Okay, I'm tring to figure out why a brand new battery is already drained after about a month of use. My alternator works great. So.....

Does any one know how to check to see if any power if being used from the battery with the keys out of the ignition?

Also, any idea on where I can hunt down the cause of the drain?

 

i had a short in my door switch causing drain, also so do have any after market switches/toggle type added? might check em.......good luck and check the power window switch, make sure its returning right.....

 

I'll have to check that. Thanks DONNA. Currently all the stock switches are there, which could have the possibility of being bad. I'll have to check when I get off of work.

Any other suggestions people?

 

Perhaps you could pull your fuses one by one, and look with a multimeter for one with a voltage/current across the terminals in the fuse box.

 

Unfortantly, that one of the first things I've tried. No matter which fuse I pulled out there seemed to be constant draw of 10-11 volts across the negative terminal, I can't remember what was being displayed through the positive.

 

You'll need a good quality ammeter for this, preferable a digital one, if it's analog, it must be one that has 0 in the center, so it shows both current going into and out of the battery.

Look at your positive battery cable. It has one huge thick one that goes down to the starter and a smaller one that goes to the fusible link block on the strut tower. Remove this wire from the fusible link block. Connect it to your ammeter and connect the other side of your ammeter to the fusible link block where you remove the original wire.

You now can see EXACTLY how much power is going into or out of your battery. An amp drain will kill your battery in a week without any charging... Give or take. (Example based on 1985 Toyota Camry, broken ignition switch will not go into OFF position, only ACC... Sony CD HeadUnit.) Less than half an amp should goto clock, radio preset memory, and ECU memory if applicable.

Start your car, you should see several amps going into the battery. If not, your alternator is dead. THis is why I like ammmeters better than volt meters. You get more information... If you know how to use it.

 

Thanks everyone. I'll try a few more things.