Parasitic Battery Drain e53

[Bmwe5320023.0]

Disconnected the charging USB ports with voltage display, and the draw is showing between 26 and 34 milliamps, pretty decent!
Wonder where the rest is coming from

[X5chemist]

Does it bounce back and forth? It needs to be steady. Pull F60 out of curiosity. Plus F11.

[Bmwe5320023.0]

No it doesn't bounce at all. It's just the different values I get based if I select A or mA on the multimeter.
Tried pulling fuses F11 and F60, no change at all.
I pulled every single fuse. The only difference was produced by the fuses I described. I got the battery tester, and if the tester is good, my battery is bad, probably from all that draining etc...

[Bmwe5320023.0]

[X5chemist]

Ouch, that will do it too. Unsteady voltage supply.

[Bmwe5320023.0]

This test was with battery disconnected. Theb I reconnected the battery cable to do the cranking and charging test, and redid the battery test. Still pretty bad I figure.



Now just need to but a new battery. Anyone tried optima yellow top?
Its marketed as being able to maintain a draw of lots of accessories and being able to be discharged without getting damaged.

[X5chemist]

I don’t have experience with a yellow top. My ‘83 C10 with a ZZ4 motor uses a red top. High compression cranks. It has no problems keeping charged with a 165 amp alternator. It can sit for weeks with no use.

[workingonit]

I've had an Optima Yellowtop in my squareback camping trailer since I built it in 2011-2013. My first camping trip in it was in the fall of '13, but I got it the previous fall, installed it just prior to my first camping trip, without charging it in-between.


At that time, I wasn't always on top of my batteries' maintenance, which I learned to do over the years. I was only keeping my dual batteries charged on my drag-race Chevelle, after I removed the alternator in '02, and relied on charging between rounds at races (using a garage-type battery charger, 10/40/200amp), and using a BatteryMinder 1.33amp charger/maintainer between race dates, in my garage. But the other cars/trucks and my trailer's batteries were not maintained full-time (I had two camping/RV trailers, four cars, and three trucks then).

After awhile, I slowly learned to check the condition of idle batteries, especially in winter, but not before having to replace a few. But not the Yellowtop, which is still with me.

I've let the Yellowtop "die" twice before,

• 1) by not checking the battery state for 3 months one winter (before I was using a maintainer), and
• 2) when we demolished the house (and left the garage without power for 3 months, also in winter), while living in our travel trailer in the driveway, as the new house was built/installed/created (a long story).

Each time, I've brought the Yellowtop back to life by using high-frequency chargers (ones that desulfate in pulses), and also using the same type of conditioning maintainers I now use on all my vehicles (except whatever the wife is driving). When I've brought the YT back to life, it stays healthy for quite awhile. It doesn't get to 12.9v like it once did, but 12.6v and "100% charged" readings on my automatic charger is good enough for my needs. At most, at camp, I'll run the two computer case fans on my side-vents for 8 hours each night, and maybe listen to the stereo for an hour, but that's hardly any draw at all. This battery is 11+ years old, and if I can keep it charged, I expect a few more years from it.

My vehicles usually have chargers on them daily: the first HHR Panel battery lasted 10.5 years, my '04 Chevy HD's battery 11, my wife's GMC truck battery only 9, and her Cobalt's battery lasted 12, before I replaced it last year (despite never having it on a charger!, since she never would unhook it). And of course, the X5 has been on one since I traded for it. I guess I've been lucky with batteries, lately.

I can recommend the Yellowtop, at least for the way I've used then neglected it, but I've also had a Redtop fail (and a $400 racing Gel battery, too), but that was due to mis-charging them when racing...note: do not let others handle your battery chargers at the dragstrips!). So I guess Optimas are OK.

And I also recommend using trickle charge/maintainer/desulfators on any battery, when not daily-driven, to prolong battery life.

[Bmwe5320023.0]

Nice! Yellow top is similar to red top but has more reserve capacity and ability to be deep cycled, which would be great for my purpose, or anyone with battery drain issues
https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/op...-vs-yellowtop/

[EODguy]

Maybe hold off on the Optima batteries....
I was a huge fan and ran them for years (96-11), but since I've been overseas some of the other car sites I'm on have said that in the last 2-3 years Optima was bought out and they have been failing at higher rates than the lead-acid ones....

Don't know how true this is but maybe ask someone who buys a ton of batteries that will give you the straight scoop. (Probably not a battery shop)

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