I got a new battery (Napa Legend 75) last December. Last weekend, I let my truck sit for 2 days. I went to strt it and I got the flickering Edge, clicking relays, the whole works.

Took the battery in the house and through it on the charger and all was well. When I go to start the truck my edge ready between 10-11V. It jumps up to 14+ once running.

Today after I got to work, I went out with a clamp meter and checked the draw while it was sitting. There is a cable coming off the positive bat post with an "A" tag. That cable was drawing a 1 amp. Any clues??

I don't have any aftermarket electrical items other than the Edge. I did do a body lift a couple months ago...

 

How long did you wait after opening and closing the door to check ?

The accessory delay will run for ~ 15 min.

If you really have 10-11 V prior to starting, you have a problem with the battery, that is too low for a battery at rest.

14 V when running, seems to show the alternator is working correctly.

 

Probably only 5-10 minutes. I just took it over to the dealership to let them eff around with it. Hopefully, I just have a bad battery.

 

Ahhhhh Ford says they don't see a 1 amp draw. They see .11A...I'm an engineer...I can read a meter. They say if they unplug my Edge it goes away. I can't see having the Edge plugged in is causing the problem.

 

I'm an engineer too, and I did quite a bit of research on this back when I first got my programmer.

Bill Cohron at PHP says the Edge/Gryphon platform draws about 0.05 Amps when off for its "keep alive" memory. I confirmed this with an ammeter wired in series on the negative battery terminal by unplugging the Gryphon and seeing the meter drop. (I had the window down so I didn't have to open the door).

With the Gryphon off the circuit, the truck was still pulling 0.05 Amps for the rest of its keep alive memories (and there's quite a few of those - PCM, radio, remote door locks, power seats, climate control, etc.).

So, the total draw after everything stabilized after shutdown was about 0.1 Amps, what the dealer told you. However, just shortly after shutdown, even after the interior lights went off, the draw was much higher, and it MAY have been as little as 1 Amp (I seem to remember it was actually more).

Something that is NOT obvious is that if the battery voltage drops sufficiently, the Edge/Gryphon gets "greedy" and ups its power demand. Bill has said it can exceed 2 Amps.

My truck is a "garage queen". I use it for towing/long trips/back road trips. In the garage, it stays hooked up to a "Battery Maintainer", that keeps the charge level up without boiling it and has a desulphating function (thanks SSCULLY!). If I didn't do this, my battery would be effectively dead in three weeks - you can do the math at a 0.1 Amp draw to see why this would be so.

Edit: One more thing - the battery voltage shown on my Gryphon just prior to start is about 12.2V, due to accessory draw with the ignition ON. If I measure the "resting voltage" at the battery itself with the battery maintainer off for about 3 hours and nothing "activated" in the truck, it's about 12.7V. SSCULLY's right, 10-11V is much too low prior to start.

- Jack

 

Dealership told me to leave the Edge unplugged for a couple weeks and see what happens.

I stopped by Napa and tried to get them to replace the battery. They load checked it and said its fine so no dice.

I took a reading when I got home and I'm at 12.28V WTF? Shouldn't I be like 12.6ish?? I left the hood unlatched and plan on checking the voltage every hour or so and then in the morning.

*EDIT - UPDATE*

Bat was 11.96 this morning. Drove to work (5 miles) and it was 12.2 when I got here.

 

I would actually charge your battery with a battery charger (one that trickles off to a very low charge current when the battery is fully charged). The alternator is really not designed to "recharge" a low battery. It's job is to maintain the charge state of a healthy one.

There's some other factors here too. There's a pretty high current draw on the battery right after you shutdown (for about 15 minutes actually) until the battery saver relay opens. Anytime I bring my truck into the garage after a drive and put the Battery Maintainer on, it takes about 4-6 hours for the maintainer to show it is fully charged again. So, don't be surprised if it never gets back to the fully charged 12.7V idle state.

But, if your battery is NOT bad, then 11.96V measured with a voltmeter after an overnight sit with the hood up (so you don't have to open the door to get it up) seems too low to me. Something is not right. Remember though, I said my fully charged battery will drop quickly to about 12.2V with the ignition ON and the engine not started. If the dealer measured a 0.11A "key OFF" draw though, it would seem to rule out anything wrong with your circuitry and electronic components. I'm kind of left with a battery that has simply not been given a full charge.

- Jack

 

That's my concern...the dealership said they charged it. I had the load test done down the street from the dealership...then drove home and parked it. Also, can my 5 minute commute to work be taxing this battery as well?