Battery issues

[pearsont74]

OK..seems everytime i work on my truck and have a door or the hood open for any period of time..the battery gets drained down and doesnt have enough juice to crank. This seems abit odd to me cause all that is on is either the dome light or the hood light. I never seem to have any problems starting it, only if I'm working on it LOL (maybe my wife secretly drains it to make a point to stop workin on it)
Yesterday I installed my stereo and Sat radio so I had the doors open alot. I typically turn the override dome off so the light wont go on but it got dark fast and still needed to play with it some.

I am wondering if possible this battery isnt quite the right size for this truck??! I will have to get info later on what is in there. I dont think its another other then the battery...once it cranks, it will crank again fine so its getting a good charge.

[silverhairdeere]

you need to get a load test done(it must be fulley charged) on the battery . any autoparts store should be able to do one .

[pearsont74]

yeah...was thinkin I prob should have them test this.
Any thoughts on the best battery?
I have always in the past liked the maintenance free a/c delco, my dad has always used them for his boat but they are hard to find.
Are the red or yellow Optima batteries that much better? very got one cause their sizer would never fit my lil sporty cars i had.

[chengny]

The wiring that feeds the dome light is grounded somewhere. That circuit is all over the place. It is routed through the door jamb switches, instrument cluster rheostat, main headlight switch and cargo light (if applicable).

Think about it - if the only time that you have a problem with excessive battery drain is when the dome light is illuminated, the problem is not the battery but the dome light wiring.

Take the lamp out of the dome light fixture and see if it still kills the battery.

Here, read this. I wrote it for key-off drain but it may help solve your problem too.

[pearsont74]

yeah....I'm familar with doin this...ive use my multi meter doin this on another car i'v owned and it ended up just being the battery and altenator.

[gmctrucks]

When a battery drains down it's best to put it on a slow charger on it all night some people think that just jumping it will take care of it but it won't last as long. Our Mazda MPV would do the same thing but again the battery was old now that I put a Optima on it she cranks fast also as good as my GMC truck. And like on my truck one of my door pin switches was bad and the light was staying on all the time so I just replaced all of them including the one in the glove box there cheap at the dealership.
Good luck! GMC
PS-Oh a load test is a real good idea SHD.

[pearsont74]

Ill put my charger on it tonight and let it run. only seems to do it when i work on the truck with a door or hood open for extend peroid of time...odd

[hotrodpc]

Originally Posted by pearsont74

Ill put my charger on it tonight and let it run. only seems to do it when i work on the truck with a door or hood open for extend peroid of time...odd

Remember on that charger, use the lowest amp charge, like a 2 or 4 amp. You want to get a good deep slow trickle charge. Not only that, for an overnight charge, you could just boil away the eletrolyte in the battery.

[pearsont74]

the one i have i believe is set to 2amp

[hotrodpc]

Originally Posted by pearsont74

the one i have i believe is set to 2amp

That'll be great and Git'er Done for an overnight charge.