Apparent parasitic battery drain (jb4?)

[TerryBerg]

I have a 2018 Stinger GT2. I installed the JB4 tuner about 4 months ago. So far it's been great. Fastest 0-60 car I've ever had (faster than even the Maserati Ghibli S Q4 with RaceChip Black).

About 4 weeks ago the battery started to go dead after sitting for 2 days without driving. I charged the battery and it would go fine if I drove it every day. But still after 2-3 days of not driving it, the battery would go dead again. After doing this for a couple of weeks, the battery stopped taking a charge, so I replaced the battery and it stayed charged for about a week, even after not driving for two days. This time with a brand new battery. I put the charger on it, and the charger kept erroring out and the charge would stop. Assuming that the current draw was too much. This charger is only good for 10 amps. It's a dumb charger, so its tough to tell what its doing.

So here I am not even able to charge the battery. I decided to disconnect the JB4 from the odb port, and suddenly, the battery started taking a charge without the charger erroring out. I'm guessing about 4 weeks ago there was a JB4 update that changed something in the way of how much power it draws while the car is turned off and locked.

Has anyone else had this issue?

 

[Volfy]

We've got JB4 on 3 cars. No such problems. Occasionally leave one unstarted for more than a week. Doesn't drain the battery down enough to cause problem. That said, any time the car has not been started for a week or longer, topping off with a smart charger is always a good idea.

Maybe double check your JB4 wiring.

 

[TerryBerg]

I've double checked the wiring, it's pretty straight forward. I've got JB4's on a M4 and 440i, no problems there either. Thinking about swapping out the RaceChip on the Ghibli S Q4 with a JB4 as well.

Based on other forums, the Stinger seems to have had a battery drain problem even without any mods. But unplugging the JB4 from the ODB port seems to make the problem go away. At least my dumb charger charges the battery with it unplugged, where as it wouldn't with it plugged in. I'm assuming the current draw was over 10 amps. I'll continue to experiment with the proper charger and an amp meter.

 

[D.J.]

Based on other forums, the Stinger seems to have had a battery drain problem even without any mods.

Really? I am quite curious.. I have not read about any common or reoccuring parasitic draw issues with stingers.


Your particular issues sounds more related to your charger.

Doesn't the JB4 have nearly ~0 amp draw with the car off? Does your JB4 get hot while the car is off?

Usually, if a charger is limited to X amps, it doesn't matter how much is drawn, it just can't produce more than X.

Odd, could it be a coincidence?

 

[bfglitch]

I've had odd battery drain issues on mine. Couldn't tell you what in the world it could be. I monitor my battery SOC using a home automation system via Kia Connect. I could park it one night and the SOC would be at 80+% and the next day it would suddenly be down to 50%. It's not polling the car constantly so it's not that. It only updates after a drive. Unfortunately because of this my battery has slowly gotten worse and now never gets above 60% charge even if I wind up driving for hours. But what I have noticed is that once the battery drops in the 50's and 60's that whatever drains it stops. I haven't had any random battery drain ever since the battery has been at a consistent % in the 60's. So whatever it is, it seems the car has "control" of it.

Also, I haven't made any mods/additions to anything electrical.

 

[D.J.]

I've had odd battery drain issues on mine. Couldn't tell you what in the world it could be. I monitor my battery SOC using a home automation system via Kia Connect. I could park it one night and the SOC would be at 80+% and the next day it would suddenly be down to 50%. It's not polling the car constantly so it's not that. It only updates after a drive. Unfortunately because of this my battery has slowly gotten worse and now never gets above 60% charge even if I wind up driving for hours. But what I have noticed is that once the battery drops in the 50's and 60's that whatever drains it stops. I haven't had any random battery drain ever since the battery has been at a consistent % in the 60's. So whatever it is, it seems the car has "control" of it.

Also, I haven't made any mods/additions to anything electrical.

Could that just be - the battery aging?

 

[bfglitch]

Could that just be - the battery aging?

I would say it's a technical yes. It's a MY 2022 I got in Dec 21. The battery started maxing out around 60% October of 2023. Normally the battery should still be in pretty decent condition but I believe with the sudden (and random) drain it has gone through it has aged the battery. For now it's still good enough to start the car and operate mostly normally except (thankfully?) ISG doesn't work due to low SOC.

 

[Volfy]

Where are you attaching your charger leads?

I've double checked the wiring, it's pretty straight forward. I've got JB4's on a M4 and 440i, no problems there either. Thinking about swapping out the RaceChip on the Ghibli S Q4 with a JB4 as well.

Based on other forums, the Stinger seems to have had a battery drain problem even without any mods. But unplugging the JB4 from the ODB port seems to make the problem go away. At least my dumb charger charges the battery with it unplugged, where as it wouldn't with it plugged in. I'm assuming the current draw was over 10 amps. I'll continue to experiment with the proper charger and an amp meter.

 

[Erodri818]

I have a 2018 Stinger GT2. I installed the JB4 tuner about 4 months ago. So far it's been great. Fastest 0-60 car I've ever had (faster than even the Maserati Ghibli S Q4 with RaceChip Black).

About 4 weeks ago the battery started to go dead after sitting for 2 days without driving. I charged the battery and it would go fine if I drove it every day. But still after 2-3 days of not driving it, the battery would go dead again. After doing this for a couple of weeks, the battery stopped taking a charge, so I replaced the battery and it stayed charged for about a week, even after not driving for two days. This time with a brand new battery. I put the charger on it, and the charger kept erroring out and the charge would stop. Assuming that the current draw was too much. This charger is only good for 10 amps. It's a dumb charger, so its tough to tell what its doing.

So here I am not even able to charge the battery. I decided to disconnect the JB4 from the odb port, and suddenly, the battery started taking a charge without the charger erroring out. I'm guessing about 4 weeks ago there was a JB4 update that changed something in the way of how much power it draws while the car is turned off and locked.

Has anyone else had this issue?

Yes its been happening to my 2022 stinger after the last update. I replaced my battery... 4 days later it happend again. Unplugged the jb4 and car is fine