Battery is always dead.

[cntryislandboy]

So my battery was dead again yesterday. My Tahoe usually only gets driven on the weekends and if I skip a weekend and don’t drive it the battery is dead the following weekend. So it appears it dies somewhere between every 8-14 days of sitting. Is this normal ? I should add when it’s dead I have to put on on the charger for several hours, it won’t jump off. Before my wife go to her new car it was driven daily with no issues. According to the dash gauge I’m charging at 14 volts. If this is a battery issue will getting a new one and only driving it every weekend or every other weekend give me the same results ?

 

[OR VietVet]

Critical info is missing. How old is that battery? Are the connections at the battery clean and tight? If it was mine I would change the battery but I would want the info I asked about first. Any work done recently before experiencing this problem?

 

[swathdiver]

So my battery was dead again yesterday. My Tahoe usually only gets driven on the weekends and if I skip a weekend and don’t drive it the battery is dead the following weekend. So it appears it dies somewhere between every 8-14 days of sitting. Is this normal ? I should add when it’s dead I have to put on on the charger for several hours, it won’t jump off. Before my wife go to her new car it was driven daily with no issues. According to the dash gauge I’m charging at 14 volts. If this is a battery issue will getting a new one and only driving it every weekend or every other weekend give me the same results ?

You can try kicking the can down the road with this: https://www.batteryminders.com/1510-12-volt-maintenance-charger-desfulator-with-warranty

Plates in the battery are likely full of crud because it's old and or sitting so much and used so little that driving it doesn't recharge the battery enough.

 

[3Dog]

You can try kicking the can down the road with this: https://www.batteryminders.com/1510-12-volt-maintenance-charger-desfulator-with-warranty

Plates in the battery are likely full of crud because it's old and or sitting so much and used so little that driving it doesn't recharge the battery enough.

Yep. I install pigtails on the batteries on all my vehicles / cycles / equipment. Just plug in a Battery Tender brand maintainer like that one ^ when I know I would not be using it for a few days or weeks. Also over the winter with my tractors and summer toys. Cheap insurance. Takes no more than 5 seconds with the pigtails already installed on the batteries. I even have a solar powered one for the van that sits far away from an outlet, and gets driven once a month.

 

[AN292]

Hey I was having similar problems. Mine was dying within hours. I tried to check for parasitic draw and all that. Ended up just buying a new battery with zero issues now.

 

[AN292]

Hey I was having similar problems. Mine was dying within hours. I tried to check for parasitic draw and all that. Ended up just buying a new battery with zero issues now.

 

[Splorg]

If the battery is new and you don't want to invest in a draw meter, use a multimeter to measure the amperage drawn from the battery (I'd suggest alligator clips) and start pulling a fuse at a time. When the amps drawn drops significantly you've found your current draw. Troubleshoot from there.

Sent from my SM-S727VL using Tapatalk

 

[BugginOut]

I second what is said above...and beyond that, start with ANYTHING you've added aftermarket that is electrical. Usually they piggy back off of something factory, and introduces issues.

 

[cntryislandboy]

Apologies for taking so long to respond. Thank you everyone for the suggestions. I ended up just replacing the battery. I actually upgraded from a 75 group to a 78 group, not that there is a huge difference, price was the same. Plus I figure it might come in handy if I decided put a sub in that's been collecting dust in the garage. Thanks again, it was greatly appreciated.