like you have ~10 segments lit, which could mean 200mA - enough current to kill the battery in less then 5 days.
Are you sure it doesn't shut off after 5 minutes or so of stable voltage? Most of those little dispalys go to sleep once voltage stablizes. You have to be tricky though to catch them sleeping, as any lights or door lock activity will wake them up.
As far as hooking up a relay, I would assume it is getting it's power from the main power cable and that there is a ground. You could wire the ground through a relay -
Pin 30 - ground
Pin 87 - Output to block
pin 86 ground
pin 87 switched igntion source
Some of these little things also have remote turn on leads - if you have one you can hook it to your radios remote out.
You could also, possibly, hook the ground up to a sensor that only allows it to turn on when you can see it (when the hatch is open, or when the seat is folded down, etc). I can't really tell where it is in the car but I'm sure there is a way to make it "smart".
Are you sure it doesn't shut off after 5 minutes or so of stable voltage? Most of those little dispalys go to sleep once voltage stablizes. You have to be tricky though to catch them sleeping, as any lights or door lock activity will wake them up.
As far as hooking up a relay, I would assume it is getting it's power from the main power cable and that there is a ground. You could wire the ground through a relay -
Pin 30 - ground
Pin 87 - Output to block
pin 86 ground
pin 87 switched igntion source
Some of these little things also have remote turn on leads - if you have one you can hook it to your radios remote out.
You could also, possibly, hook the ground up to a sensor that only allows it to turn on when you can see it (when the hatch is open, or when the seat is folded down, etc). I can't really tell where it is in the car but I'm sure there is a way to make it "smart".
02-23-2009, 07:11 AM
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Virtually all the fuse blocks I have seen with readouts will stay on for a period of time so give it 10 mintues then take another look
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02-23-2009, 11:37 AM
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as mentioned above, most decent led voltage read outs will stay on only short while and will reactive either on timed or more likely, when it seens a big enough change in the votage.
meaning, if you start the car, it will come on to reflect it, or if its on, and then you turn off the car, it should turn on to reflect it as well.
give it a few minutes and go back and read iy, and see if its still on?
meaning, if you start the car, it will come on to reflect it, or if its on, and then you turn off the car, it should turn on to reflect it as well.
give it a few minutes and go back and read iy, and see if its still on?
02-25-2009, 04:25 AM
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as mentioned above, most decent led voltage read outs will stay on only short while and will reactive either on timed or more likely, when it seens a big enough change in the votage.
meaning, if you start the car, it will come on to reflect it, or if its on, and then you turn off the car, it should turn on to reflect it as well.
give it a few minutes and go back and read iy, and see if its still on?
meaning, if you start the car, it will come on to reflect it, or if its on, and then you turn off the car, it should turn on to reflect it as well.
give it a few minutes and go back and read iy, and see if its still on?
Knukonceptz wrote back to me though, here is what they said:
Originally Posted by Bill, at Knukonceptz
The LED runs of a current sensing circuit. If you have any draw within the electrical system, that LED will come on. So if you use a keyless entry, the voltage change with the unlock and dome light activation would trigger that LED. You can add a toggle switch on the ground side, but is should not be required. Even if on for a week straight, the LED draws so little it would not kill the battery.
Bill
Bill
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