[JimmyA]

The battery is new and after charging, the next day the battery is drained enough that the vehicle has barely enough power to start! Where is the first spot to check for power drain?

 

[RayVoy]

I just typed this in an other thread, I've copied and I'll paste here:

The only way to find it, is to insert an amp meter in series with one of the battery cables, note the current reading and start removing fuses. One at a time (replacing each one after it is removed) until the circuit drawing the current is identified.

If you have a truck with the auto HVAC, check the blower fuses first.

 

[JimmyA]

I just typed this in an other thread, I've copied and I'll paste here:

The only way to find it, is to insert an amp meter in series with one of the battery cables, note the current reading and start removing fuses. One at a time (replacing each one after it is removed) until the circuit drawing the current is identified.

If you have a truck with the auto HVAC, check the blower fuses first.

Good info, Thanks!

 

[Dana W]

I had both of the vanity mirror light switches fail in my '99 Suburban so they stayed on even when closed. Well, the switches worked fine, the part of the cover door that pushed the plunger switch down had broken off of both mirrors. Took me weeks to find it, even after I isolated the interior light circuit as the draining culprit. Then one night I had a need for something I had tucked up over the visor and was able to see the tiny bit of light leaking out from around the mirror cover door, something that was just not visible in the daylight. Those things hold two bulbs each, tiny but powerful. They'd kill a 850 amp battery in three days. Check everything that has a plunger switch, doors, glove box, under hood light, stuff like that. I also have a driver's door plunger switch that is failing. I have to wiggle it to get the dome lights to go off every couple of days. Recently the courtesy light time delay system got stuck and there was nothing I could do to turn off the dome lights. I pulled the ground cable off the battery. Once reconnected, all was well again. There must be a relay like devise in there that got hot and stuck.

 

[JimmyA]

I had both of the vanity mirror light switches fail in my '99 Suburban so they stayed on even when closed. Well, the switches worked fine, the part of the cover door that pushed the plunger switch down had broken off of both mirrors. Took me weeks to find it, even after I isolated the interior light circuit as the draining culprit. Then one night I had a need for something I had tucked up over the visor and was able to see the tiny bit of light leaking out from around the mirror cover door, something that was just not visible in the daylight. Those things hold two bulbs each, tiny but powerful. They'd kill a 850 amp battery in three days.

Bingo! The drivers cover is broken on it too! What did you do to disable the vanity lights? I'm out to see if the bulb can be pulled.

 

[Dana W]

Bingo! The drivers cover is broken on it too! What did you do to disable the vanity lights? I'm out to see if the bulb can be pulled.

Sorry, I did not see this earlier. No, the bulbs could not be pulled in mine, and the connector is probably up under the headliner somewhere. I simply cut the wires behind the light frame, taped them off, and ordered some new visors without the mirrors & lights. It's been a couple of years so I don't remember who I got them from. Now google returns no help either.

 

[JimmyA]

I broke the bulb and unless there is a fire hazard, I will leave it that way! So far that has cured the battery drain issue.

 

[Dana W]

I broke the bulb and unless there is a fire hazard, I will leave it that way! So far that has cured the battery drain issue.

Hah, yeah. I did that too. The bulbs were so damned hot I tried to pull them with needle nosed pliers. That failed to work for some reason.:happy: Sparks flew all over me. I think those bulbs were molded into the plastic block. Even after I got the frames out of the truck, and cooled down, they still wouldn't come out. With all that destruction, I just got new visors. I stubbed off the wires with the smallest wire nuts I could find, after cutting them to different lengths so they couldn't short each other. There's still plenty of slack in the wires if I ever decide to replace the vanity visors, but I doubt if I ever will. I can count the number of times I used those things on one missing finger. At least make sure you pull the filament support wires out or break them off. You should be fine.

 

[MAD JAX]

Great diagnosis guys ~ I have the same problem(s) with BOTH "Visors" being broken, but otherwise holding-down the contact-button...I'm sure it'll BECOME a problem, as, if I'm not mistaken, the "Dome Defeat" does NOT disable power to those lamps...so if the Visors DROP they'll COME-ON ~ and THEN You're gonna eventually be STUCK with a dead battery and a difficult-time finding the culprit ~ Heck, I'll bet they could make this a "Sticky" for how many people it could be affecting : ?

Ciao! MJ

 

[JimmyA]

I concur! This is a fix without replacing the visors.