Adam

Battery: Optima Yellow Top
Alternator: 140amp One-Wire Alt. from Summit Racing
Battery Cut Off: On the negative battery post

When my car sits for a week or two the battery will have drained enough to where the car won't start. I am puzzled because I am using a battery terminal disconnect, the battery shouldn't drain at all, right?

Not sure if this is relevant or not, but I do have a 1 farad capacitor connected to my positive terminal, not sure if it's the culprit of this misc. power drain.

Since this isn't my daily driver, it's a real pain in the butt to connect the battery charger EVERYTIME I want to take a spin :bang:

Any help would be appreciated.

pakrat

Even a new battery can have a dead cell and be useless, have it checked first and make sure it is good and can hold the charge. I have had to return top of the lines before for this, always verify every new part, don't assume.

If the ground is disconnected the car itself should not be the cause of the drain (if everything else is in order) but that does not mean you don't have a wire that is grounding itself out either.

If the battery is proven good, then you need to diagnose each individual connection to determine the problem area.

Adam

I had the battery load tested and it was determined to be "GOOD"

rmousir

I had the same problem. Turned out to be the stero. For what ever reason it was killing my battery. I rewired it a few times and finally just took it out. I want to upgrade anyway. When I do I will have it wired right.

Richard.

Adam

Wow, I had a full charge on my battery last night, and now less than 12 hours later, the battery does not have nearly enough juice to start the car.

Really sounds like this Optima is a lemon....

pakrat

But you just said you had it load tested? Was it connected or sitting still for the 12 hours? Do you have any other battery laying around or a car you can swap with to see if it is the car or the battery for sure?

Adam

But you just said you had it load tested? Was it connected or sitting still for the 12 hours? Do you have any other battery laying around or a car you can swap with to see if it is the car or the battery for sure?
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I had the battery tested like two months ago because it kept dying after a week of sitting in the garage. The battery was in the car this past 12 hours. This morning it was at about 11.80 volts - less than 12 is completely discharged I believe.

I may end up buying a $55 Exide from Kragens, but this Optima is only like 1 1/2 years old - argh.

pakrat

Any brand new anything can be defective or faulty, everything has to be verified, especially if it was made on a Monday or a Friday. As I said, I have a brand new battery go bad inside of a year.

While they may not be good for much, I firmly believe in the Sears Diehard Gold. They replace without question in the first year and pro rate it after that so even if it goes bad in 2 or 3 or 8 years, you'll get a portion of the money back against the time it did perform to buy a replacement. You can't ask for much more than that since no one at any price can guarantee your new purchase is without defect.

Adam

Anyone want to help me with testing for battery drain?

I disconnected my negative battery cable, and grabbed my "testing light". I touched one end to the negative cable and the other end to the negative post, there was a "spark", and my alarm made a "chirp" meaning it's getting power (since the circuit is complete) but the light didn't turn on. I tried the same test with my voltmeter on the "2mA" setting and it showed up as 0.00. Surely there must be at least a LITTLE drain from the clocks in my car, what am I doing wrong?

Adam

Since it was after the two year warranty, a new Optima Yellow Top cost me $40.

pakrat

Told ya, new means nothing, particularly with a battery. So, problem solved?