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Wondering if anyone has any insight. Car battery was completely dead not turning over, no lights, nothing. Charged it up and the next day completely dead again. Went out and bought a new battery yesterday and ran fine last night while charged but went to start vehicle this morning and completely dead again. Any ideas on what could be drawing on the battery? Thanks in advance.

Check your dash gauge to see if the alternator is charging the battery.  
 
Make sure an interior light isn't on from an open door.  
 
Edited by Hey!, 2017-12-28 09:11:40

Like there could current drawn from the battery when the ignition is "off". I''d make sure nothing is plugged into accessory/cigarette plugs, especially where a small "led" is constantly lit. Any recent additions to the vehicle such as "back up camera", Dashcam, Bluetooth phone connect, etc. would be suspect in my mind until eliminated. Obviously, door/maps/ glove comparpartment/makeup, etc lights must be ensured off. To isolate the draw one needs an amp meter installed in line with your battery. With the ignition "off" monitor the current draw on the amp meter. If there is a current draw, then it must be isolated. The circuit may be isolated by pulling fuses, one at a time. These current draw issues can be time consuming to isolate. Good luck!  
 
Edited by 70`s guy, 2017-12-28 09:21:45

What ever is drawing, is drawing a lot. As 70's asks, have you added anything? Anything at all?  
 
A dome light will not stay on. Any car built on the last 15 years is designed for lights to go off. Anything small will not do it. Took me three years to drain my battery with my Sirius radio adapter.

Haven’t done anything different to my vehicle. It was working perfectly fine then the next day dead. And like the above poster said, the lights turn off automatically after awhile if left on but I did check that. I am stumped!

Check your alternator

Knucklehead said "Check your alternator "

Also we had an alternator putting out the correct volts on a tester but had zero amps coming out. Strangest thing I have ever seen, yet changed the alternator and all has been good since. There was a fault in the alternator that couldn't be rebuilt so something was obviously bad.

Radio is the biggest culprit.  
And the interior light actually can stay on.... they are designed to turn off after staying on for a period of time but that can fail leaving a current going. Check your door jams. There is a pin in there that shuts off your lights, find it and press it in several times quickly to clean out dust dirt etc. Use a simple circuit tester with a light in it ( worth $5), disconnect the negative cable from battery and put tester in between your negative cable and the battery. If it’s lite there is a draw. Start pulling fuses one at a time to see which one puts the tester light out. Then you have found your issue. Remember pull on out but put it back before moving to the next one lol.

Alternator could be issue also. Any auto store will test it for you for free if you take it out and take it to them.

Could be the diode pack is damaged in the alternator and it's draining the battery when the vehicles not running. I watched a guy fight this same problem on his Backhoe through a channel I watch on youtube.  
 
It still charged the battery when running. But at a bit lower voltage, and the battery was dead every morning like yours, if he forgot to turn the battery cut out switch some big machines have..  
 
you need to figure this out quick. while we have this cold weather. A dead battery will freeze and mess it up if you get real unlucky. Basically It will kill your new battery.!.  
 
Was there actually anything wrong with your old battery, was it charged and tested properly. There is a term in the trade called " throwing parts" to fix faults that aren't diagnosed properly, and new parts don't make the problem go away.  
 
If I had a quarter of the money from un needed parts sales, from what I see spent on forums that didn't fix the problem I'd be rich L.O.L.  
 
If you have any mechanical ability try Google searching your vehicle for battery draining faults, it might help you, from others experience. If not Find a good reputable mechanic locally to check it out. It might not be cheap but neither' s a new battery when yours froze and there is no warranty..  
Good luck electrical can be one of the hardest things to diagnose, especially on modern vehicles.  
 
Regards Robert

That is so very true Farmboy. One can chase their ass around the garage throwing parts at a car, or, take in and have it diagnosed. Less time, less money.  
 
Retailer will not warranty a drained and frozen battery, I know.  
 
Right now is tough to get in. Guy at the parts counter, yesterday "That is the 23rd battery I have sold today."

