Another brand new week old Optima Red top dead in my car!!!

I have barely been running the car, just a few minutes at a time in the garage while trying to diagnose a problem. I'm only pulling about 11.7-12.0 volts, and the alternator is pretty suspect. But why would the battery keep losing it's charge. Nothing is hooked directly up to it other than my stereo, but even it has a switched power source and I've verified there's no power to it with the car off. The electric water pump is off, and the Accel 300+ is also. Any ideas???

 

Here's a few things you can do. First with the car off, put a volt meter (vm) across the battery terminals and read the voltage. Then pull any terminal off the battery and then read the voltage. If it goes up after you remove the terminal now do this check. With the VM set to current (amps) put the VM in series with the battery and the terminal. Note polarity. If the current is higher than .1 Amps you have something drawing too much current.

You could check to see what it is by watching the amp reading on the VM while you pull and then replace one fuse at a time. Watch to see which one causes the current draw to go down.

If you don't have too much current draw with the power off, connect both terminals and start the car and see what the voltage across the battery is with the engine running. It should be over 13 volts. If it is not, your alternator could be defective.

Be sure to check all the connections especially the grounds at the frame and the engine.

 

If your alternator isnt turning on or not working you will be suprised how little car running time it will take to discharge your battery.

 

maybe you need to run the car more. your engine usually needs to run for a long time before the battery gets fully charged. also, if you're starting the car repeatedly without running it for a long time in between, it's gonna get drained.

 

Definately not the battery. How many miles and how old is that alternator?