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How much current should the XLR draw when the car is off?

RonXLR

RonXLR

Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2019
Messages
20
Location
Sweet Home OR
My XLR/V(s)
2009 XL Platinum
Had a dead battery. I disconected the cables and gave it a good charge. It was really low.
I then put my amp meter between the cable and the positive battery post and it is drawing 7.8 amps.
That seems like a lot. Nothing that I can get to feels warm and I don't hear anything going on.
Thanks
 
I think if you leave the meter on and check it in an hour it will be a lot less. I need the electric gurus to chime in but a lot of stuff goes to sleep after a while. There is a pretty big draw n the battery as it continually looks for the fob I have been told..
 
Thanks. I did check it later and it showed up as 4.2 amps. I'm not sure why the battery died (acually drained).
My charge meter says the alt is putting out 14volt. It's time to change the battery anyway. Maybe that will explain it.
 
These batteries will die if the car is not driven for about 2 weeks, best to put on battery tender if it’s going to sitting awhile! Also my battery was week this past spring, so I had to replace, it even though it was on a tender all of the off season time!


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RonXLR said:
Thanks. I did check it later and it showed up as 4.2 amps. I'm not sure why the battery died (acually drained).
My charge meter says the alt is putting out 14volt. It's time to change the battery anyway. Maybe that will explain it.
Click to expand...

Ron

With the new alternator replaced and a one year installed GM battery, my XLR dealer test my car with a 2.3 AMPS. out put.

He claims that it is acceptable, since I have some after market accessories install on my XLR.

A battery tender is used to compensate that difference, However that tender would not charge a dead or low charged battery.

IAN
 
For what it's worth, my take on this matter would be to first question whether the "XLR dealer" mentioned above is reading the meter correctly?

An acceptable current draw on a vehicle should be around .03 Amps (30 milli amps). Maybe he meant to say .043?? If the .30 amp draw can not be managed then up to .05 Amp draw could be acceptable. if the vehicle is driven frequently. A 1.0 Amp (never mind 2.3 Amps) draw is way too high for a vehicle in the "off" state By off, I mean after a a couple, three hours.

Many devices on the vehicles like the XLR have retained and parasitic draw for times well past turning the car off. Radio memory, memory seats, Navigation and On Star components initiate fractional power draws. Some systems such as On-Star wake up and sleep during down time.

I would consider a 100 milli amps draw as indicative of something gone wrong. Figure a 60 milli amp draw would pull almost 2 amps a day. If the battery is fully charged (and most are not) a battery, inside three weeks, will be down.

A typical battery with a 50 or 60 amp hour rating as would be applicable for the XLR will not stand up to excessive current draws mentioned here in this forum prior posts . Day to day drivers, probably yes, but infrequent to weekend drivers not so much.

Bill
<body id="cke_pastebin" style="position: absolute; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden; left: -1000px;">I've come across this many times.
The acceptable current draw should be around 0.03Amps. If that can't be achieved upto 0.075-0.1 can be acceptable if the vehicle is driven most days.
</body>
 
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