BabyZiLLa

iTrader: (7)

Does anyone know the parasitic draw of a stock Z?

I've pulled the fuses for every piece of aftermarket electronics I have in the car and can't find why my draw is so high..

The lowest I've been able to get it is 80-90 milliamps. I was under the impression most cars are around 3-40 milliamps.

350Z_Al

Yah, 80-90mA seems quite high... I never put an ammeter on my Z, but on most other cars that is a bit high.

You're on the right track pulling fuses...

I'd suggest putting your ammeter in between your battery and the car's main power wire... Start pulling fuses one by one until you find the big culprit.

crg914

iTrader: (5)

I dont' know about a Z, but the spec for a E65 7-series is 40mA or less after 70 minutes. There's no way a Z should be higher than that.

How long are you waiting for the car to go to 'sleep'?

BabyZiLLa

iTrader: (7)

Usually only 30 min or so... But given that my battery is dead within 3-4 days if I don't drive it there is obviouslly a sizeable draw. I will give it a little longer tommorow for everything to go into sleep mode and see what the draw is like.

I started at 150ma parasitic draw. I've worked out what the draw is down to the 80ma mark. Just haven't nailed that last 80 down yet.

AmateuRN

iTrader: (7)

Have the EXACT same issue. I've been fighting this for 3 years now. If the car sits for 3 days without the trickle charger it's completely dead.

I've tried pulling fuses, I've asked 4 times on G35Driver over the last few years and I have not been able to trace down this gremlin. I know out problem is the same, but doubt the culprit is the same.

Good luck to you! It's a pain in the ***.

BabyZiLLa

iTrader: (7)

Frustrating isn't it? Worst part is, despite my car being pretty modified electronically, this issue just started out of nowhere one day logn after the modifications. Didn't coincide with any work that had been done.

My #1 problem right now is I can't find a picture of the interior driver foot panel fuse label. I lost my door so I have no idea what fuse is what and the service manual doesn't show. Genius.

If anyone has an 06 and wants to take a picture for me that would be awesome.

KPierson_

Should be around 35mA with nothing on. It's possibly you have a bad diode in the alternator that is connected to the battery with no fuse.

Typical areas of high draw in Nissans is a bad radio or a bad OEM amp.

When you are pulling fuses make sure you pull them all, even the ones behind the battery.

The "good" thing about electrical draws is that there is SOMETHING drawing the power and you should be able to narrow it down and eliminate it.

350Z_Al

Let's bring this one back from the dead...

After the car being stored for the winter, I am now having the exact same problem.. 80mA draw at rest..

Starts at about 140mA, then after a few seconds it's down to 80mA ish and remains there.

I have pulled EVERY FUSE under the hood and in the car. I have also removed EVERY single piece of aftermarket electronics, from the alarm, to the audio.

The draw disappears when I pull the 40a BCM fuse under the hood, or when I disconnect the power connector to the BCM itself....

Short of replacing the BCM, I'm out of ideas.

KPierson_

Try keeping the main power plug plugged in to the BCM and disconnect the other harnesses to see if the consumption drops. What you are trying to determine is if the electronics in the BCM are drawing the current or if it is something that that BCM powers.

350Z_Al

I actually did this after posting. The draw goes away after disconnecting ALL the connectors.... I ran out of time, I'll have to spend more time on it tomorrow night.

Does anybody have pin outs for each connector on the BCM?

chaparro78

iTrader: (2)

Have had this issue as well. I keep a trickle charger on mine when it's not being driven

themadhatterxxx

iTrader: (9)

What EMS are you using?

chaparro78

iTrader: (2)

UTEC

SSNOS

iTrader: (9)

Don't know if this has anything to do with it.

I noticed alot of stray current going to all the interior lights. Only noticed after swapping stock bulbs for LEDs. LEDs are more sensitive so even with the car off, they are stay dimmly lit and thats when I noticed all the stray current. You would never notice with normal bulbs as it takes much more energy to get them to light up.

However, even with the LEDs staying dimmly lit, the car sat in storage over the winter without any kind of battery tender and it started right up in the spring.

KPierson_

It's common for solid state devices to not completely shut off if there is no load on them. They let current "leak" across them.

However, when you place a load (like a light bulb) in the circuit the device is able to clamp down on it's output and completely stop current flow.

