I have on "06 F150 2wd. Battery went dead after one night. Charged battery, found a bad cell, had the alternator rebuilt and installed a new battery.
Connected my meter(set on 10a, connected between my ground wire and ground terminal. Found that I had a draw of .55a. Started pulling fuses, #21 seemed to be the culprit. #21(Cluster Keep alive power). After research I have come to the conclusion of the instrument cluster.

What else is on this circuit, does anyone have any circuit diagrams so i can do a better trace? Has anyone else had any experience with this issue?

 

Where did you put the clamp meter or break the circuit to put the meter inline to check the draw ?

Did you wait until the systems timed out ( ~ 15 min ) before testing ?

This means you cannot open or close the door in this time or when you start testing or put the key in or out of the ign switch.

This circuit is direct to the instrument cluster only, but the cluster controls a few things in the 2006 MY.

 

Unless you waited 30-45 minutes after the last change in the circuit or system, you measured the short-term draw. You have to wait until the battery saver circuitry (controlled in the cluster in an 06), times out before you can get a valid quiescent current draw. Failure to wait will result in an inaccurate diagnosis and replacing perfectly good parts which don't fix anything.

 

Thanks to All! SSCULLY, I installed the meter between the Neg post on the battery and the Neg cable. I did wait ~10 until my interior lights went out, amp draw was 4.987 before and .55 after the lights went out. I turned them off at the dimmer (as a Test) so as not to activate the lights when the door was open. I waited ~20-25 minutes with no change in the .55 draw.
ProjectSH089, No i didn't wait that long. I will conduct that later tonight.

 

Thanks to All! SSCULLY, I installed the meter between the Neg post on the battery and the Neg cable. I did wait ~10 until my interior lights went out, amp draw was 4.987 before and .55 after the lights went out. I turned them off at the dimmer (as a Test) so as not to activate the lights when the door was open. I waited ~20-25 minutes with no change in the .55 draw.
ProjectSH089, No i didn't wait that long. I will conduct that later tonight.

 

I have a 2005 King Ranch. The battery goes dead after about a week of sitting. Before running out and buying a new battery I like checking things out. Not running the battery measures 12.65 volts. After starting it reads 14.55 volts, so I know it is charging.
Next I connect an Ampmeter in series with the ground cable and negative post of the battery. With the key off, doors closed, but dome lights burning I see 5.5 amps. When the lights go off, amp draw drops to 1.75 amps for a couple of minutes, then it drops to .5 amps. After several minutes, to an hour, it drops to .05 amps.
Here is my question. What is the manufacturers explanation of events? What occurs at the various times and what should be the observed results in time and draw rates?

 

Looks fairly normal.