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Old 09-15-2019, 04:34 PM   #1
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Join Date: Mar 2019
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Average miliamp draw

Hello everyone. Ive been searching this forum and others related to my batteries draining while sitting for a period of approx 3 weeks. I've removed all my batteries and tracked down a parasitic draw on the bus but I cant find any information on how much the average miliamp draw is on a typical bus while it is not running. I have an older ford ranger and I know it's miliamp draw when sitting is around .45 miliamps but can someone please tell me what the average is for a bus? I dont have any added electronics yet. After running through my fuses I'm still at 1.45 mA, which is down from the initial 3.25 mA I had initially. Just trying to get an idea of where this thing is supposed to be when resting. Ive checked and ran through the outside fuse box as well as the inside one below the dash. This is a 2000 International Amtrak. Am I missing something? Thank you all. Cheers.

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Old 09-15-2019, 04:50 PM   #2
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Year: 2007
Coachwork: Thomas Built
Chassis: Minotour
Engine: Chevy Express 3500 6.6l
Do you mean Amps or milliamps?

I only have smaller vehicle experience, but I think that it’s a pretty uniform draw to keep the ECM memory. That 30-50 milliamp number is probably about right
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Old 09-15-2019, 06:32 PM   #3
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Only real way is measure with an ammeter.

And remember, even fully isolated battery will self-discharge

% per month depends on chemistry and age

Very unhealthy to let it sit anywhere but Full for any length of time.
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Old 09-16-2019, 12:13 PM   #4
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All i know is that the multimeter said 3.22 or so until i pulled one of the fuses. Then it dropped to 1.35. Ive run through all the fuses in both fuse boxes and i don't know if this is the typical draw on a bus at rest not running anything.
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Old 09-16-2019, 12:40 PM   #5
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Engine: Chevy Express 3500 6.6l
How long does the battery keep a charge?

If you had it set on the Amp setting then you found a big draw. Of course if you’re still drawing 1.35 Amps you have another one.

IDK your bus. A lot of vehicles have a keep alive time period where the ECM (and possibly other computers) are still active. You could also have other draws that are normal, like if you have a door open you could be running a door open light.

You need to make your bus sleep. Everything off. Key out. All door closed. Have your multimeter on Amps and hooked up in-line on the ground. Then you let it sit for a half hour. At the point you can check.
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Old 09-16-2019, 02:43 PM   #6
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Location: Orange County, CA
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Year: 1990
Coachwork: Crown, integral. (With 2kW of tiltable solar)
Chassis: Crown Supercoach II (rear engine)
Engine: Detroit 6V92TAC, DDEC 2, Jake brake, Allison HT740
Rated Cap: 37,400 lbs GVWR
My engine's DDEC II ECM draws 8 mA at rest. I'm using two LSL Products Ultra Trik-L-Start 12V-12V battery maintainers to keep the start batteries always fully charged: they draw their power from the house batteries that are always fully charged by the solar panels.

John
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Old 09-16-2019, 04:50 PM   #7
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Just one would be enough
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