ecometer drain

[birdman]

Hi, My '08 LB is on it's 4th battery and the dealership finally figured out what was eating the batteries. The batteries started to fail following the installation of the ecometer. The ecometer continues to draw a serious amount of electricity even when car is parked. The ecometer display shuts off a few seconds after the key is out but it continues to draw the battery down. I have to remember to unplug it each time I park. Has anyone had this happen to them?

[R2D2]

Yep-I was sick awhile back and the car sat for 3 days. Wouldn't start. I haven't been having any more problems because over the winter I've been plugging in a block heater and battery tender.

Thanks for the heads up-I was really wondering what caused the drain problem.

Did they tell you exactly how many amps the draw was?

R2

[birdman]

I think he said 12?

[Palmer812]

12 amps is a HUGE draw. I don't have one but someone here that does should measure for themselves.

[Sidicas]

He probably meant 12 Volts... There's no way that little thing could be pulling 12 amps...

[birdman]

Added to the drain of my toyota security system it eventually wears the battery down until it dies. It takes about a month for the battery to go dead with normal use of the car. CT Scott mentioned that some Dodge cars using the ecometers are having the same experience. I wonder if someone in the club who has a car like mine with the security system and an ecometer could check theirs and report back? I would hate to disconnect the ecometer if it turns out not to be the cause of the drain. It's possible the technician used the ecometer as an excuse when they couldn't figure out where the real problem is. They could have told me the truth. I don't know.

[yaris-me]

I have a PLX Kiwi and I had battery failure. I keep it unplugged.

[Palmer812]

All you need to check it is a decent multimeter. A $20 one from Sears will do. Remove the ground cable from the battery. Turn the meter on and set it to DC amps and put 1 lead on the negative battery post and the other lead on the battery cable that you removed. That will show you how many amps are being drawn by your car. You can start unplugging things while watching the meter to see if anything changes. Just make sure you have the doors closed so the interior light is off. I don't know about the Yaris but most cars draw less than .1 amps at rest.

[Hershey]

the '09 5 door battery died when it sat for 3 days with the E.M. plugged in during some cold winter days / nights . Took it to dealer and said it something we left on . The ECO-METER was in the car when the battery was tested at the TOYO service center . Said the battery was fine . Didn't specify if it was the E.M. , but probably thought it was the source for the draw . The '09 had the flashing security light on dash as well .

[BLH]

I doubt it was 12 amps. That would be a lot of heat. 12 Amps X 12 Volts =144 Watts.

[bobalou1]

I have the ecometer and had the came problem. Contacted the company and they had me send it in and they upgraded it so the discharge doesn't happen, Havent had a dead battery in a year and keep it hooked up all the time.

[Hershey]

called ECO-METER and told them of dead battery . They said they're aware of the draw on the battery when car is off and that earlier 9100 units are the source . So , sent in the ECO-METER at my cost and sent me a new one that has been modified so not to drain battery when not in use . Took about a week for them to return new 9100 . Got it hooked up earleir today . Wait and see if any affect on car battery . Thanks for the head up BIRDMAN .

[1stToyota]

Slightly OT, but has the SCII ever had battery drain issues, or is this mainly an ecometer thing?

[127.0.0.1]

Originally Posted by 1stToyota

Slightly OT, but has the SCII ever had battery drain issues, or is this mainly an ecometer thing?

the SGII has no drain issues.

[talnlnky]

Originally Posted by 127.0.0.1

the SGII has no drain issues.

ditto

i'm surprised that the company would make such a bad error in designing the EM. Glad they have it fixed now.

12amps is the draw you would expect from lights of some sort, or even a CD player/deck. even 1.2amps would be more power than i'd expect the EM to use when fully powered up. anything more than half an amp would surprise me.

newer cars like the yaris should have like 5miliamps worth in draw after you turn the car off.... it'll take awhile to drop that low, but the computers go into sleep mode and then the draw drops very low. Older cars (pre-computers) would literally have no draw, cept for the in dash clock which would take less than a miliamp.

[1stToyota]

Originally Posted by 127.0.0.1

the SGII has no drain issues.

That's good to know. Never thought I'd actually buy a SGII for fear that I'd be pegged as a hypermiler or going for the sleeveless sweater look...

...but I'll probably be doing a lot more in town driving and a lot less freeway driving, soon, so it might be pretty handy to have.

[talnlnky]

Originally Posted by 1stToyota

That's good to know. Never thought I'd actually buy a SGII for fear that I'd be pegged as a hypermiler or going for the sleeveless sweater look...

...but I'll probably be doing a lot more in town driving and a lot less freeway driving, soon, so it might be pretty handy to have.

it has actually helped me with freeway driving some too. I don't know if i'm a hypermiler, but I do keep track of my mpg's, and i've averaged over 40mpg for the life of my vehicle (my 90 average is low due to long trips @ 70mph in which i don't care about mpg's but rather 7 vs 8 hrs).

it's easy to save a bit of gas on highways by going up to speed, then using the throttle sensor on the scanguage to find out exactly how much you can back off the gas before you lose your momentum. Usually you can back of one or two clicks without any ill effects (after you reach cruising speed).

It's much easier to do in flat stretches than on rollercoaster highways.... i'm usually going over mountain passes and through gorges, but it still has helped a lot.... when I care to pay attention to it.

[1stToyota]

Originally Posted by talnlnky

it has actually helped me with freeway driving some too. I don't know if i'm a hypermiler, but I do keep track of my mpg's, and i've averaged over 40mpg for the life of my vehicle (my 90 average is low due to long trips @ 70mph in which i don't care about mpg's but rather 7 vs 8 hrs).

it's easy to save a bit of gas on highways by going up to speed, then using the throttle sensor on the scanguage to find out exactly how much you can back off the gas before you lose your momentum. Usually you can back of one or two clicks without any ill effects (after you reach cruising speed).

It's much easier to do in flat stretches than on rollercoaster highways.... i'm usually going over mountain passes and through gorges, but it still has helped a lot.... when I care to pay attention to it.

I'll be switching from about 70% flat freeway driving to 100% stop about every mile or so for 4-way stopsigns and traffic lights. It'd be a real challenge to keep my 40+ average. I don't employ any real hypermiler tecniques or tactics, just flow with the traffic but don't do the jack-rabbit starts or the aggressive lane switches that's become so popular now. About $160.00 at Autozone, but I'm pretty sure that I can get them to beat that price.