dead battery trunk release

[da888]

Found my battery dead today and the front trunk closed. I normally remove the battery for the winter and take it inside. I thought I had plenty of time since the battery is only 6 months old. ( the car has only been stored for about 3 weeks now.) The car was not locked. 2001 Boxster, NAPA replacement battery.

I noticed my lawn tractor had a 12 volt battery so I used it, and some alligator clips wires I had on hand, to route to the red fuse that can be pulled out to expose the copper contacts.( in the fuse panel )

Hooked the negative to the striker plate on the door jam, just touched the red to the pull out fuse, nothing lit up, not even the diode lights in the door. But when I pushed the release button, it opened. All is well.

I just have to determine if the battery is faulty or is something allowing current to drain the battery.

On first test with a smart battery charger, it said possibly weak, or bad in other words. I'll have to return it to Napa and get it tested I suppose. Wicked easy.

[Loren]

As your topic appears to be a DIY question (rather than a DIY Tutorial), we have moved it to the appropriate forum.

This is an automatically generated reply.

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[JFP in PA]

Tis the season for batteries to start crapping out. Have the battery fully charged and load test it, also check the specific gravity of the electrolyte. Most auto parts stores will do the load test for free if you lack the necessary equipment.

[da888]

Does anybody know how much current you should see from the battery, with a digital amp meter in line, when the car is off, with the key out of the ignition ?

One time only I found my curtisy lights still on, hours after removing the key. I'm thinking something in the smallest amounts of milliamps.

I only ask in case napa tells me the battery is fine. I haven't returned it yet.

[JFP in PA]

When the system has settled (everything has switched off after about 1 hour), you should see 40-60 mA. Here's a list of what various systems draw when active, and the typical current draw vs. time:

Edited December 10, 2012 by JFP in PA

[1schoir]

If you leave the car unlocked, it will drain the battery in that state more quickly than if you lock the car with the remote.

Regards, Maurice.

Edited December 11, 2012 by 1schoir

[da888]

Thanks for the info guys. I've read when it's locked, it'll go into a power saving mode.

It's just that it seems to be a bigger hassel if it goes dead again. But I read somewhere about putting the key in, manually unlocking, then when powering with an external battery, the alarm will go off, then moving the key again to the unlocked postion to shut it off.

[da888]

I returned the battery today at NAPA. They tested it with their device and it read good but needed charged. So I told them about how it said failed with my smart chargher (opti II), then took a two hour charge with my regular charger, at high amps, switched to the smart charger again and it took a trickle charge for 15 hours but never finished.

I also monitored the voltage reading which went from 12.36 v to 11.68 v in less than a week. My lawn tracktor battery is still at 12.38 v.

They asked if I'd like them to recharge it and I said yes, but beware of the high amperage draw. They called back two hours later and said it wasn't holding a charge and it must be bad despite the readout of their device.

One less worry for me. I'll still check the phamtom draw in the spring when I again try another NAPA battery.