Either alternator needs to be fixed/replaced or something else is draining your battery. I had the same problem a long time ago. Brought it to Twin Service. They found out my passenger power window motor was emitting a buzz sound and it was actually trying to push up the window. Replaced it and problem solved.

Boosted three times, finally towed to Canadian Tire and it was the starter..no problems since.

Prizzy said "Boosted three times, finally towed to Canadian Tire and it was the starter..no problems since. "

I was just about to post that it might be your starter. Nice to see it was figured out.

Like I said, see how easy that was?

Sometimes with a new alternator they need to be jumped to get them to regulate properly, which you can do on the tester. But just because an alternator works on the tester doesn't mean it will work on the equipment. I've had lots of alternators test good but when put back on the equipment they wouldn't work properly.

bdn15 said "Haven’t done anything different to my vehicle. It was working perfectly fine then the next day dead. And like the above poster said, the lights turn off automatically after awhile if left on but I did check that. I am stumped! "

One thing to think about is short trips and the cold. We all know batteries crank slower when cold. They also do not take a charge as quick.  
 
The alternators job is not really to charge a discharged battery. Part of its' job is to replace the power used from the battery to start. While not its only job it is important.  
 
Pretend the battery is like 10 gallons of water. It takes a gallon to start the car. The alternator needs time as in driving time to replace that gallon. If your trips are short it may not happen given the slow rate a cold battery accepts a charge. Eventually and as happens year round too many short trips  
your battery is near empty.  
 
 
A parasitic leak is likley. A door left ajar or a sticky door switch that turns the interior light on when you are not leaking.  
 
 
A leak is hard to find once you know you have one. Charge the battery and disconnect the battery when not using the car. No dead battery after a time then you have a leak.  
 
 
If you can afford take the car in and get a AVR. Make sure they check for leaks.

Test your alternator with the car running by putting a multimeter on your battery. The reading should be somewhere between 14 and 15 volts DC.  
 
If that's fine, then stop your engine and if your multimeter measures current, then test to see if your positive battery wire is drawing current with the cars off, doors shut, any under hood lights off, etc. Basically, make sure nothing is drawing current to see if you have a parasitic electrical leak, then diagnose from there by pulling fuses until you figure it out. Might be something quick and easy, but also might be a PITA.  
 
Also, your dash may indicate if your alternator has failed through voltmeter or alternative warning light. Never keep a dead/low battery in the cold, or it will freeze.  
 
It is a good practice to throw a charger on your vehicle battery once every 1 to 2 months for an overnight trickle charge, and especially in the winter months when it gets really cold as it has been. Most alternators are good at keeping a battery operational, but they are never sufficient to bring a battery up to a full charge. A less than full charge is hard on your battery because it makes it work harder in the winter when it is cold, and it has a higher risk of freezing. A less than charged battery also causes precipitation on the lead plates, which leads to battery failure. There are special trickle chargers that will ensure that a battery will be reliable over the long term.  
 
The optima 400 are pretty awesome chargers if you have the cash. They can recover a dead battery as low as 1.5 volts.  
 
https://www.optimabatteries.com/en-us/battery-charger

" finally towed to Canadian Tire and it was the starter..no problems since. "  
 
Look up a few posts.

One other thing that most people don't understand when it comes to batteries. Many of the newer battery chargers that have come out over the past decade, are what are known as "smart chargers". They have internal circuitry that looks for a hooked up battery, and then charges the battery until it is full, and then maintains a trickle charge so as not to overcharge the battery. But depending on the model you buy, some of them are NOT so smart. Many smart chargers, when you plug them in, look for the battery looking to see a minimum voltage. In some of these cases, that voltage is 10.5 volts. If the voltage of the battery is less than the detection voltage of the charger, the charger won't see the battery, and the result will be that it won't flip the charger's internal switch to activate a charge. Other smart chargers have lower detection voltages. So, if you have drained your battery very low through leaving a light on, or whatever, your battery charger MIGHT not be smart enough to see that it is hooked up to your battery depending on the battery voltage. There is a work-around though. If you are in this situation, you can hook up another automotive battery in parallel (booster cables connecting negative to negative, positive to positive). Then hook up your charger to one of the batteries, and the good battery will trick the charger into seeing a higher voltage. It will then turn on the charger and charge both batteries until your bad battery has recovered enough, that you can disconnect it altogether and have your charger finish to a full charge. In this case, say your battery is drained to 10 volts and the threshold for the charger to see it is 10.5 volts. A good 12 volt battery can be inserted in-line to get the bad battery charged up to a 10.5 volt threshold where the charger can finish it off to a full recovery. This may be what you are experiencing.  
 
