pulled door cards and speakers and drained battery? (1 Viewer)

[landcruiser3DP]

guys.
a little elektrikery help here please? i pulled my door cards so all the connectors (lights and power window switches) have been hanging loose.
i also pulled my speakers so the hot wire and the ground wire for the rear speakers were just hanging there. the front speakers have a connector on them so those two were hanging.
and after sitting a couple days while i sorted some stuff i have a dead battery.
i did tape off the hot and the ground on the left rear speaker but i noticed i somehow got distracted and did not tape off the wires on the right rear.
anyway, i barely understand this stuff.
is it possible i left the rear hatch ajar and since it still has a little light on it this drained the battery over a number of days?
keys were not in the ignition which i assume means something (but i’m not exactly sure what i turn on when keys are in the ignition or turned to on position....).
is it possible the ground wire made contact with sheet metal and drained the battery? what would happen if the hot speaker wire made contact with sheet metal? or say if rhe hot and ground made contact with each other?
it’s a practical concern but also i am slowly trying to teach myself low voltage.
THANKS
jon

 

[landcruiser3DP]

pics

 

[FolsomTony]

When I did my stereo/speaker install last summer, and took a short break in the middle waiting for electronics, and a weekend away. Came home my battery was low/dead. Found I had left the rear passenger door just ajar enough to leave the dome lights lit. Charged it up, and all was well.

I would say a rear hatch light could easily do it in a few days.

 

[landcruiser3DP]

When I did my stereo/speaker install last summer, and took a short break in the middle waiting for electronics, and a weekend away. Came home my battery was low/dead. Found I had left the rear passenger door just ajar enough to leave the dome lights lit. Charged it up, and all was well.

I would say a rear hatch light could easily do it in a few days.

thanks a LOT. i went looking for the rear hatch light and thought i didn’t have one. but i guess it is overhead.
another “noob wants to learn” question?
i have this battery tender for my motorcycle. i hook up RED to POS and BLACK to NEG and hope it turns to a green light on the tender and gets to something like 13 volts overnight?
right now it is reading at like 5 volts at the poles.
ALSO, can anyone explain to me why the black lead gets grounded to the frame on a car you are jumping? if i remember correctly it is red working car to red not working car to black working car to black GROUND on the non working vehicle?

 

[FolsomTony]

Your battery tender is a maintainer, not a true charger. Hook up a charger and it'll get the job done right.

 

[Tools R Us]

As mentioned, most likely dome lights draw causing the dead battery, charge it up. The speaker wires don't matter, if the stereo is off, there is no power to the speakers.

Batteries can off gas flammable stuff, so when connecting a load that can't be turned off, best to make the last connection away from the battery.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

All the times I have jumped a car with cables it's + to + and - to -. I might be ignorant but I have never heard of connecting the ground to the frame when jump starting. And if your keys were out of the ignition it could not have been your speaker wires draining the battery.

 

[Tools R Us]

Batteries can explode, have seen it happen, not pretty, plastic, acid, flying, not good. thankfully it's somewhat rare. Sparks are one thing that can cause it, so when connecting loads that can't be turned off, like jumpers, best to make the last connection (likely to spark) away from the battery. On the '80, I connect the ground to the engine lifting hook bracket.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

I guess that makes sense, I was always told to hook up the dead battery first then the good battery. No one told me why but it makes sense because the reason would be to avoid causing a spark and igniting hydrogen gas that built up. I know when I have welded with car batteries we put a wet towel on the batteries to prevent hydrogen gas from igniting. My understanding is they off gas the most hydrogen when they are being discharged or recharged. All I know is I will be more careful when I jump start a battery and start grounding to somewhere besides the negative terminal. Exploding acid and plastic do not sound fun at all.