Slow battery drain

T.Hanson · Post by **T.Hanson** » Thu May 06, 2010 2:40 pm

Two years new battery. Winter it would discharge, take a trickle charge back to specs, then drop again in two weeks.

One Is load test to see battery isn't a dud, right ?

Twos ammeter, install as instructed, pull fuses to trace down short ?

3. By chance, I had the door buzzer unplugged. Any chance the green / brown wire with plastic plug cover intact, could cause a slow drain just shoved back in the hole ? ( No tape, etc.)

Mike W. · Post by **Mike W.** » Fri May 07, 2010 12:50 pm

A battery can well go bad in 2 years, but testing for a drain is easy. Just disconnect the battery cable and hook up a DMM in there. Ideally it should be under 10 millamps, for sure under 30. Common problems are stereos, alarm systems, glove box and trunk lights. Could be others, but those are the common ones.

Keith · Post by **Keith** » Fri May 07, 2010 1:23 pm

Yeah I disconnected the terminal on my battery, connected one lead on my meter to the battery post and one to the terminal. I found about 8-12 milliamps draw, which actually moved every time my clock ticked inside....but I agree with the last post regarding the usually suspects if you have more draw than that

T.Hanson · Post by **T.Hanson** » Fri May 07, 2010 2:14 pm

Sorry, I am an electrical dunce.

DMM ? I have a Fluke multimeter but I'm so incompetent I've only used it to check battery voltage.

I assume disconnect negative cable ?

Keith · Post by **Keith** » Fri May 07, 2010 7:43 pm

Right. Set it to read amps, and put one probe on the battery post and one on the terminal after to disconnect it from the post. The current will then pass through your multimeter and give you an amp reading. It doesn't matter which terminal you use.