Electrical problem...killing battery
Electrical problem...killing battery Ok...if I leave my car idle for a week and half or more my bat gets drained and I have to jump it. I have checked the car off drain from my stereo and get nothing. Has anyone had this problem before? I was kinda thinking it could be the factory alarm...any ideas? 
I had this problem. Dang AC Delco battery. The positive terminal started to seperate from the battery. It did this for a couple of weeks. Finally I went and popped the hood and there was corrosion in the terminal. Would have never seen it if you didn't look close enough.
TECH Fanatic
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 1,648
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From: F.H,Waterford,Port Huron, MI
What you post doesn't make sense, you let your car idle for a week at a time? And what just keep filling it up with gas a alternator only puts out it's stated power at max RPM. So a 120amp alernator is 120amps at 6500rmp or so.
The way to test this is remove the positive cable and with car off meter with a DVM the draw of the car!
The way to test this is remove the positive cable and with car off meter with a DVM the draw of the car!
Teching In
Joined: Jan 2004
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How old is the battery? Even an Optima needs to be replaced after a few years. Time frame depends on where you live ?. Here in FL if you get 4 years out of one thats good. As said above remove a terminal (prev. negative), hook an ampmeter @ 10 Amp setting between the terminal and the cable, see how much draw is on the battery. I just checked mine the other week and got 0.2 amp with the car off. If you get something simular hook everything back up, start the car and check the voltage between the 2 terminals, should be around 13.5 volts. If this is lower your alternator is not working correctly. Hope this helps.
I have the same problem with mine, but it is around 4 or 5 days, I have not had the time to check it, so i just hook up my motorcycle battery tender if i know im not gonna drive it for a few days
jimmy
jimmy
What I meant by idle is...not driving it for awhile. Its fine when on. I have only checked the draw on my stereo components...I will go in and check the other I guess...you checked between the unhooked ground and the terminal? Or the unhooked positive and the the terminal? Is 0.2amps what the car should draw when off...ie alarm? I checked the charging awhile ago and it was about 14 roughly from what i can remember...I will recheck. Thanks for help.
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TECH Fanatic
Joined: Oct 2002
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From: F.H,Waterford,Port Huron, MI
Meter between the ground as that is the "book" way of doing it. and make sure everything is of. And that you use a DVM (autoranging). Or start on the highest scale and work down.
Also meter your amps when off see in the remote is at 0 and the power and ground are realy power and ground as I have seen amps internaly grounding out and drawing the batt. down.
Also meter your amps when off see in the remote is at 0 and the power and ground are realy power and ground as I have seen amps internaly grounding out and drawing the batt. down.
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Good cal 2fast4u, I didnt even think of checking that. I will do that today and see what I find out...need to charge my stupid battery first. Thanks for the quick response. What shoudl be the current draw on an off vehicle? I would imagine it wont be zero no matter what in our type of cars just due to the security and such. Any ideas and is good? or what should concern me? The amps, remote, etc...shoudl be zero. But that is all I am sure off.
Deranged Rat Fink
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Joined: Jun 2004
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From: Right here at my laptop, DUH!
Typical (normal ) draw is less than 30 milliamps.This is what the clock , radio memory , etc . will draw under normal circumstances. Anything over that is too much. Another thing I might suggest is to fully charge the battery and do a load test on it. If it has been drained several times a weak cell would do exactly what you're describing.