Viper 5902 Drains Battery Overnight

So I just got my alarm installed by a Viper Certified alarm shop. It will be fixed TOMORROW But I am mainly CURIOUS before I go what it could be. I've seen other people post complaints that alarms drain their battery and I've seen many comments claiming it's IMPOSSIBLE for an alarm to drain the battery as the only thing ON is the LED which could not possibly drain a battery overnight. Well anyone who wanted to claim this is WRONG. And I'd appreciate the REAL answer because I too am experiencing this. I've done experimenting and know HOW to cause this and how NOT to cause this. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the battery ($500 drycell OptiRed and a brand new (few months old) Bosch alternator which both test perfectly fine. 1. If I ARM the car. The next morning the battery will be at around 9-10volts (Enough for the car not able to turn over fast enough). 2. If I charge the batter back up to max again and set the car just to VALET MODE, the car will be PERFECT. I've had the car on Valet mode for 1 week and only 30 min drives back and forth and not one single problem. I tried it again and ARMED the car and the next morning the car was drained. PLEASE someone explain how this is possible just in case the alarm shop wants to tell me it's NOT possible and tries putting the blame on my battery or Alternator.. Thanks very much. PS. It's a 1992 Camaro Z28, Automatic.

I'll leave answers for the experts, but I have to comment on those that say " it's IMPOSSIBLE for an alarm to drain the battery as the only thing ON is the LED"... What sort of farken Richard Craniums are they? (Forgive my language, but you should hear what I'm saying here! Or then again, maybe not...) But really, how stupid are they? So an alarm is only a LED? There is no other circuitry that perhaps supervises switch states or powers detectors? Wow! I never knew LEDs were so versatile.    !!! (Let's hope NONE of those morons people have anything to do with alarms and installs.)

one of the remote start outputs could be leaking current and possibly keeping the cars electrical system on which is not something you would notice if its just the bcm, for example, staying on. maybe someone mistook the ground when armed wire with the ground while running...? there are a number of stupid mistakes that can cause an alarm to drain the battery while armed, the alarm doesnt have to have a physical problem with it but im sure that is the first thing the shop will do is swap the brain of the alarm and send you out. not saying your battery is bad but something people really dont know until you work on cars is that chevys have a horrible electrical system. they drain batteries much faster for some reason. i have to keep a jump box in my shop so that they dont die while i tint the windows. 90% of the cars that need a jump after two hours of having the key on but with everything off(lights, a/c, radio, etc)are GM vehicles. i can leave a nissan or toyota on for hours and hours and it will still start right up. i told that story to illustrate how something that would otherwise not drain enough power to drain a battery overnight could still cause problems in a chevy. even a tiny current drain could kill a chevy overnight.

To save costs the ONLY things they reused is the Door and window modules...

OK, sorry OP and Peter but a correctly installed alarm will not drain your battery. Note the adverb "correctly". The average draw from an alarm or R/S, on is about 15-20 milliamps. Add another 20 for the LED. That's less than an analogue car clock. I'd look for what soundnsecurity pointed out in his post and if the shop is competent, have them do a battery draw test. I wish I had £10 for every time I heard this. They do a draw test with the alarm on, then if the draw is excessive remove each fuse from the unit, one at a time to find and trace the culprit. Frankly it's going to be one of the following. Trunk light staying on or no diode between hood switch, not changed and trunk switch. Poor battery and or alternator. Corroded battery connections. Poor ground to the unit. Wire connected in the wrong place triggering something. Relay ditto. And by the way I've only just looked at your last sentence but one. Make sure you are there when they do these tests.

I am sure they will find it. They have been in the business for 65 years and are not-uncommon to have Porches and Ferrari's, and Lamborghini's in their shop. I know it won't be a corroded battery terminal as the car is a showcar and maintenance is always done on time. ;-) But I will let you know what is found.

howie ll wrote: OK, sorry OP and Peter but a correctly installed alarm will not drain your battery.

I meant that an alarm's drain is more than just its LED. An alarm is a load and hence drains the battery (just as any battery's self-leakage does), but that does not necessarily mean a high or unacceptable drain. [ Though I have heard of alarm currents being above 40-50mA which IMO is excessive unless the vehicle is used daily.   I see no reason for an alarm to consume more than 10mA including its LED but excluding active sensors (eg, microwave, infra-red, ultrasonic, glass-break sensors). ] Sorry, I didn't mean to infer a "bad" drain. I was merely commenting that an alarm OBVIOUSLY consumes more current than its LED. (Noting that the alarm with LED may consume less current than the same LED using a mere resistor to achieve equivalent brightness. That's assuming the LED is alarm driven and not a resistor with LED paralleled with the alarm's power input etc.)

Bloody hell Peter, I differentiated the draws from LED and alarm in my post. Meanwhile just spent an hour in a Grand Voyager fitting a car kit and the battery has gone flat. I know there are a million dome/courtesy lights in them but an hour? Then the customer claims he had a new battery a few weeks ago. I reckon there's something else at fault here. Can soundnsecurity chime in here please?

Dropped car off. The first guy I talked to there (never seen him before) said "IMPOSSIBLE".. Then when the guy who worked on my car came out, he said the only thing they reused from my old alarm was the Passkey Bypass module so it could be that. They used entirely new wiring and he's been doing alarms for over 30 years at that store so he highly believed it not to be what he did..

Waiting to hear back from them.