My battery keeps going dead...

spraypaintman

spraypaintman

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Location
Greensboro
I have a fairly new optima red top and it keeps going dead after about two days sitting in the jeep. If I take it out and charge it it will hold a charge no problem. I just let it sit on the workbench unhooked and it holds a charge.

What do you guys think is draining my battery? I have new battery cables & ground wires. One ground to the firewall and one to the york compressor. I also noticed there is a ground wire from my motor mount to the frame. A very short wire.

The alternator charges up the battery if I take it for a drive.

What do you guys think?

Thanks!

Hodie
 
Take a multimeter, remove the negative cable from the battery post and put the leads between the post and cable (put MM on DC).
If you see voltage higher than 1 volt then you've got a parasitic draw. Start pulling fuses and see when it goes away. If you have a radio w/memory then that will draw a small amount, but it shouldn't kill the battery in 2 weeks.
 
before i put in my new TBI setup I had a draw that was killing my bat. after 2-3 days. I traced it back to the alternator. I used my $3 HF mulit-meter in the amp mode and traced the various circuits, to narrow it down..

With jeep off, pull fuses and prob across the fuse and see if any show a paracitic draw. You will see some if you got a radio etc. but it should be very low.. I had a .13 amp draw... and that was enough to kill the bat for me.. My solution was to unplug the alternator when I wasn't using it :)
 
I had a similar issue and installed a disconnect switch with a removeable key on the negative battery cable .... not so good for rado station memory but works great and doubles as anti theft device
 
Ok, I used my meter between the neg. battery cable and post. It read 1.5 volts. So I guess I have a parasitic draw issue. Didn't have time to pull all of the fuses and check accordingly.

I like the idea of a quick negative battery disconnect. :D I saw one of those at Northern Tool yesterday.

awww.northerntool.com_images_product_images_332922_lg.jpg


another....
awww.northerntool.com_images_product_images_1615_lg.jpg
 
I've never done the voltage method, usually use the amperage side and then start pulling fuses until the draw stops.

Is your alternator a 1-wire deal? That *could* be doing it too.
 
That's a cool one. Where can you get that one? I already got the first one I posted but may get that one.
 
Summit also has one that you can install on your dash. Similar to the one in post #8. That way you don't have to pop your hood to do it.

However, in my old CJ, the key broke off in the ignition, instead of fixing it, I installed one of these switches where only I knew the location. easy security so nobody could steal the Jeep by starting it...
 
I installed the quick disconnect and I love it. It's working great...the battery is holding a full charge.

:beer:
 
I had the same issue two weeks ago and it ended up being my radio. Sure they typically draw very little for the clock, but something obviously happened to mine and it would pull the battery down to 10 volts over night. I took the radio out and it's fine now. All you can do is use one of the methods mentioned above to narrow down which circuit the juice is going to.
 
HotRodYJ said:
I had the same issue two weeks ago and it ended up being my radio. Sure they typically draw very little for the clock, but something obviously happened to mine and it would pull the battery down to 10 volts over night. I took the radio out and it's fine now. All you can do is use one of the methods mentioned above to narrow down which circuit the juice is going to.
Click to expand...

Mine was the CB radio and now I pull the fuse on it.
The CB has a weather radio in it and it can not be shut off the weather alert is always on.
Jon
 
Rich said:
I've never done the voltage method, usually use the amperage side and then start pulling fuses until the draw stops.

Is your alternator a 1-wire deal? That *could* be doing it too.
Click to expand...

Amps are better to use because voltage measurment is only the potential for current flow. current will not flow through you meter in the Volt setting. If you use the current you will know exactly what you current draw is.
 
This is true, I like using an amp meter. The one that has a clamp on the end. You just clamp over any cable or wire ( it doesn't touch the cable just surrounds it) and it gives you the amp draw. Awesome for finding what is drawing current. I used my friends to add up all of my amp draw individually to see how much draw I had if everything was running. With lights and all accessories on, 88 amps. So the only way to over load my alternator would be with my winch.
I used it twice to find out what was killing my battery. Once it was my alternator, the other time it was a bad battery.
 
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