I did some searching since I don’t hang out in this forum too much I wasn’t up on all the topics. I have drained 3 batteries in the last 6mo while sitting still. Well not sitting all the time. The route I drive to work has had some construction being done and I am only driving the Teg from time to time. Otherwise, I take my 4 banger Ford pickup out to work to abuse it.
Nothing much has changed lately in the car, my first drained battery got jumped acouple of times and seemed worse during the cold months (last winter). The shop tested my Alt back in Jan and said it was fine and the battery is 1/2 low. Ok, well summer comes and all seems fine untill it just dies (big suprise). I get it replaced with an Optima Red Top several weeks ago, and it only moved a few times. I take it back and get another Optima, and the car has hardly moved much in 3-4 weeks. Now that Optima is dead too.
From talking to some folks, it seems (on the surface) that there is a short somewhere. The question is where is the most common place, or is it something else???
Without too many details: There is an alarm in the car, as well as a stereo system. I have had the head unit out for about 1yr while I do some work to the mounting cage. No it doesn’t take that long, but what can I say, I have been busy. There is also a “gel cell” remotely mounted in-line as well as (2) 1 Ferad (sp?) caps. Long ago, I was able to start the car with no battery under the hood due to the 2nd battery. Now it seems everything is dead. So will the drained 2nd battery or a bad cap drain the battery under the hood while it isn’t running??? Doesn’t seem like it would to me. Sorry for the long post, let me know if further info is required.
given long enough the blinking LED for the alarm might kill a battery. when I first got my old car I ghetto-wired the power supply to another stock HU, the clock was on all the time, and could drain the battery in a few days.
stateofbean - Everything is off when the key is out. Also, thanks for the info on the 2nd battery. Do you think I can disconnect the 2nd battery and insullate the connectors to see if that was the problem? Or will that cause a bad situation or worse like a fire?
strikeback03 - The alarm has been in there for years, and it has never had this issue prior to now. And I don’t think the LED will drain it in less than a month. Maybe there is something that has gone wrong with the alarm.
I drained three batteries in 8 months because of the small little light on passenger side trunk was flipped on and I forget to turn it off :(. I never did have any sense to check the trunk though.
Uhm… that light should shut off when you close the trunk anyway…
Wraith, as long as you insulate the positive cable really good - i.e. there’s not a chance in hell of it hitting anything metal or touching the other cable - then you should be fine. If you can, it may be a good idea to disconnect the positive cable for the second battery from the car entirely. But yes, if it’s not insulated well enough it can easily cause a fire.