I have owned my 2000 vert since May of this year. When I first bought the car I purchased an Exide orbital. About a month ago I started the car just fine one day and then the next day the car was stone dead. I had Schucks charge and test the battery and they stated it was good. Now just recently I have only been able to get about two days out of a fully charged battery with car sitting. I just this evening used my ammeter and tested the current draw. When I hooked up the meter the car immediately drew about 2 amps and then went to 0.09 amps for about 30 seconds and then would drop from 0.01 to 0.02 amps with my meter set on 10A. From what I have read this would appear to be normal. Wouldnt that make my battery toast? Thanks for your help

 

even though this would be the first reported premature failure of an Orbital... that may just be the problem.

I don't have the numbers with me right now, but your resting current draw seems to be within range.

 

Here's a issue I had with my battery and I hope this is useful to you...

Shortly after I got my vette, I noticed there would be times where I could not start the car at all. It appeared as if the battery was totally dead and I would need a jump. Then there were subsequent times where I could start again. Then later, a dead battery again. I had the battery tested, the charging system tested and all reported fine. Yet, I still had this unpredictable problem. After further troubleshooting, I came across an interesting find...

It seemed the battery liked the cables very snug. It was not that my cables were dangling, but they were just not tight enough. When I had the no-start thing come up, I took the small wrench I started traveling with, tightened the battery cables to the battery, and she started up. But I realized this was a band-aid solution...

This problem was finally resolved by cleaning my battery cable contacts and the external contacts on the battery very well. Now, I want to note that visibly, the terminals and contacts looked fine, but I went ahead and cleaned them anyway. I used a wire brush and then after that, applied electronic component cleaner. DI Electric grease was added last to prevent further corrosion. I did a similar thing with the ground wire that comes off the battery and attaches to the chassis. After this, I never had any battery issues again.

 

I did actually have this cross my mind however the battery that I am using has sideposts and top posts. The car is hooked up by the side posts and the top posts are not being used. When I have had this problem I hook the charger to the top posts and the battery is definitely dead. Thanks for the responses though. While trying to research this I came upon an interesting read. http://www.rangerovers.net/repairdet.../batdrain.html

 

Bill Curlee is the Forum electrical guru

Heres a link to post where he describes how to do a current draw test

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...rent+draw+test

 

I'm using the screw-in side posts also. The cable contacts can get dirty and not look dirty at all. Brush them and then apply the electronic cleaner. The side posts (or pads really) have an electrical contact surface and that's what I am suggesting you clean. It might sound crazy, but it solved my problem.

 

25 milliamperes is a normal battery current draw and will allow the battery to to provide Months of IDLE time on just a battery. Fully charge the battery,,take it to Auto zone or Advance and have them do a current draw test on it. It should provide 12 VDC for the specified time of the amount of current that they test it to.

BC

 

I just replaced my excide orbital battery after two years it was doing performing the same as you posted. Enough juice for all secondary systems but not enough to crank the motor. I had to use my mobile jumper to start the car. Once it ran maybe a day or two later the same conditionals. I purchased this battery from Sams and their battery/tire techns stated that these batteries were being returned with similiar results. Traded up to another 3 year warranty battery Optima red top on a exchange.