Third Gen electrical problems. Possible Solution

[hd99fxr3]

Dad's '05 was draining batterys with ignition off. Found the solution. It was the radio. He has the Infinity, with 6 disc changer. This is apparently a big problem.

[dorkweed]

How??!!!

[packinheat2]

yes how? I have the same setup and have never had problems.

[hd99fxr3]

I'm not sure what the issue is with the radio, but the owner of the electrical shop where dad took the truck said this was a common problem with Dodges. Dad had him just unplug it.It fixed the problem, of the batterys draining, so I'm inclined to believe the guy. I have read of others having the same problem with batterys draining for no apparent reason. And thought this would be easy to do, to eliminate or confirm that the radio was the problem.

[flagmanruss]

I'm under the impression that this radio / player was not OEM in this truck. I used to work as an electronics installer (marine, Rescue, Police, Fire, school busses, commercial vehicles). A lot of electronics these days have some slight parasitic draw but it's not significant for a vehicle driven daily. The Dodges even have a fuse for these loads for long term storage. I might suspect the installation... perhaps the installer did not understand something... Or it could be a bad unit. At this point there is no "proof", except we know the player causes a dead battery problem. It would take a knowledgeable person with the vehicle & the player manual to sort through this issue.

[hd99fxr3]

I'm under the impression that this radio / player was not OEM in this truck. I used to work as an electronics installer (marine, Rescue, Police, Fire, school busses, commercial vehicles). A lot of electronics these days have some slight parasitic draw but it's not significant for a vehicle driven daily. The Dodges even have a fuse for these loads for long term storage. I might suspect the installation... perhaps the installer did not understand something... Or it could be a bad unit. At this point there is no "proof", except we know the player causes a dead battery problem. It would take a knowledgeable person with the vehicle & the player manual to sort through this issue.

Russ, to be clear this is an OEM installed unit. It is still a current option, as far as I know. The rate of discharge on Dad's truck was not from parasitic drain of the radio under normal conditions. It was a matter of a day or two.