Struggling to locate battery drain

[Cygnus A]

I've been struggling to locate a battery drain issue on my 2019 rebel.

The draw is ~.2amps after everything settles.

I've followed several procedures from YouTube where you connect a meter between the battery and start pulling fuses. None of the fuses under the hood had an affect so it must be the ones inside the vehicle. I pulled each of those one by one but this was a challenge due to location. A few of them completely killed the power and plugging them back in shot the draw back to 5-8amps so I would have to wait another 10-15 mins to start again.

Are there some likely candidates ?

 

[Largefarrva]

.2 amps isn’t going to kill your battery. It’s likely just power to your infotainment system to retain your settings and time. Or something similar.

 

[firecadet613]

If I go a few weeks without driving I put the battery tender on it. But that's likely what you'd need to do with any modern vehicle.

 

[OCD Solutions]

I'm on battery #3 now after 6 yrs and 138k miles. I've experienced the random dead battery twice now and each time, a new battery resolved the issue.

The most obvious glitch I saw prior was that the radio would continue playing after I switched the truck off. The display powered off after 45 seconds like it should but the sound was still coming from the speakers. I believe this happens more often than I catch and a new battery is just more forgiving.

 

[Cygnus A]

.2 amps isn’t going to kill your battery. It’s likely just power to your infotainment system to retain your settings and time. Or something similar.

The truck is dead every day if I dont leave a charge on it or disconnect the battery. .2 amps is 10x higher than it should be.

 

[Cygnus A]

If I go a few weeks without driving I put the battery tender on it. But that's likely what you'd need to do with any modern vehicle.

Mine is dying within a day.

 

[Largefarrva]

The truck is dead every day if I dont leave a charge on it or disconnect the battery. .2 amps is 10x higher than it should be.

Where are you getting that it’s 10 times higher than it should be?

The stock battery has an 83 Amp-hour rating, which means that if the amp draw was 1 amp then it would take 83 hours to drain it. At .2 amps it should take 415 hours (or approximately 17.3 days) to drain it.

I just now realized that your truck is a 2019 so if this is the original battery and it’s dead in the morning you have a battery that needs to be replaced because it’s too old. The days of a battery lasting for up to a decade has long passed with all the electronics that are in modern vehicles.

I’d suggest having your main battery load tested as well as the aux battery. .2 amp drain isn’t going to kill a good battery overnight like you’re describing.

 

[kapinallinen2]

Where are you getting that it’s 10 times higher than it should be?

30 milliamps is the spec. But yes, if he has not replaced the battery, that would be the first thing to try.

 

[n8zcc]

I've been struggling to locate a battery drain issue on my 2019 rebel.

The draw is ~.2amps after everything settles.

I've followed several procedures from YouTube where you connect a meter between the battery and start pulling fuses. None of the fuses under the hood had an affect so it must be the ones inside the vehicle. I pulled each of those one by one but this was a challenge due to location. A few of them completely killed the power and plugging them back in shot the draw back to 5-8amps so I would have to wait another 10-15 mins to start again.

Are there some likely candidates ?

Using an inline amp meter and pulling fuses is a good approach, but not the most effective method. Why, because removing a fuse and reinserting it will cause any modules on that circuit to reset, and they will take some time before going into a deep sleep. If you have an abundance of time on your hands to wait a couple of hours between fuse pulling, then have at it.

I have a better method that requires a good-quality DVM from any of the well-known brands. Measure the voltage drop across each fuse. Notice that the fuses provide access to each contact on the top of the fuse. Use this table to convert the voltage drop across the fuse into a current value.

Like Kapinallinen2 mentioned, a sleeping vehicle should have a very low constant current draw with a periodic current spike when the FOB sensing circuit wakes up to look for a FOB signal.

 

[JBNCCCB]

When the truck is parked be sure the key fob isn't left in the truck and is located a few hundred from the truck. Don't park in the garage and put your fob in the utility room.

