FI tech drain the battery?

[Tulsa76bronco]

Does anyone know if FI Tech EFI could be draining my battery. Does anything stay on with my key off? I have the hot wire directly to my battery with an inline fuse and a kill switch that I need to flip on before I can start the engine.

I do have all original wiring harness still

Thanks

 

[68stang73]

I've questioned this myself but mine is in mock up stage. Only and I know my battery isn't the best to begin with but I t wil be dead after a few days. Not sure if it's just a shit battery or if their is a draw in it. I haven't tested power to frame ohms yet but heck I just only have necessary wires hooked up to run. I'd like to see what others have to say.

 

[Tulsa76bronco]

I am wondering if I could put a master kill switch right at the battery terminal so when it's sitting in the garage I can just turn everything off so my battery doesn't drain..... or I could just install a new wiring harness��

 

[67686977]

I would find out where the drain on the battery is before going to the time and expense of replacing the harness. Process of elimination and you will find your culprit.

 

[KyleQ]

If you unplug the FiTech you will lose the tune it saves - so keep power to it.

 

[blubberfet]

I have had the fitech kill my battery, but it was due to a failed fan controler that back fed a small amount of power to the key on circuit. One call to Fitech and I had the problem figured out. Once I fixed the problem I have no problem with leaving the bronco alone for months at a time between starting.
One thing to note is that when it was not powering down the handheld would stay on and the prime shot would not fire. Making cold starts really hard. To test I had to watch the rpm gauge as I turned the key on, mine jumped to a little over 1k then back to 0. Thats why they knew that the key on had constant power.

 

[blubberfet]

If you unplug the FiTech you will lose the tune it saves - so keep power to it.

This is incorrect, the tune will be fine if you cut power to the EFI. The only way you can reset the tune is by going through the steps on the handheld.

 

[67686977]

Finding a battery drain is not hard,just time consuming.

 

[BigB]

This is incorrect, the tune will be fine if you cut power to the efi. The only way you can reset the tune is buy going through the steps on the handheld.

I would have to agree as I had mine unplugged from the battery for a few days while doing some welding. When I connected up again she fired right up.

 

[Tulsa76bronco]

I will have to start looking for a battery drain but I have no idea how to do it. Is there a certain gauge I need to buy to help me out? Also why wouldn't my altinator keep it charged. I have had it checked and it works

 

[Cstrom72]

I had the same issue. Even talked to FItech turns out you need to disconnect the screen/programmer (mine is in the glovebox) when not it use. It will Drain the battery.

 

[blubberfet]

I have had the hand held plugged in since April. I don't think that is the actual problem but it is likely to be the battery drain. Something is wrong and it is causing the screen to stay on. At least that's what happened with mine and it was because I had constant voltage to the key on wire. I haven't had a problem since I removed the broken fan controler that was back feeding 12v to the efi.

 

[DirtDonk]

I will have to start looking for a battery drain but I have no idea how to do it. Is there a certain gauge I need to buy to help me out?

Did you ever get this sorted Tulsa? Sorry I didn't see your question before, or I would have at least given you some basic suggestions.
A standard volt-ohm meter that every Bronco owner should have in their tool box would be a good start. But there are some basic tests you can perform even without it.

1. Simply disconnect the battery and see if it still drains. If it does, then it's the battery that's dying, not the electrical system in the truck.

2. If it does not die while sitting, the battery is ok, so next disconnect the alternator's main output wire and tape off the end, or otherwise protect it from shorting. Then re-connect the battery to see if your drain is still there. If the drain goes away, then your alternator is going bad.

These are actually two of the most common culprits when it comes to batteries losing their charge while sitting.
More on testing things later. Do those two tests first. Assuming you haven't already figured it out that is.

Also why wouldn't my altinator keep it charged. I have had it checked and it works

So, what is actually happening? Is it dying while you're driving? Or is the battery being killed overnight? If the FiTech or any other component is killing your battery while the engine is running then your alternator is indeed not working.
With the engine running, use your volt-meter to check voltage at the battery. Should be approximately 14.5 volts with the engine running. If not, you have something wrong with either the alternator or it's associated wiring.

If your battery is dying overnight, or otherwise while the engine is not running, then the alternator keeping the battery charged is not applicable. It only does it's thing when the engine is running, which means those other tests will help narrow things down.

