Radio is draining battery?

Tiny
MARGARET SCARBOROUGH ECKEL
  • MEMBER
  • 2008 HUMMER H3
  • V6
  • 4WD
  • MANUAL
  • 186,000 MILES
Radio appears to be draining battery. When we remove the radio, plug and play, battery does not drain down when sitting. If we drive every day, the vehicle starts right up but if it sits for several days the battery is drained. Is it possible that we have a short in wiring to fuses or battery? I turn off the radio before shutting off key but still drains battery.
Monday, December 5th, 2022 AT 8:52 AM

1 Reply

Tiny
AL514
  • MECHANIC
  • 4,692 POSTS
Hello, it depends on what system you have to begin with, there are 3 different Radio setups for this vehicle, The Base setup, the Premium Radio which comes with an additional Amplifier, and the Satellite Radio setup which looks like it does not come with an amp.
The tricky part with these newer radio setups is that they are hooked into the Serial Data network of the vehicle. This means that another module(computer) in the vehicle can be waking the Radio up. When you lock the vehicle for the night, everything is supposed to power down after a set amount of time and go to sleep in a sense. This is where parasitic draws on a vehicle can be very difficult to find. If another module is waking the radio up or the radio is waking another module up by sending a signal out on the network, there will be a draw on the battery.
So, depending on which Radio you have, we can try pulling the fuse for that particular radio and see if that makes any difference. I don't think it is a shorted wire, its most likely going to be a component doing this, if it was a short to ground there would be a blown fuse.
From the wiring diagrams it looks like the Premium Radio also has the Satellite communications, but there is also one with just Satellite Radio. So, I just wanted to clarify that.
You mentioned plug and play, did you replace the Radio with an aftermarket unit?

Note: There is a Technical Service Bulletin on this exact issue, I will post it below, so this is a known problem with this model vehicle.

Okay, there are actually 2 TSBs for this issue, one has to do with having the Radio reprogrammed if it is not an aftermarket radio, Ill post that one first, it is pages 1 and 2 below.
The 2nd TSB is pages 3 to 9. If you do not have aftermarket Radio installed, the dealership may do the reprogramming for free since it is a manufacturer defect in the software.
But either way, they have a procedure for checking the battery draw on the radio if it is the OEM original equipment. If it is aftermarket, it can still be another module in the vehicle waking the radio up at certain time intervals and causing a drain on the battery overnight.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/car-battery-dead-overnight
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Monday, December 5th, 2022 AT 10:07 AM

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