Read the article on the right column:  
 
https://www.optimabatteries.com/en-us/support/charging/resuscitate-deeply-discharged-battery  
 
Edited by JoeSixpack, 2017-12-28 16:48:08

The brake light switch maybe malfunctioning. It may be stuck on the on position.

TheScotsman said "" finally towed to Canadian Tire and it was the starter..no problems since. "     Look up a few posts. "

This topic was started by bdn15.  
 
It is Prizzy whose car got towed and fixed at Cdn Tire.  
 
I.see nothing that indicates Prissy is bdn15?

I was confused, wasn’t sure what Scotsman was trying to say?  
 
Thanks for all the great suggestions. Going to try and figure out the cause of the draw tomorrow and if not will take it to a mechanic. Appreciate the help

Had a similar problem before on an old, old car. It was the alternator. Mechanic said the alternator would charge when I was driving, but the battery was draining when parked. (Alternator was going and had a short in the system.) Would cost me more to fix it than the car was worth. I just unhooked the positive cable to the battery when I wasn't driving it.  
Pain in the butt, yes. Though, it did the trick until I got another car.  
If you have a battery charger, you can charge your battery. Or use booster cables to start your car, let it run for an hour or so. Then after you turn it off, unhook the battery. When you go out later to start it, hook it back up.  
Although, if you haven't plugged your car in, there is a chance that your engine is just to frozen for the car to draw enough energy to start. It is extremely cold out.  
If you need a boost and can't get help, call CAA and they will give it a boost.  
 
Edited by AndreaD., 2017-12-28 20:36:32

bdn15 said "I was confused, wasn’t sure what Scotsman was trying to say?     Thanks for all the great suggestions. Going to try and figure out the cause of the draw tomorrow and if not will take it to a mechanic. Appreciate the help "

His posts often confuse me as well. Good luck with finding the draw.

Haven’t made much progress been busy but just started pulling fuses for the most obvious, command start etc. Pulled about 20 and haven’t found the cause yet. Too darn cold out so had to take a break. No lights have been left on and alternator is fine. Wondering if it’s a module of some sort. Have to do some more fuses later on once I warm up

Did you confirm that you have a parasitic draw, before starting to pull fuses? You may have a normal (very small) draw from your clock, etc, but measuring and confirming abnormal current draw should be assessed first, by making sure it is higher than what it would normally be, and pulling fuses from there. Also, if it is an older vehicle, I have experience in the past is that either the posts get corroded, or even the NEGATIVE wire builds up internal corrosion (that you can't see, it's within the insulation ... and if this is the case the negative cable needs to be replaced. One way of testing for this is to just use a jumper cable to jump between the negative post and some bare metal on your frame (current will pass through jumper cable). If that solves your problem, you know it's your negative cable. In this case, your battery may be fine but not charging properly due to a faulty ground, or may not be starting because the return ground is poor with internal corrosion within the jacket.

Car was plugged in all night (sits outside) and wouldn't start this am., needed a boost. Sounds like CAA is swamped with similar calls.  
Just wondering if I should chalk it up to the extreme cold or have the battery tested and if so, where can you have this done?

The problem was my back wiper wasn’t all the way down because there was snow in the way so the motor kept running because it was trying to get back down. Still can’t believe that was the culprit! Thanks for the suggestions everyone

Usually turns out that way. Sometimes better to check the simple stuff. Glad you got it figured out.