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Parasitic drain help?

T

thoughtso

New CEG'er
Joined
May 7, 2020
Messages
29
Location
South Carolina
Been experiencing the drain problem for a long time now and finally started doing multimeter testing. Have a newer battery that checks out good and holds a full charge, but dies overnight if connected (measures 12.73V sitting and 14.06V running). With car asleep, multimeter-in-series test reads 151mA draw, obviously too high. A few "always hot" circuits draw some expected current, but pulling the brake lamp fuse (24, main panel) drops the draw down to 37mA. I don't have a list of normal acceptable load draws, but I know a draw of 151-37=114 mA is too high. Should the brake light switch be my next focus? Any help is appreciated.
 
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Did drain test after removing brake light switch and removing brake pedal switch (both function properly) and no difference in current draw. Now trying to learn the electrical system diagrams in my Haynes & Chilton guides...😑

From what I can tell, it appears that only the brake light switch is dependent on the brake light fuse (makes sense). How the heck does pulling the fuse kill the draw but leaving the fuse in and pulling the switch doesn't? What kind of witchcraft is this?
 
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