Battery Drain Issues
Jay2002
06-22-2009, 11:18 PM
I have a 2002 Jetta that I only drive back and forth to the gym and store Maybe 15 miles a week. In the past it’s been left sitting there for weeks and the battery ends up dead. I'd like to ask about the theory of my solution because I'm kind of confused about it. This weekend I installed a battery disconnect switch to my neg. battery terminal. I did this so that if I knew I wouldn't be driving it for a couple weeks I could shut it off and save the battery from discharge. The switch I purchased had a bypass loop with a 15A fuse in it. In theory to keep the clock and radio presets alive... maybe the computer settings as well. I checked the car for current drain with nothing on and if I remember right it was around 230mA. My car manual states that anything below 500mA should not discharge the battery but that 100mA is a normal level of current draw with the car off and locked. My issue is that this loop would appear to drain the battery anyway. I’m sure someone out there has had this issue. I’m trying to see if there is a short in my system or if the battery is discharging due to lack of driving. At this point the battery might be bad. I use a trickle charger on it this weekend and it appeared to be fully charged. Sunday it started fine and I parked it outside. Went out to start it today (Mon) and it will barely turn over. Sorry so long winded. Any advice would be appreciated. I've my setup below showing the bypass wire.
http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Product/Pr-p_Product.CATENTRY_ID:2006122/c-10101/Nty-1/p-2006122/Ntx-mode+matchallpartial/N-10101/tf-Browse/s-10101/Ntk-AllTextSearchGroup?Ntt=battery+disconnet
http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Product/Pr-p_Product.CATENTRY_ID:2006122/c-10101/Nty-1/p-2006122/Ntx-mode+matchallpartial/N-10101/tf-Browse/s-10101/Ntk-AllTextSearchGroup?Ntt=battery+disconnet
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