As you mentioned, the amount of current is extremely low and shouldn't cause issues unless its sitting for a very long time. It's possible that if you place a 1000 ohm resistor in parallel with one of the interior lights that stays on dim that it will "fix" the problem and actually draw less current then it does now.

themadhatterxxx

iTrader: (9)

How interesting...me too and I've had that problem. I set my remote starter to start when it detects that the battery reaches 12 volts. Atleast now I don't have a dead car battery when I want to drive it once or twice a week.

350Z_Al

I've read about this too...... Which sucks, because I have a utec that is going to be installed pretty soon...

Rated Z

Here's the lowdown:

Complete Alpine Audio System installed July 2010
Kinetik 1800 Power Cell Auxillary Battery installed
Hell Roaring Technologies Battery Isolator installed
JL Metawire throughout
Soundstream 6 Farad Capacitor

Since that install shortly thereafter I installed the UTEC.

I've since gone through three batteries.

Stock battery was dead in less than two months (first time I went on vacation for a week) car wouldn't start.

Went to Wal-Mart, bought an energizer battery with a 3 year replacement free warranty in late August 2010. Stored the car October 1st, 2010. Used a battery tender tickle charger throughout the winter, while starting the car weekly and letting it run for 30 minutes. Installed, Vortech V3, CJM Stage 1, Stillen Headers, JWT clutch/flywheel combo over the winter. Went on vacation in spring and didn't start the car for a two week period and the second battery is now dead.

Kept my receipt <no brainer> and returned to WM to get the replacement. Got the replacement and within two weeks (did start the care for 7 days, out of town) the battery was dead (confirmed with the techs on-site that both energizer batteries I got were fully charged before I left).

Back to Wal-Mart for the third energizer battery, love the WM return policy for that. That's where I sit now.

Took the car back to the installer of the audio and asked him to run some tests and after ripping out the entire audio installation (I thought this was the issue) and confirming the alternator diodes were all sound, here's his breakdown:

.153 milliamps draw on the battery while sitting
.080 BCM
.010 Viper Alarm
.063 UTEC

He's managed to drop the BCM draw (Honestly, need to get a detailed explanation on this point) to .040. However, based on the .003 - .040 normal draw on the 350z mine was three times as high.

On another note, he verified that it took 45 minutes for the BCM draw to die off (go to sleep in other words).

So to conclude this wonderful adventure, the UTEC in my case is the major source of the "Parasitic Power Loss/draw" on my battery and is double the norm.

It has so far cost me a $100 for the replacement battery which I've returned twice and $400 for the labour of searching for the F*cking problem. Not to mention gas costs and public transportation costs.

Maybe that's why they've pulled the UTEC for the 350z, I wonder if the boys at UTEC are aware of this one!

And without further rambling: The resolution I've discussed with the audio installer (Thanks to Joe @ Future Shop South Keys for this) is to install a kill switch that will disable the UTEC when the car is off and will be triggered by the key fob from the Viper alarm. We are going to use the Factory Service Manuals to figure out which wire(s) to tap on the ECU wiring harness to make this happen. I'll update with more info when I have it.

PS This can all be avoided if someone would donate a Haltech Platinum and a couple of dual wideband sensors to my cause for all of the trouble!!!

UTEC w/UTI software is still an affordable and fairly straightforward way to tune your 350z/G35.

KPierson_

Using the Viper alarm to control power to the UTEC is not a good idea - too many variables which could cause the vehicle to shut off while moving.

If the car is going to be stored for longer then a week disconnect the battery. For periods shorter keep a trickle charger on it. I have gone through Optima batteries at a pace of one per year since I got my UTEC. I keep a hardwired quick disconnect for my trickle charger under the hood so I simply plug the battery in when I park my car in the garage.

Not an ideal solution, but at least I know my car is going to start every 6 months when I drive it....

Rated Z

So to conclude this wonderful adventure, a bypass kill switch has been installed and intercepts power from the ECU wiring harness going into the UTEC so it can't draw on the battery when the car is off. I've left the car for almost 6 days with this switch turned off and the car started with no issues. Hopefully, this is the end of this problem. As far as the exact wiring that was done, I'm waiting on a response back from the tech as far as what he tapped etc...I'll know more soon!

Switch off = Car won't start
Switch on = game on