Dome light draw

Hello all. My battery is dying over time on my 2001 tundra and when I tested for parasitic draw, pulling the dome fuse makes the current draw stop. I've read plenty of posts about dome lights, led conversions and blown dome fuses but I've never seen anything about constant current running to the dome circuit even when the lights are all off. Any ideas? Thanks

 

Take your dome light out and inspect it and the socket for corrosion or contamination. Maybe change the bulb and check.

 

Ok...I'll give it a shot. Thanks

 

Does your system have an aftermarket alarm, whether you know it or not? Sometimes they're well-hidden but generally they'll have at least one small black or blue box with lots of wires going in/out, either under the driver dash, or sometimes shoved into the kick panel.

 

Does the dome circuit run other things? I feel like I remember the fuse on my 96 Camry for dome lights also ran the radio. May want to pull the fuse and see what else cuts out.

 

On his 2001, quite a few things according to the 01 EWD !

 

Dome fuse is misleading if it's all that stuff. Should be called light and accessory fuse. I'm willing to be an aftermarket alarm would be tied into that circuit as well.

 

Dome light is triggered from the door switches. Check those too.

 

Thanks for the documentation check, @BubbaW!

Yup, this would be common. If @Beagledogxxx really wanted to know if it was the dome light causing issues, just removing the bulb would break the circuit and kill the draw. If not, going through the list of items in Bubba's post would help. But before I went through the trouble, I'd start rooting around under the dash looking for an alarm brain, because this stinks of the kind of draw an alarm would cause.

OP didn't mention if they're using an aftermarket radio/amp or similar, but that could be something else to consider. I've seen people do some pretty anything-but-genius things with aftermarket amps.

 

While there are only a few electrical differences, is this indeed a 2001 or 2000 like your profile shows ?

Define “over time” Please.

What is the mA readings you are seeing....before/after removing Dome fuse and are all doors closed and key out of ignition ?

 

Also, how much draw was seen? Some parasitic draw is normal.

You also made me realize, we never asked, "have you had the battery professionally tested?"

That's normally my 1st question on threads like this, and almost all major parts stores will professionally test for free.

It bit this guy in the ass recently. It's 5 minutes of passive time to go get it tested, and potentially worthwhile to rule out that as a suspect.

 

Great to hear of the other accessories covered by that circuit. Huge help there...thank you. Zero alarm system, draw exists with bulb in or out and we're talking in the neighborhood of .24 or 240 milliamps. Way over the .030 normal threshold. Thanks again folks. I'll get to checking the other items

 

And just for shits n giggles I'll ask: You don't have an OBDII reader that stays plugged in all the time, do you?
Or any other devices that stay plugged in, like a GPS tracker (like The Snitch or Scout GPS Link)?
Or do you have a dashcam that has "Sentry mode" built in, to record while you're away?
Or did you wire in an auto-dim rear view mirror, or one with built-in garage door opener?

These are a few of the "oh shit, I forgot!" types of things people tend to add-on which will constantly draw battery.

 

None of those you mentioned but you got me thinking. It has an aftermarket electric trailer brake controller on it. And since removing the fuse for the guilty circuit, I havent seen any lights on the control box. Thinking the installer may have used that circuit to power them. I'll dig in and see what I can find. Thanks for the ideas

 

Aftermarket accessories are the first suspects in any parasitic draw situation. My brake controller did me the same way. Turns out one of the pins was bent on the 7 way receptacle at the back of the truck contacting an adjacent pin. I straightened it out and fixed the problem for mine. Good luck.

 

Awesome. Fingers crossed. Thank you

 

Aftermarket is always a question, but I believe this problem is more common than the internet suggests. I'm gonna do a little research to touch up on the details before proclaiming I have an answer. I seem to recall a tsb on the dash clock that affected the dome, trip meter, and other issues. don't give up, but given my schedule, it might not be something I can find right now. I believe it is a factory/engineering issue, so @emptylord may have seen it, or try "ask the Toyota mechanic" in the general forum, as this is not a one off issue, and while not a common prob, the dealer mechanics may have seen enough examples to remember more than I do.

 

Just a reference..... The door/dome switch, cargo light, are timed... so connected to the ecu with key off. The clock, cargo light button, and ODO trip (and some 12v acc points?) also are in power avail/memory state on with key off. I have also had commercially installed trailer brakes that do not turn off, and either trickle drain directly, or some tap into "always on" brake light circuit and continue to drain from that circuit. Modern controllers have an auto shuttoff, and better inertial control for under $90.