Battery Question

[fordguy_1]

I bought my truck about 2 1/2 years ago. The previous owner had trouble keeping the batts charged if the truck sat for more than a week. Needless to say about 3 months later the truck was dead and yes I was ignorant enough to only buy 1 batt, an optima red top. Now this week my truck is dead again and the red top tested bad in the am then tested good in the pm and the old batt tested bad. I just bought a duralast gold batt since it is cheaper than the red top and apparently made by the same company, truck starts great. The big question is should I get autozone to replace the red top so I have 2 fresh batteries????

[03_Turbo7.3]

you should probably have your ALT checked and make sure that regulator is working, my truck can sit forever and i can have music playing for hours on end and it starts everytime.. im running Ford batts, ones original other is 2 yrs old

[fordguy_1]

Autozone checked it 3 times and it is putting out 14.5 V

[03_Turbo7.3]

Something isnt right, like i said i have an original so almost 8yrs old on a stock batt and it still tests at 1000cca, your batts should not be dying that fast, whats your Parasidic draw at?

[fordguy_1]

Parasidic draw???

[Stroken7.3]

My truck has sat since September 3 and I went to start it last week and not enough power to crank it fast enough and fire. I figured it out to be my lighted cell phone charger. Jumped it and let run for 30 minutes started right up yesterday.

[03_Turbo7.3]

haha, maybe i should explain,

Parasitic draw is the amount on amperage draw on the truck when shut off and all computers have gone into sleep mode.

Get a good volt meter, put it on the ( amp ) setting, disconnect the negative lead on the main battery, put the positive ( red ) lead of the tester on the cable, tape it on, put the negative ( black ) lead on the battery terminal, youll see a amp reading, if you have an auto ranging meter you wont need to select miliamps etc it will do it for you, once connected youll see a reading, let the meter sit for awhile..15-30 mins DO NOT LET THE battery cable touch the post it will blow the fuse in your meter, youll get a number like 0.10amps, anything above 0.05amps is too much reading the ford manual, if its over 0.05 you have something drawing a charge from the battery and it shouldnt be

[fordguy_1]

Originally Posted by duckslayer74

My truck has sat since September 3 and I went to start it last week and not enough power to crank it fast enough and fire. I figured it out to be my lighted cell phone charger. Jumped it and let run for 30 minutes started right up yesterday.

Oh man that sucks. I am surprised there was that much drain from a lighted cell phone charger.

[03_Turbo7.3]

Originally Posted by fordguy_1

Oh man that sucks. I am surprised there was that much drain from a lighted cell phone charger.

a 0.15 amp discharge will kill a battery in 1-2weeks..it doesnt take much..you should be around 0.02 usually...

[fordguy_1]

Originally Posted by 03_Turbo7.3

haha, maybe i should explain,

Parasitic draw is the amount on amperage draw on the truck when shut off and all computers have gone into sleep mode.

Get a good volt meter, put it on the ( amp ) setting, disconnect the negative lead on the main battery, put the positive ( red ) lead of the tester on the cable, tape it on, put the negative ( black ) lead on the battery terminal, youll see a amp reading, if you have an auto ranging meter you wont need to select miliamps etc it will do it for you, once connected youll see a reading, let the meter sit for awhile..15-30 mins DO NOT LET THE battery cable touch the post it will blow the fuse in your meter, youll get a number like 0.10amps, anything above 0.05amps is too much reading the ford manual, if its over 0.05 you have something drawing a charge from the battery and it shouldnt be

I will do that tomorrow as I am changing the oil. I don't have anything special hooked up that should cause a drain. Then again there is the trailer brake system that I think the previous owner put in himself. Could that cause a drain if wires are not wired properly??