2007 Prius Parasitic Bat Drain Different

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by earthskyshadow, Mar 2, 2025 at 4:51 PM.

  1. earthskyshadow

    earthskyshadow New Member

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    I wanted to start a new thread because this one is a real puzzle, and I have not seen anyone having this same issue, exactly.
    I have a parasitic drain on my 12V battery. I have had the battery topped off, and measured it at 12.79V.
    The next morning I read the battery at 11.5V.
    Did a current draw two days ago with a full battery. I had 20mA. Arrg! My question is, what is happening here?
    If I cannot read any substantial current draw, then how can I isolate a parasitic draw.
    This is a brand new battery that I had charged completely full before installing it.
    When the vehicle is in operating mode, the battery voltage jumps to 13.5V.
    My background is, I am Electro-Mechanical Engineer who works in the Solar Industry, and I work with lead acid batteries all the time, and I am very familiar with charge/discharge testing.
    I am not claiming I have all the answers, I am not a trained mechanic, just letting you all know that some of the basics have been covered.
    I suspect that there may be a loose connection somewhere that draws power intermittently due to thermal expansion, that would make sense. What puzzles me is that it would have to be a substantial drain to deplete the battery from full to 50-60% overnight.
    Any thoughts, advice, or suggestions?
     
  2. Dion Kraft

    Dion Kraft Member

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    With any battery drain scenario you need to hook up your DVOM and set it to amps to see the flow of current it is drawing. Then you start removing fuses to see if you can pinpoint the circuit in which the draw is affected. You can go another way is to disconnect a wiring loom and see what that affects or does not affect. Its a process but a tedious one. Sooner or later you will get results as to the circuits affect the readouts. Its a good idea to document the reads and look them up on a wiring schematic to see what components are in that chain. Oh one last thing...check the 12v battery to make sure it is not getting weak overnight....that would make all your checking one big waste of time. If unsure..replace the AGM battery
     
    #2 Dion Kraft, Mar 2, 2025 at 5:53 PM
    Last edited: Mar 2, 2025 at 6:00 PM
  3. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    We can talk about systems that can drain the 12v when car is sitting for a while later.

    But first, I submit something must be wrong with your 12v... Is it an Optima? They often resell defective batteries as brand new. You should be seeing 14volts when car is in ready mode and our general rule is 12.8v is minimum when car is off, which you're just under after topping off?

    Are you using a smart charger with significant amps? If you're only using a trickle charger than the answer is you never fully charged the brand new battery. A normal voltage reading after a full charge should be up in the 13v range and then gradually dropping down into 12.8v or above after days or weeks without use and not connected.
     
  4. earthskyshadow

    earthskyshadow New Member

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    Hi Dion. That is all good basic information, but it does not answer my question. Any ideas how to trace a drain that pulls over an amp over night, but my current meter is only picking up 20mA? If I were to see what I would expect, which would be 1.2-1.5A, then I definitely would have started pulling fuses, and would not have posted anything here. I have a different problem in that my current draw is only 20mA. It is a puzzle. This started about a year and a half ago, when my 12V battery went dead. I drove it for a good 6 years before that without issues. I replaced the battery a year and a half ago. Then, a year later that battery died. I returned it on warranty, and the new battery lasted for about 6 months, then it died. I revived it, and started looking into this. I read many of these threads, and then decided that I would start with a fresh battery, from a different manufacturer, charge it up, and then start searching the circuits as you suggested, but this new battery is draining over night, and I have kept it charged up with a trickle charger. I have yet to see a current drain more than 20mA. Doors closed, windows up. What gives? I have a much more sensitive meter that I can borrow from work, and after I have charged the battery up again, then I will try looking with that meter, but if it is still 20mA, what then? I cannot look for something that isn't there.
    Appreciate your patience.
     
