Battery drain by radio circuit - Toyota Yaris Forums

dslc · 08-02-2010, 03:03 PM

The circuit which includes the radio and cassette player in our old '99 Yaris is drawing almost 200 milli-amps when the engine is switched off.
Naturally, if the engine isn't run for a day or two, the battery can go flat - not good.
(From what I've read, a car - when all the electrics are switched off - shouldn't draw more than 50 - 75 mA from a battery?)
When I take out the relevant fuse - a 15 A - the drain on the battery drops to about 20 - 40 mA, if I recall correctly.
The down-side of taking out the fuse is that I can't have any music when I drive. But, perhaps more importantly, this circuit also powers the headlight beam indicator - so it would be good to get it fixed.

Has any one experienced this sort of problem before? I just wanted to make this enquiry, before trying to delve any deeper myself. The car is fairly old.
Is it likely that the radio is the culprit?
I need to double-check what else is on the circuit.

severous01 · 08-02-2010, 03:30 PM

in my experience it's the cig lighter...it's often attached to the circuit and usually i find a gum wrapper or something in there. just enough to pull current but not blow the fuse kinda thing...

any way, check the C&D printouts and find out what all's on the list for that circuit and start unplugging stuff. see what makes it drop most n leave it unplugged, or trace it out for a short

dslc · 08-02-2010, 04:21 PM

Cheers. I'll try to look into it tomorrow.

08-02-2010, 03:03 PM	#1
dslc Drives: '99 Yaris Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Ireland Posts: 4	Battery drain by radio circuit The circuit which includes the radio and cassette player in our old '99 Yaris is drawing almost 200 milli-amps when the engine is switched off. Naturally, if the engine isn't run for a day or two, the battery can go flat - not good. (From what I've read, a car - when all the electrics are switched off - shouldn't draw more than 50 - 75 mA from a battery?) When I take out the relevant fuse - a 15 A - the drain on the battery drops to about 20 - 40 mA, if I recall correctly. The down-side of taking out the fuse is that I can't have any music when I drive. But, perhaps more importantly, this circuit also powers the headlight beam indicator - so it would be good to get it fixed. Has any one experienced this sort of problem before? I just wanted to make this enquiry, before trying to delve any deeper myself. The car is fairly old. Is it likely that the radio is the culprit? I need to double-check what else is on the circuit.

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08-02-2010, 03:30 PM	#2
severous01 Drives: 2008 yaris, stripped, red Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: SE Texas Posts: 977	in my experience it's the cig lighter...it's often attached to the circuit and usually i find a gum wrapper or something in there. just enough to pull current but not blow the fuse kinda thing... any way, check the C&D printouts and find out what all's on the list for that circuit and start unplugging stuff. see what makes it drop most n leave it unplugged, or trace it out for a short

08-02-2010, 04:21 PM	#3
dslc Drives: '99 Yaris Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Ireland Posts: 4	Cheers. I'll try to look into it tomorrow.