Aftermarket stereo is draining the battery

[Jeff7]

Alright guys, I know it's a bit of a long shot to find info about this on this site since my setup is completely aftermarket but I figured it can't hurt to ask, so...

I'm at a loss and need some advice. I have a sound system in my truck, it's been there for many years without this issue until I purchased a new deck. With this deck if I leave my truck parked for a week my battery is dead, which sucks since I leave town for work a lot. I confirmed it to be the deck by leaving it unplugged the last time I left town, came back and it was fine.

I tried just removing the face plate, still killed the battery. I double checked the wiring to make sure the power and ignition power weren't mixed up, so no power without the ignition on. I tested my REM line at both amps and neither are on without the ignition. Any suggestions on what it could be aside from just the deck being poorly designed? Anything I can do other than pulling the fuse and having to redo all the settings every time?

The deck is a simple single DIN, no GPS or anything, it's a JVC KD-AR959BS. Im pretty sure the previous deck that didn't give me issues was an Alpine, I only upgraded so I could have Bluetooth and hands free calling.

Thanks.

 

[df2x4]

Sounds like a manufacturing defect of some sort to me. That's a pretty low-end deck (not necessarily a bad thing, just an observation), and it's discontinued now, so you might have issues getting it replaced depending on where you bought it. I'd try, though. Sounds to me like you've narrowed it down to an issue with the deck itself.

 

[Jeff7]

Yea... I actually do have extended warranty that I bought from the place, found it when I was cleaning out my glove box today, so I might have to give them a call.

And no offense taken on you saying it's low-end, thats why I bought it haha. Needed to upgrade to bluetooth and hands-free calling with a new law that had been put in place. But that's what baffles me, what can this simple deck be doing to drain all that power.

 

[RawbDidIt]

For what it's worth, I second df2x4's diagnosis.

 

[Jeff7]

Yea thanks man, I emailed JVC this morning and the guy got back to me right away which was nice. He said that the deck with have roughly a 0.5 mV draw that can drain the battery over time. So I emailed him back saying that makes sense but there's no way that should completely kill a brand new large truck battery in 2 weeks, he has yet to get back to me.

I just figured I would ask and see if anyone had any other suggestions here, electrical systems suck to troubleshoot so there's a good chance I missed something haha. I also forgot the mention that I did test the alternator (idle with full load) and it's all good, battery is new, and the voltage drop on negative and positive sides of the system are both acceptable. I actually found a general how-to video but the guy was showing it on a 350 Vortec so it was exactly what I needed.

 

[RawbDidIt]

Well let us know what you find out, I'd like to know how JVC's customer service is.

 

[Jeff7]

Yea for sure, it drives me nuts when I find a post with what I need but the guy doesn't put in his final solution haha. I'll try to make a final post whether it's conclusive or not.

 

[RawbDidIt]

That aggravates me as well, but since I don't have this issue (yet, knocking on wood), I mostly just want to know if my diagnostic skills are any good, or if I should focus on making enough money to pay somebody else to do it for me.

 

[Jeff7]

So I spoke with the guy on the phone, I explained the whole situation. He agrees that it's odd that the battery is dying, especially since the deck doesn't have a GPS or anything that could be staying on. He did say that newer units are now designed to draw significantly less power when off though, and he also thinks it would be very odd for the deck to be faulty somehow. But I told him I have extended warranty until 2018, so since it is very unlikely that the deck is actually faulty I should be very sure before trying to get it replaced. Aside from getting it replaced the other options are to pull the fuse or install an in-line switch to completely turn it off when I need to. So the plan is to pull the fuse the next couple times I leave town to be certain that nothing else is draining the battery (ya never know, electrical systems can be crazy), so if I can prove that my battery will not die at all with the deck disconnected then I'll know for sure. Whether or not it's actually faulty or just a poor design that pulls too much power is a different story though, and he said if the battery is good then to call him back and we can try to sort it out. I'm leaving town again on Friday so we'll see when I get back.

 

[RawbDidIt]

If you have a fuse that just kills the stereo, go for it, otherwise, just to make sure it is the stereo, pull the harness out of the back of the head unit. If that fuse goes to anything else, then the parasitic draw could be coming from something else on that circuit. Alternatively, if you have about an hour tomorrow night, follow the instructions here, and try it with the radio plugged in, and unplugged. That would give you a definitive answer.

http://www.wikihow.com/Find-a-Parasitic-Battery-Drain