    #4 earthskyshadow, Mar 2, 2025 at 6:18 PM
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 2, 2025 at 7:34 PM
  5. earthskyshadow

    earthskyshadow New Member

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    Hi Prius Camper, you bring up a very good point to consider. The original battery that lasted 6 years was an optima. The two that I had replaced were bought at a local store, which they looked up for the Prius based on the VIN. They were Diehard AGM. I have since become convinced that Diehard is not a good brand. The newest battery I have is a Legend AGM. The charger I used is a smart charger, which can charge at 15A and tops the battery off at 13.7V. It is interesting that you say the DC charger should be pushing the voltage to around 14V. This does not solve the problem, but it does offer some interesting thoughts. The Legend AGM is rated at 46Ah. When I checked this morning and it was down to 11.6V, that would spec out at around 50% SOC. That would mean that over-night, approximately 20hours, that averages out to 1.13A draw. Would the Optima battery be that significant of an effect? Unless something turned on in the middle of the night that caused an even bigger draw? I am wondering about my FOB. I checked the battery, and it looks good. My neighbor has a Prius as well, he drives it all around. where i park my car. Would his FOB waken my car, temporarily, which would be a significant current drain. He sometimes drives by my driveway multiple times through the day and night? Any thoughts?
     
    #5 earthskyshadow, Mar 2, 2025 at 6:34 PM
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 2, 2025 at 7:35 PM
  6. earthskyshadow

    earthskyshadow New Member

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    Just out of curiosity, does anyone know if a battery kill switch would work for the Prius? I have been pulling my terminals off when the car is not in use to save the battery. It would be good to use a remote to do that if possible, that is; until i solve the problem.
     
  7. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    I saw a camper van on youtube that had an OEM kill switch on the negative terminal of the battery and I immediately wanted one. So if you could find a good aftermarket one please post the link here.

    And now that we know your new battery has been fully charged with a good charger let's focus on what's draining it down...

    The car not being at 14v when car is in ready mode is the symptom that's most odd to me... The charge sent to the 12v by the hybrid battery is known for being a very weak low amp charge, which is why I suggest people give their Prius 12v a full charge with a good charger in the darkest coldest part of the winter.

    I'm not sure what could be draining your 12v system but it appears to be doing so both when power is on and power is off. Maybe you could look at your car through the lens of a thermal camera and see if there's anything that's running hot?
     
  8. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    I observe many different charging voltages on the 'temporary' volt meter I have connected to my Prius for more than a few years via the console 12 V plug. I haven't observed 14.x V when running for a long time and the only time I observe it is when I haven't had a chance to externally charge the 12 V in many weeks. In fact, when I see 14.x V, it prompts to do an external charge.

    I most often see 13.2, 13.5, and 13.8 V in normal day-to-day use. So I don't think that's an issue.
    Assuming we are talking about an SKS-equipped car, it might cause your car to wake up, but only if they actually walked up to within about 2-3 feet of one of the front doors or the hatch. In any case, it should quiesce reasonably quickly after that event and unless he is constantly walking past your car all night I don't think that's it.

    If you do have SKS, you could try pressing the 'Key' button below the steering wheel into the 'in' position to disable the SKS. You would then need to lock your car with the button on the remote.

    The only other thing you might try is seeing if you can film a timelapse of your ammeter overnight to see if you can catch the current jumping up from 20 mA and see what that current is, for how long, and when. That might help answer some of the unknowns.
     
  9. MAX2

    MAX2 Active Member

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    There are devices for monitoring battery voltage.

    You can connect it to the 12V battery terminals and monitor the battery status.

    It is important to understand that this device will not indicate a specific leak location. Current leakage is cut off only by successively removing fuses for different systems.

    [​IMG]
     
  10. MAX2

    MAX2 Active Member

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    The problem is that when the battery is disconnected, the trunk door closes magically and cannot be opened without 12V power supply.
     
  11. MCCOHENS

    MCCOHENS Member

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    Have you turned off the key fob activation overnight to see if that is the problem? There is a button below the wheel at the bottom of the dash. This is too easy, but worth trying. If not here is my idea.
    It is a pain but maybe worth it. Pull a few fuses, maybe 3 or 4 overnight and check the battery voltage in the morning. Sooner or later you should find where the current drain is going by elimination.
     
  12. earthskyshadow

    earthskyshadow New Member

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    That is really great advice! thanks so much! I'll try that.

    Interesting device. I'll look into it. thanks for the advice.

    Maybe, that could be fruitful. Not sure that there would be enough current to see thermal, but you never know. Worth a try.
     
    #12 earthskyshadow, Mar 3, 2025 at 9:50 AM
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 3, 2025 at 2:20 PM
  13. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Yeah... But I've spent so many years climbing into the back of Prius to release the hatch latch when a 12v is dead, I barely even remember that as a problem.