Got it back from the dyno now the battery dies.....

[Latchkey Kid]

Not sure how most raptor owners feel but my relationship with mine is a love/hate kind of thing!!! I had a parasitic draw a few years ago and after months was able to track it down to the driver's side mirror LED lights. Fast forward to last week and I just got my truck back from the dyno shop and it's doing it again!!!! Won't hold a charge. There isn't much more frustrating than almost 100k dropped into this thing just to have to jump it to start it. EVERY TIME! Could the tune have anything to do with the death of the battery? I had NO issues till this and now it's every time! UGGGGGGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[P4SHOCAT]

How old is the battery? Could be time for a new one.

 

[pat247]

It could be the alternator malfunctioning and causing an overcharge condition that is causing the battery to go out.

 

[1BAD454SSv2]

What kind of tuner do you have ? do you leave it plugged in to monitor ? My SCT4 kill battery in a week if left in. Good video here using simple test light .Hook up and start pulling fuses , un plugging things

 

[Latchkey Kid]

Ive made a ton of mods to my gen 1 from drivetrain and suspension to body and bolt-ons. I've got a lot of aftermarket lights but have not wired a single one up while I try to track down my electrical issue. I thought I had the issue resolved but it has come up again.

For a background on my driving habits I put less than 5k miles a year on the truck and the distance from my house to my business in 3.1 miles away. I take the trip usually twice a day and other than that I don't drive it much further. Once a week I drive 5.5 miles one way to and from karaoke. That's about it. Maybe a trip to Home Depot and that's only a few times a month at the most at about 6 miles one way. Its only had one "longer" trip of 40 miles one way to a dyno shop last month. That's when the problem started (again).
A few years back I had a parasitic draw that took almost 6 months to find. Replaced the battery 4 times (it's less than 3 years old) with no success trying to rule it out (per my dealership) Turned out to be a crack in the plastic on my led strip on my driver's mirror(which I figured out) that allowed water to seep in and short the board. After replacing it the problem went away.

Fast forward to 3 weeks ago. I started having dead battery issues again after getting it back from the tuner. I'm not certain if the tune or time at the shop would have an affect on battery life but I also did just replace the mirrors with Evil Baja mirrors so the lights were unplugged and I left the wires in my door as opposed to pulling them out. (After unplugging them from the mirror).

I just hooked up my battery tender and did a slow charge to 100% and I'm now waiting the mandatory 8 hours for the BMS to do whatever it does. I'm assuming if tomorrow morning when I go to start it if the battery is dead or low I have a draw. If not I guess that would point more towards my driving habits being the issue as I have researched and discovered my very short trips require more juice than the alternator can replace in the time its running. (I'm assuming). I did most all the mods myself but electrical is my Achilles so I'm very ignorant on it especially the BMS. I carry a jump box with me everywhere and have to use it every time to start it now.

So here are a few of my questions. Hopefully I still have your attention after all that.......

Would a bigger/stronger alternator help (Mean Green or another brand)?
Would a hardwired battery saver help? If so is there a specific brand and way it has to be wired to not confuse the BMS?
How can I know if its a draw vs my driving habits? In laymen terms please hahaha
Am I even going about this the right way?

 

[Latchkey Kid]

The tune was a direct right-over of the PCU so the livewire was never used so it's unplugged from the system

 

[mprice1234]

I have my Raptor always on the Battery maintainer whenever it's in the garage because the lack of highway and long trip driving I do. My wife's Jeep Cherokee has the auto stop start feature and with us doing mainly in town short trips I keep it on a battery maintainer also. On hers with the start stop if I don't keep the maintainer on it the battery won't charge up enough to keep the start stop feature working with the way we drive it.

 

[DaveInMn]

I have my Raptor always on the Battery maintainer whenever it's in the garage because the lack of highway and long trip driving I do.

.
Ditto ^^^^^^^
.

 

[MurderedOutSVT]

Drive it to the hippie pizza joint or get some tamales next door every morning. Stay away from that horrific Paul Buyan toothbrush dentist guy. What dyno shop did you go to? They are very scarce in NE Ga. Recommend them?

 

[pat247]

I have my Raptor always on the Battery maintainer whenever it's in the garage because the lack of highway and long trip driving I do. My wife's Jeep Cherokee has the auto stop start feature and with us doing mainly in town short trips I keep it on a battery maintainer also. On hers with the start stop if I don't keep the maintainer on it the battery won't charge up enough to keep the start stop feature working with the way we drive it.

I do the same plus I remote start and let it run one cycle(10 min) to warm up.