# parasitic draw or bad battery?



## Dieselard (Jan 2, 2012)

I have been noticing for the past 2 weeks that my Cruze has been turning over slower in the mornings then usual, and my charging voltage reads 15.1-15.5 volts constantly and will not lower. The past 2 years I had the car, it used to be a steady 13.8 or lower (charged battery) and I noticed something may be wrong.

I went the start it yesterday cold morning, (20 degress F) and it was VERY slow to start, and when it did, it stumbled and missed before it idled correctly (extremely slow crank) Thinking it was a bad battery I had advance auto load test it, they said it was fine and to recharge. After this it was driven for a 2 hour road trip with no problems

I went and unhooked all my amplifiers and everything aftermarket I installed on the car since I bought it. (2 amplifiers, minidsp, heated seats, HIDs) and left it overnight again. This morning same thing. Its on a charger right now and was low on a charge. 

Anybody run into this? Any advice?

I was thinking of a new die hard advanced gold battery at sears because I do not want to be stranded.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

Have the battery checked. 15+ volts on the display tells me the car is really struggling to keep the battery charged.


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## Robby (Mar 1, 2013)

If you don't have a VOM then just remove the negative cable overnight.
If a parasitic draw, it will crank normally once reconnected......if it is a internally failing battery, it'll turn slowly as you decribed.

As a battery reaches the end of its service life, it becomes resistant to 'giving its power out'(term used as example).....this is a result of 'sulfation', a naturally occuring event that is the result of discharge/recharge cycles from normal use.
Operators can hasten this failure by having equipment that draws at all times, car running or not.
This causes 'Deep Cycling' meaning the battery is down to about 70/80% charge at each startup, then at 100% at shutoff.
The cycle repeats every day and the battery ends up having a short lifecycle.

This will cause much debate but just about all premium brand batteries (Delco included) are essentially the same from a potental lifespan point of view.
Rob


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## Dieselard (Jan 2, 2012)

I hooked up a DMM (fluke) to the battery posts yesterday morning and put it on the "low' setting. It dropped to 5.5V on cranking. It was at 12.2-12.3V before i tried to crank it.

I will try that Robby.
Thank you.


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## Robby (Mar 1, 2013)

Since you have a meter, just pull the negative and connect from post to cable on the 20 volt DC setting.
Anything more than .3....three tenths of a volt DC is excessive........then, recheck with your add on electronics connected.......you may have something with a excessive memory draw.

Rob


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## newsguy99 (May 24, 2013)

Dead battery.. Just had the same thing happen.. However, mine wouldn't even turn the car over.. had to call for a jump start this morning. Autozone, Pepboys, and the rest will test the battery while its still connected to the car system, and running.. It'll test as the battery is good, and the alt. is turning out high voltage.

However, when taken to the dealership.. they remove the battery from the car, and load test it, with some sort of electronic thing... My battery tested with 0 cold cranking amps. (meaning the battery was D.E.A.D.)
After I got the jump, and was able to get moving.. the DIC showed 15.1 volts... So, with you saying you're DIC is showing the same thing, I'll conclude its a dead battery.

Cheapest I've found, is at walmart.. $100.00, my dealership has the 6 yr battery for 115, or the 7 yr one for 126... I took the 126 battery, and let them install it. (yes, they charged extra for the install)..

Check which battery you have as well.. I'm willing to bet, it'll be the 525CCA Like this one.


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## sx sonic (Nov 25, 2013)

Robby gave a great, basic test for checking parasitic draw vs bad battery.

The super low output while cranking does sound like a bad cell, can't hold its own under load.

If you have an amp clamp you could hook it around the negative cable, then cycle the key, get out and lock the doors. Current draw should drop to below .08A after several minutes (less than .05A/5 milli amps would be great). If that's the case parasetic loads are in check.

The same can be done with a multi-meter connected in series with the negative battery terminal and neg cable. Just be sure to have all loads like the fan, heated seats, volume off since most meters are fused at 20 amps and you don't want to exceed that.


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