Battery Dead

[Ginger]

I went out to my Jeep this morning and noticed that, upon opening the door, I was not greeted by the warm glow of the candlepower dome lamp.

"That's odd" I said, as I put the key into the ignition.

Crickets chirped.

The last time I drove it was probably Wednesday of last week, give or take a day. There were no signs of iminent anything failure then. I checked the cables after I got the no juice condition and, sure enough, they were still attached. Great.

So, my question is this: have you ever had a standard lead acid battery completely die? I've had them slowly peter out before, and I've fried them in single overuse situations, but I can't say that I've ever had one completely discharge without warning. I know that this isn't an entirely atypical failure style... but I would feel more comfortable when I go home to poke at it with a stick that other people have had similar experiences.

[Ginger]

Sorry - that post wasn't totally clear:

There was zero electrical power. No faint lights of any kind, no pretend cranking. Absolutely nothing, as if a battery were not connected to the vehicle.

[PDenbigh]

Andrew,

It sounds like there was a drain of some sort. I have never had a battery drain to that level without help. Check it with a Voltmeter and see if it's around 10-9 or fewer volts.

For example, in my F150 I left a door slightly open for about 4 days and the result was exactly as you describe. I charged it back up but it's not 100% anymore. Pb-acid batteries don't like deep discharges!

[ViPER1313]

I have seen lead acid batteries die 95% in the span of 10 minutes. My mom started her car at one store (battery 100% fine), drove 2 miles down the road and went inside another store for 5 minutes, came back out and the car was dead. The headlights wouldn't even turn on. There was just enough juice left in the battery to turn on the interior dome light.

Although I'm betting you just left the door open and the battery died.

[Ginger]

Obviously I can't say it's not possible that I left the door slightly ajar.... and really, I kind of hope that I did. That would ease my mind. The first thing I did was check the headlight switch, which I verified I had left in the 'off' position. The looks lof things indicate that it could be the original battery, which would make a decent explanation.

Unfortunately I didn't have the time, or desire, to even begin to touch it this morning.

[Mike]

A few weeks back Caitlin's car wouldn't start. We checked everything... nothing was left on... The battery is less than a year old. I jumped her (heh) and it's been fine ever since. I'm guessing it could have been a loose wire or something that happened to be contacting something else and causing a very rare drain?

Could be what happened to you. Jump it, give it another shot. Batteries have always given a me a good idea of when they're reaching end-of-life... Unless they're on that POS motorbike of mine. I let that f'ing thing sit for a couple weeks without a trickle and I've gotta buy a new one.

[BLINGMW]

3 times:

Happened to my mom. No indication of issue at all, drove to VT, then when she went to leave, nothing.

Also, I tried to help out a guy at a rest stop, poor guy had his whole family with him. They stopped at the rest area for 10 minutes and the battery was SO dead, I couldn't even jump his car with the battery connected.

Jess' BMW did it too. No indication of problems, parked outside her office for a few hours. I had to roll start it, straight to Advance, they load tested, dead.

I have seen lead acid batteries die 95% in the span of 10 minutes.

So yeah, not rare.

[HAULN-SS]

Also..cables are attached...completely? This happened to me in my SS the other day when I took it out for the first time in a while, and i swore it was drained. Effed around with trying to jump it using my roommates car for like 30 minutes, then tried actually tightening up the cables and it fired right up

[Ginger]

Yeah - cables are as tight as can be. I had time to check them while my motorcycle was warming up. I had a similar situation as you, Derek, with my Accord a few years ago. The terminal clamp was loose and it allowed the terminal to "sulfurize" (the clamp was one of those bling stereo ones that was closed top). It lead me on a while goose chase, so that was my go-to.

With the relative amount of layered crap built up in the engine bay, it wouldn't be completely unreasonable to believe that this it the original battery... so I'm leaning towards that as my favored explanation. It will help me sleep tonight, too.

[Evan]

if its been drained a couple times before, it can definately completely die suddenly. In fact, I think that happened to my cherokee.

hell, I had a battery die on the way back from the track, after charging at 7,000 rpm the whole weekend.

Although that is odd that it would happen now that it is warmer.

[Ginger]

Multimeter results: one one hundredth of a volt.

[PDenbigh]

Wow! Is that a record?

[Ginger]

I hope so, I would feel pretty special.

Mystery solved.

I had a battery left over from a problem with my Accord two and a half years ago. I never used it, so I topped it off on a charger and put it in. As soon as I connected the negative lead the connection sparked, indicating a power drain. Going back to the cabin revealed the culprit:

There are three dome lights: on that automatically turns on when you open a door and turns off when it closes, a reading lamp for the driver, and one for the passenger. The passenger light was on. Maybe I turned it on? I don't know. Expensive mistake, though.

I drove around for about an hour, maybe an hour and a half to make sure the battery was really charged. It's a little tall, so one of the three hood latches doesn't lock; I'm hoping that it won't short the terminals and burn down in front of the house. It's a safe distance from anything else flammable.

I think.

I'll replace it next time I go to Advance.

[Dave]

I hope so, I would feel pretty special.

Mystery solved.

I had a battery left over from a problem with my Accord two and a half years ago. I never used it, so I topped it off on a charger and put it in. As soon as I connected the negative lead the connection sparked, indicating a power drain. Going back to the cabin revealed the culprit:

There are three dome lights: on that automatically turns on when you open a door and turns off when it closes, a reading lamp for the driver, and one for the passenger. The passenger light was on. Maybe I turned it on? I don't know. Expensive mistake, though.

I drove around for about an hour, maybe an hour and a half to make sure the battery was really charged. It's a little tall, so one of the three hood latches doesn't lock; I'm hoping that it won't short the terminals and burn down in front of the house. It's a safe distance from anything else flammable.

I think.

I'll replace it next time I go to Advance.

Might be good to cover with a peice of rubber or something to insulate it and lower your chance of Fire.

[Ginger]

Good tip -I was planning on doing that when I got home

Started and ran fine this morning. Hooray.