D3 battery drain

[bizkit]

My battery has been dying on a regular basis if I don't drive my 2004 tahoe every 7 days or so. I repalced the gmos 04 last week with a new one and battery died again. Took to the dealership and they said the d3 was pulling 765 miliamps. When they pull the fuse to the radio it goes down to 16 miliamps. I called crutchfield where I got it and they said I will need to send it back to them and they would replace the main mother board. Is this a common problem with the d3's are just mine. I don't know anything about this type of thing, I take it that 765 is a very high number. Any suggestions?

[installermarc]

no, 0.7 amps is a very small number, and is probably spot on for the d3 to keep memory. here are some things to check-

 

1)have the battery checked by a NON DEALER (pep boys, auto zone, etc..) to see if you have a dead cell. if you have a digital multimeter you could check yourself by looking at battery voltage (at the battery) while cranking, and you should see no more than 2 volts change. if you do, the battery needs replacing.

 

2)check the alternator. again, check at the battery and you should have at least 13 volts with the engine running and the headlghts and a/c off.

 

if you are still in doubt, take the d3 out and replace with the stock radio and see if your problem is still there (i'll bet it is) and if you need to, take it back to the dealer then. most dealership's service departments like to blame aftermarket equiptment for problems because they do no understand them, and do not have a service manual for 2004 tahoes w/ pioneer avic-d3's. they love to point the finger because it is easy. coming up to you or calling you and saying you need to spend $180 bucks (or more) for a new battery with installation is hard.

[bizkit]

Thanks for the reply. I took truck to autozone and they said the battery was fine. They also checked the alternator. So you say 765 miliamps is not that much. I don't know enough about this stuff. I did not have this problem with battery drain until I got the new radio. A vehicle should last more thatn 7 days without the battery going dead. I think I should take the factory radio and plug it in and see what I am getting then. If it is not reading high then, it must be my d3, right? If it still reads high then what do I look into next since it is not the d3.

[hottwhyrd]

your battery terminals should be sanded and tight

and check the factory ground coming from the battery

[bizkit]

I think I found the problem to my battery draining. Took back to installer today and trouble shooted for 1 hour. Even unhooked radio completely and still had a large mliamp draw. Come to find out we checked the stock bose amp fuse. What was happening was the amp was not powering down even when vehicle was off. Installer tied the amp wire into a relay and the ignition wire so the amp will only power on now when the ignition is on. After he did that we checked the draw and it was great. So I hope that solved the problem. I am going to let the truck sit until next Saturday and see if I continue to have a dead battery after truck sits that long.