NOW THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN' ABOUT

These are all things you need to check for. You can pull the test light out from under the hood to check for draw from the hood light. And the glove box....prolly woulda' taken me a while to think of that one. Read a story about a coin in the cig lighter. That was a good one too.

 

i fixed a guy c ar once after hbe told me hed been thru 3 batteries at sear had the police called on him escorted from sear because the never looked at the car at night the hood light was broken actually the switch had gone bad causing the light to go on i had it one night left the bat hooked up went out side whaen dark out low and behold the ground under the car was lighted up took out the hood light bulb problem fixed the glove box was my prob on my xj the switch broke off and caused the light to stay on noticed it one nite on the way home

 

the small draw you are seeing is from the memory for your presets and clock in radio thats normal battery time

 

Reading your posts, you seem to have a draw only with the IOD fuse. A nominal draw thru this fuse is normal. You can leave the fuse out, as you plan to do, and see what happens. Also, you can disconnect the battery leave it in place and see what happens.

Do you have any bare spots in your battery tray or hold down that is metal and making a connection to ground? I have tested batteries for conduction thru the battery case and I have found it in a few batteries. I read a thread once, long ago, where the poster felt the battery was dead due to conduction thru the case. This is what led me to test some batteries.

 

Oops. You are correct. What was I thinking?

Still...an amp hour rating of 100 would take 400 hours to drain at .25. His battery is junk.

 

I have two different batteries that i have charged over nite.
I have removed the bulb from the glove box and from underhood.
the iod fuse is the only thing that has some kind of draw.
could it be a draw when im driving while im using the jeep?

could my alternator be bad or something?

 

I was going to ask you about that, but you seemed sure that there was a drain problem. I think most agree that the easiest way to check the alternator is to start the truck and remove one of the battery cables. If the truck stays running, the alternator is good. If it dies the alternator is bad. You should only do this long enough to do the test (my guess would be less than a minute). Leaving the cable off too long could damage the alternator.

 

If it is the alternator it could be one of two things. the alternator itself can be draining power from the battery when the car isn't running, i believe thats called a backfeed. or two your alternator is shot completely. The problem your having with your jeep is the same i had with mine but like i said i never got a chance to fix it and scraped it.

 

If its backfeed it needs a new bridge rectifier

 

It is pretty easy to test the alternator. Test your battery voltage engine not running, should be around 12v. Start engine and test again. Voltage should be 13-15 volts. Also you can test the alternator at the B+ terminal on the back of the alternator. It should read 13-15v also.

I have read in a few places that it is not good to remove the battery cables and run the engine on alternator. You could create more problems. You choice do or don't.

 

Maybe with enough input we can see if the "it's ok to remove the battery cable to test the alternator" theory is true or really an old wives tale. Sometimes they're taken as the gospel (doing the cable thing was the way I was taught and I accepted it as true) when it's really not true (or good) at all.

In actuality, your more scientific approach is prolly way better

 

Its reading 14 volts and with ac on the blower on high and the high beams on it only droped one volt. The radio so far is my only draw.

 

This sure is a mystery. With a .25 amp draw your battery should not die overnight. Did you try the test, removing IOD overnight? What was the result? Your alternator is good at 14 volts.

 

So the theory goes that the older vehicles with alternators and voltage regulators disconnecting the battery was not a problem as the VR could handle the load.

Now, with computer controlled vehicles and VR in the PCM disconnecting the battery could place a damaging load on the computer. So there are warnings not to do this. I just purchased a book on automotive electrics and the warning is there.

I am no expert and I do not intend to test the theory. My multimeter and my homemade voltage/continuity tester will work for me.

 

i had a certain aftermarket stereo and still do. havent reinstalled it since i sold my trans am but it would drain the battery in a day or so