I had a dead battery in my car yesterday, I jumped it and went on my way. After a 15 mile drive the battery was still dead and I had to jump the car again. I borrowed a battery from a friend and put mine on the charger.

And now I am wondering why my batter was dead. I disconnected the radio and with the car/ignition/lights/etc. off I put my Amp meter in line between the battery and the + cable an found that I have a 0.60 Amp draw on the battery.

Are there any usual suspects that may cause this drain on the battery?

The car is a 1970 with a 2056 D-jet.

start pulling fuses and then disconecting harnesses till you find the draw.

After a 15 mile trip your car should have re-started. Charging system is bad or battery is bad.

....Or sulfated battery cell? how old is the batt?

discounect the voltage regulator and see if the current draw stopps. (That would be one of the skinny red wires to the positive battery terminal), or just pull it off at the regulator plate

maybe you need a toe?????????????????? hahahahahaha

I'm thinking a diode went in the alternator, and thats why it's not charging either.
Think we need a pole..

is that a postive or negitive pole he needs?

hahahahahahaha

battery is optima mfg. 9/09.

,,Chances are it's not the batt...maybe ?
get your friend porvdub to test the system for you, first!?

I'd have the Optima tested. My dad's was only a year old when it went bad. According to Optima, we didn't drive the car enough...

In went a Odyssey and a battery buddy. It won't happen again.

This sounds like what my work truck was doing......battery draining down.....and charging @ 12 volts not 13.5....had bad diodes.....fixed the problem.....remove the wire from the battery to the alt. at the alt. and see if current drain goes away.

Diode or diodes ...

If only one goes out, you may get a little charging, but there will still be a current draw, even with all the fuses pulled.

BTDT

Eddie

so I have traced a short to the ignition switch using my Ohm meter.

The funny thing is I only have the short when the key is in the off position. When I go igniton "on" the short goes away

so I am guessing my switch has failed. Any thought from the World?

unfortunately I had a minor surgery on my foot and need to spend most of the weekend with my foot elevated so I can't do much more work today. Although I would argue that being crammed with my head under the dash most certainly keeps my foot elevated!!

there are circuit the are on when the ignition is off; the clock, radio memory, the door pins for the interior light come to mind. try to pull fuses till that draw stops, then you can trace down the harness and unplug things or trace the wires to find damage that is causing the draw.

do you have a copy of the wiring diagram?

Pull the plug or wires off of the ignition switch and see if the current draw stops.

Be careful since wires on the ignition switch come straight from the battery with no fues or fusible links.

My '73 2.0 suddenly developed a battery drain. I traced it back to the clock circuit and then finally to my already dead clock. I disconnected the clock and it solved the problem. Don't know if you have a console and clock but it is pretty easy to check the clock.

YMMV


Warrenoliver

The alternator is a "battery maintainer", NOT a "battery charger". Expecting it to charge your battery in a few minutes is expecting a miracle, and you'd be putting undue stress on the alternator. There's a risk it could permanently damage your alternator, according to Bosch.

Every single car equipped with an Optima battery that's been in my shop has had electrical system problems, specifically battery issues, and every one has had the battery replaced with a conventional battery. Except for one car, which has a significant battery drain issue, a replacement (conventional) battery has solved the problem. Some of the Optimas I've seen fail were just weeks old, some months, but all ended up being unchargeable.

I fail to see the obsession with Optimas among 914 and other Porsche people, especially people who drive their cars infrequently. If you're worried about overflow, simply protect the battery from the weather. If your car has overcharging problems, which will cause corrosion and overflow, fix the problem. If the battery is exposed to a small flood of water when it's wet out, cover the battery or enclose it in a box. Or move it.

I would guess nearly all the threads on this forum about Optimas involve some sort of failure issues, but I'm not gonna do a search to work up the numbers. As with K&Ns, too many people fall prey to the advertising and to other similarly clueless online "experts".

The Cap'n

The battery drain was being caused by the white wire in the ignition switch that provided power to the "park" lights when the car is off. The wire shorted out at the factory press-on. I'll add a picture soon. See here: http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=109871 Cap'n have you seen this failure?

I am not so sure that there is an obsession with Optima batteries, but it is more of a preventative measure. As we all know standard batteries can leak and the rain then washes the acid into the hell hole.

Maybe we should do a poll? The issue comes up often enough to be noticeable.

The Cap'n

I have two fieros and a 86 k5 blazer and a 91 3/4 ton suburban with optimas. I keep battery tenders on all of them that I don't drive weekly and they seem to be ok but optimas do not work well setting. I do not like the thought of battery acid getting on the metal around the battery. One of these days I will try a different brand of sealed battery but the optimas are easy to find. Also I remember there being a special charge procedure to bring a optima back if it has set with low voltage for awhile.

I run optimas on about four or five of my cars. they work great. many posts on optimas tell of how nice they are at preventing hell hole rust and other acid damage. dont let online so called experts fool you into thinking optimas are not good. very few folks have an obsession with talking bad about optimas, many are very happy with the optima. the optima fixes the hell hole rust issue from happening, no need to move the battery or avoid it getting rained on. just run it, and enjoy.

these batterys are fantastic. I had one that sat in an un-used car for about a year, (it was a five or six year old optima) it was dead, but took a charge just fine, and today it still starts the car fine, some four years later. I have some optimals that are near ten years old and still cranking.

I have not had one fail on me in less than 8-10 years. some have lasted longer. strictly from a economy stand point, even though they cost more, than a regular battery, you get the money worth in long life, plus no nasty acid leaks.

Never had an alternator fail with an optima battery. they just plain work great.

as far as an alternator being called a battery charger or maintainer, that is just mincing words, to maintain a battery you charge it. maintain = charge in this case.

a car alternator can charge a nearly dead battery. just run alternator at high enough rpms for it to have enough output, and avoid turning on accesories like headlight lights for a while until it gets a fuller charge. battery that is stone dead wont work with an alternator, cuase you need some voltage to excite the alternators winding so you get the magnetic field that is required. (hence dont run an alternator with no battery connected or a battery that is stone dead/or open circuit etc...)

for instance you can jump a dead battery in an alternator car becuse the good battery your jumping with will supply the voltage needed to excite the magnetic field, and assuming the dead battery is simply discharged (not internally open) it should in short order have enough power to excite the field coil on its own (the field requires very very little current, it can self sustain by the alternator once started) to speed up the charging of a jumped battery, avoid accesories until it has a chance to get up a full charge, else if you stop the motor, you may not have enough charge to crank it over again. .

at anyrate the optima is a great addition to the 914, had it been in use by the factory, chances are many more 914's would be on the road today rather than rusted out due to battery leakage

My brother in his shop sees a lot of Optima failures as well. I boughtwas givin the excide version of it, and it's been bullet proof so far. From what i have been told by a battery expert, the optimas are an ok battery, but tend to fail because of vibration breaking the cells up. The excide is supposed to be stronger. FWIW.

....Ran into a 911 bro....last sunday, he showed me a Optima batt in an 85'
911...failed after 3 mths

(popcorn anyone!)