My battery dies if I let the car sit for more than like three days. The battery is only a few months old and has never been completely drained. If I just start the car everyday, there is no problem. The car does have an alarm but that shouldn't be enough to drain it in only a few days. The battery doesn't drain way down, just to the point where it will turn once then kinda die out. Disconnecting the battery everytime is an option but if there is a better way let me know. Thanks.

 

It shouldnt do that. Either the battery has a problem, or your electrical circuit has a problem (leak). The battery is easily checked for leaks, capacity, and ability to charge and hold that charge. Measuring your car for electrical leaks will be more difficult, but seems necessary. There is no workaround, other than to disconnect the battery...

 

To check for a drain in the car's electrical system, a quick way is to disconnect a battery cable (either one) from the battery. Connect a test light between the battery and that cable. If you have a drain, the light will glow. If it glows, disconnect the fuses ONE AT A TIME, reconnecting each one after you disconnect it. When you disconnect a fuse and the light goes out, that is the circuit that has the drain. You'll then have to go through each item in that circuit to find the specific problem, but this is a fast way to narrow the problem down. DO NOT TRY TO START THE CAR WITH THE TEST LIGHT CONNECTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thank you ...

 

There is always SOME drain, like the memory for your clock and radio and engine computer...

chances are you have something shorted to ground... one time some ******* shitface fuckmullet stole the radio from my eclipse, and instead of disconnecting the wiring harness plug from the back, he just fkn pulled until all the wire splices gave way. Including the power wire, which rested against a piece of metal. Didn't draw enough amps to pop the fuse, but it was enough to drain my battery down so far it barely started.

 

This is not accurate, you can use a digital multi meter to do this test. All a test light will show is that the test light works, As Gene said, A digital multi-meter can be as cheap as $35 at Radio shack that can test up to a 10 ampre draw, or as expensive as a couple hundred. Buy what you can afford. The test light will really only light dimly and will never tell you how much draw there really is. A Digital meter can also help you test other problems like bad switchs, senders not working and even your AFM.

as a rule of thumb, when you get a meter, 50 to 60 Ma (milli Amps, show as .050 to .060 on a meter) is normal draw with the doors closed, nothing on, with up to about .075 MA being acceptable.

If the draw is med high like .100 or .120 (100-120 Milli-amps) then you have a relay active. This will drain a battery in a couple of days.

If you have a high draw (which the test light will also show) like 1.2 amps or so, then there is a bulb on in the car, like the dowm light or hatch or something like that. This will draing the batter in two days or less depending on the quality of your battery.

Nopistons proceedure for finding the draw is accurate other than using a testlight.

If you can't start the car from the battery being drained, yes, it is been drained completely and needs to be replaced. Every time a standard car battery gets drained below starting level, you cut the life of the battery in half. Pretty clear that a 5 year battery is wasted in only eight drains below starting. The only exception to this rule is Deep cycle/marine batteries and Optima coil type batteries.

 

So your're saying to connect a meter between the negative cable and the negative post? What should the meter be set on: ohms, volts?

 

You can either use the pos or neg battery terminal. Your meter will be set on 10A or 10 Amp or 10 Ampere

If using Positive, disconnect the positive battery terminal, connect the Positive lead of the meter on the battery post, and the negative lead of the meter on the cable that was formerly hooked up to the positive battery post.

If you want to use the negative lead, Positive lead of the meter on the cable, negative lead of the meter on the negative battery post.

Basically you want the meter to be in series with the battery and the car.

 

Thank you ...