Battery drain issue, no open circuits.

[Bob Dobalina]

I had a discharged Red Top Optima battery that had been sitting for a few years and I brought it to the local auto parts store to have them charge and test it. I left it for 24 hours and when I came back they said it was working and a good battery. When I ran the battery in my truck the alternator would put out 13.7v and after having the battery in my truck for a day and maybe 30 minutes of driving the battery has only been at 12.4 and has dropped to 11.93 overnight. I checked for any "key off" drain with my multimeter and nothing. No draw at all. So would you all think that this battery is actually a bad battery? Shouldn't they be able to tell me that at the auto parts store? I would think they would want to sell me a knew one So anyway, thanks for any input or advice.

 

[FJforty]

Not knowing your skills, how did you check for a drain? Anyway how about we charge the battery up again and disconnect the cable over night.

 

[Bob Dobalina]

Not knowing your skills, how did you check for a drain. Anyway how about we charge the battery up again and disconnect the cable over night.

Hey I lived in Spokane for 5 years and still have a lot of friends there!!! I disconnected the negative cable from the battery terminal and used a test light to jump the terminal and the ground and nothing....Also used multimeter in the same way except I used the amperage setting to see if there was any milliamp current and nothing. Can you recommend any other steps to trouble shoot or any advice is appreciated!! Thanks again!! I love Spokane!!

 

[USMC75FJ40PA]

If it was sitting unused for 5 years, you may have bad sulfination / plates almost shorting; OR, the chemistry may just be shot.

Might want to see if you can find / borrow a trickle charger / service charger that has a desulfinator, and leave it on that for a LONG time (like, whenever you're not driving it for say ... a month ...) and see if that clears up your problem. If it's going down WHILE you're driving, that could be alternator or wiring / connector problem (or V-regulator, if you have an external)

 

[Pin_Head]

Also used multimeter in the same way except I used the amperage setting to see if there was any milliamp current and nothing. !!

This is the correct way to check for a drain on your battery caused by the cruiser wiring. A drain would be the opposite of an "open circuit". An open circuit is disconnected or off.

 

[RicardoJM]

Not much to add as it sounds like you know what you're doing. I would suggest you check the fuse in your multi-meter, if it is fried it would not not register any flow and hide the drain.

 

[fieldsken1]

my battery did the same thing and they said it was bad so they replaced it. we charged it up and it went down also.

 

[FJforty]

if you can find / borrow a trickle charger / service charger that has a desulfinator,

New tech chargers have a feature coined a desulfator. It is fairly new and still unknown if it works but if you could find one it sure would be worth a try. I would not buy one just to save this battery, put the money towards a new battery.