Battery Drain Rear Tail Lights

[alexboland]

Hey guys,

So today i was trying to find out what was draining the battery in my car. Set up the multimeter and turns out it was some dodgy wiring of the tail lights. When i connected the multimeter to the battery terminal about 10 seconds later it went from showing 96 ma to 6 ma. Does this mean the multimeter somehow completes the circuit and there is a loose connection or wire somewhere? If anyone has any answers id be very grateful cheers.

[Dark26]

The increase in power drain initially can be from your immobiliser/alarm as it initialises itself since you completed the circuit. I've done the test before and the same thing happened.

[alexboland]

Ah I see. Thanks for your help mate. Im just trying to fix this problem myself since auto electricians are quite pricy.So do you think it could be dodge wiring or the immobilizer/alarm thats draining the battery?

[Dark26]

What made you think it was the tail lights in the first place? At 9mA you shouldn't have anything to worry about. I believe it's when you go over 50mA that you have a problem (Google that though to be sure). Since the immobiliser is active and is also waiting for a signal from your remote, it does have to drain some power obviously, but it should be very little. If you are having battery draining issues, maybe look elsewhere. When you have the engine running, what voltage are you getting from the battery? You might be having some charging issues instead.

[alexboland]

The battery charges fine and there isnt an immobilizer or alarm in the r33. The battery charges fine when i drive the car for awhile. The reason i believe it to the be the tail lights is that when i pulled the fuse for the tail lights the amps draw went from 96ma to about 6 ma

[Dark26]

Alright your first post sounds a bit wrong then. I thought it was you connect the multimeter, it starts out at 96mA, after 10 seconds it goes down to 6 mA by itself. But if this only happens when you remove the fuse for the tail lights as you just said above, then yeah there's something on that circuit causing it. There could be some wires that are damaged or maybe if someone has messed around back there with the wiring and hasn't done it properly. When it's showing 96mA, do you see any lights on at all? Electrical issues are fun to find..... Can start by checking out the wiring to the rear lights and see if you can find anything obvious. If you can get a wiring diagram then you can see what else is on the circuit that could be causing it.

[alexboland]

Yeah sorry i should have mentioned that. There are no lights on when its at 96 ma and ive checked some of the wiring round the back seems ok. I think the previous owner stuffed around with them so thats probably where the issue lies. Also i think the battery drains faster when the amp is connected but ive disconnected that for the moment.