 

[firecadet613]

I just now realized that your truck is a 2019 so if this is the original battery and it’s dead in the morning you have a battery that needs to be replaced because it’s too old. The days of a battery lasting for up to a decade has long passed with all the electronics that are in modern vehicles.

@Cygnus A if it is your original battery just replace it.

I had to replace mine a few months ago, even died after keeping it on the charger. But it had a good LONG run!

 

[Cygnus A]

@Cygnus A if it is your original battery just replace it.

I had to replace mine a few months ago, even died after keeping it on the charger. But it had a good LONG run!

I replaced the battery. It was dead again within 2 days. All the videos I've seen on how to troubleshoot this say modern vehicles should draw .02-.03 amps (20-30 miliamps). Mine is 10x higher than that.

 

[n8zcc]

I replaced the battery. It was dead again within 2 days. All the videos I've seen on how to troubleshoot this say modern vehicles should draw .02-.03 amps (20-30 miliamps). Mine is 10x higher than that.

Assuming you have a healthy and fully charged battery, it will hold approximately 80 amp-hours of power. To drain the battery in 2 days or 48 hours, you would have a constant battery drain of roughly 3.4 amps per hour. That is a lot of power being used somewhere and should be relatively easy to find using the method I detailed in post #9.

I'm not sure where you got the 20 to 30 milliamps of draw for a sleeping vehicle. The current should be around 50 to 80 milliamps, with a periodic spike because of the wake-up of the FOB circuit, which sniffs for a key FOB signal.

 

[FastBlackRam]

When the truck is parked be sure the key fob isn't left in the truck and is located a few hundred from the truck. Don't park in the garage and put your fob in the utility room.

As recently as a few months ago I took a week and a half long trip to Italy and left my truck in the garage with 3 key FOBs within 15 ft of the vehicle. Started right up when I got back. I also park it this way every night and sometimes over the weekend without doing anything with it. Never an issue. Note that I am on my third battery. First one started to struggle after days of not starting it after about 2.5 years. Replaced with Interstate AGM and issue solved. 3 years later battery was around 4 volts after rear window leaked and fried my RF hub the night of Hurrican Milton with 90 mph wind and 10+ inches of rain overnight (I had to leave it outside that night). 3rd battery (Duralast AGM) been in there almost a year later with never any special battery treatment. Maybe I am just lucky.

 

[RebelXX]

I’ve had about 3sets of batteries replaced since purchase on 2/11/25. 2025 Ram 1500 RebelX.
I heard FOB nonsense and bad luck that I’ve had multiple bad batteries from the factory. They still have no idea why they die. They drain down to +/- 4 volts. They’ve replaced fuses, shifter, uconnect failed trying to update software, moon roof motor and more. All in 3 months of purchase in 2025.
Why???? Anybody why????
Phantom drain from mysterious module when turned off? They tell me it’s not that big of a deal. Not out of the ordinary.

 

[n8zcc]

I’ve had about 3sets of batteries replaced since purchase on 2/11/25. 2025 Ram 1500 RebelX.
I heard FOB nonsense and bad luck that I’ve had multiple bad batteries from the factory. They still have no idea why they die. They drain down to +/- 4 volts. They’ve replaced fuses, shifter, uconnect failed trying to update software, moon roof motor and more. All in 3 months of purchase in 2025.
Why???? Anybody why????
Phantom drain from mysterious module when turned off? They tell me it’s not that big of a deal. Not out of the ordinary.

Your local RAM service department doesn't get paid to find the cause, only to fix it.

 

[firecadet613]

I’ve had about 3sets of batteries replaced since purchase on 2/11/25. 2025 Ram 1500 RebelX.
I heard FOB nonsense and bad luck that I’ve had multiple bad batteries from the factory. They still have no idea why they die. They drain down to +/- 4 volts. They’ve replaced fuses, shifter, uconnect failed trying to update software, moon roof motor and more. All in 3 months of purchase in 2025.
Why???? Anybody why????
Phantom drain from mysterious module when turned off? They tell me it’s not that big of a deal. Not out of the ordinary.

Lemon law it. The battery on my '19 lasted over 6 years!