Paul

 

[sonicblue1967]

So I came across this thread and wanted to shared...The Fitech does drain the battery, but only the LCD handheld controller (from my testing).

When first connecting the battery, the drain was 81.1 ma -> this then settled to 48.0 ma once the LCD handheld controller went into "sleep" mode / displayed turned off.

I already had assumed the Fitech was the reason behind the drain, but went through all the fuses and found the Fitech was indeed the culprit. I disconnected the main fuse for the unit (lost my tune by the way so be aware if you do what I did; just had to redownload my backup so its all fine), and the drain went from the settled 48.0 ma down to 3.5 ma. The 3.5 ma is for my stereo memory so all fine there.

I did the test again with just disconnecting the LCD handheld and the same result, stayed steady around 3.5 ma. As the LCD handheld is in "sleep" mode, it does drain quite a bit from what I found and the battery would be dead about every 2 weeks.

I have an optima battery 34/78 red top rated at a 50 AH capacity, at 40% of full charge (100% being 12.6V and 40% being 11.9V) then ( 50 AH ) X ( 40% ) = 20 AH to reach 40% charge.

So my battery would reach 40% charge in (20 AH)/(0.048 A) = 416.7 hours = 17 days.

Solution:
I didn't want to keep having to reconnect and disconnect the LCD handheld so decided to remove the constant power to the LCD handheld and change it to a switched power source. So I disconnected the battery first and the power wiring for the LCD handheld is coming right off the unit and into my car. I took the harness, terminated the red wire (12v+ constant from the Fitech), and ran a new accesory (12v+ switch) to the LCD handheld.

I tested the drain again and it was steady at 3.5ma....meaning my battery would reach 40% charge in (20 AH)/(0.0035 A) = 5714.3 hours = 238 days.

A huge improvement as I do not drive this car daily (not a bronco but 68 fastback) ;D The LCD handheld is only powered on now when I have the key in ACC position or in the RUN. The Fitech unit keeps the 12v+ constant and no impact to the tune, starting or driving of the car. Hope this helps!

 

[BigB]

So I came across this thread and wanted to shared...The Fitech does drain the battery, but only the LCD handheld controller (from my testing).

When first connecting the battery, the drain was 81.1 ma -> this then settled to 48.0 ma once the LCD handheld controller went into "sleep" mode / displayed turned off.

I already had assumed the Fitech was the reason behind the drain, but went through all the fuses and found the Fitech was indeed the culprit. I disconnected the main fuse for the unit (lost my tune by the way so be aware if you do what I did; just had to redownload my backup so its all fine), and the drain went from the settled 48.0 ma down to 3.5 ma. The 3.5 ma is for my stereo memory so all fine there.

I did the test again with just disconnecting the LCD handheld and the same result, stayed steady around 3.5 ma. As the LCD handheld is in "sleep" mode, it does drain quite a bit from what I found and the battery would be dead about every 2 weeks.

I have an optima battery 34/78 red top rated at a 50 AH capacity, at 40% of full charge (100% being 12.6V and 40% being 11.9V) then ( 50 AH ) X ( 40% ) = 20 AH to reach 40% charge.

So my battery would reach 40% charge in (20 AH)/(0.048 A) = 416.7 hours = 17 days.

Solution:
I didn't want to keep having to reconnect and disconnect the LCD handheld so decided to remove the constant power to the LCD handheld and change it to a switched power source. So I disconnected the battery first and the power wiring for the LCD handheld is coming right off the unit and into my car. I took the harness, terminated the red wire (12v+ constant from the Fitech), and ran a new accesory (12v+ switch) to the LCD handheld.

I tested the drain again and it was steady at 3.5ma....meaning my battery would reach 40% charge in (20 AH)/(0.0035 A) = 5714.3 hours = 238 days.

A huge improvement as I do not drive this car daily (not a bronco but 68 fastback) ;D The LCD handheld is only powered on now when I have the key in ACC position or in the RUN. The Fitech unit keeps the 12v+ constant and no impact to the tune, starting or driving of the car. Hope this helps!

Nice work and detail.....thanks!

 

[Tulsa76bronco]

Well guys I have it figured out.......I got a painless wiring harness for Christmas from my father in law �� Thanks to TBP rep hanging out with us at OCBR �� Can't thank them enough. Will see if I have the same issue after all new wiring

 

[Tulsa76bronco]

Thanks sonic great info will use it