Newer (3 months old) Diehard Platinum Draining Overnight

[brasskey]

I have two Diehard Platinum batteries in my Tahoe. I originally purchased them in 2008. I just had to replace the main starting battery 3 months ago because it wasn't holding a charge. Unfortunately, the new battery is doing the same. I don't have much hooked up to my batteries. Just a winch on the starting battery, and a few sets of lights on the auxiliary battery, a Warn wireless remote control, and a National Luna dual battery system. I'm able to jump my starting battery, but I find it weird that the new battery is already having issues. Is it possible that I received a bad battery? Even though I don't have much hooked up to the system, what things should I look at before going to Sears? It's obviously still under warranty, but I thought the problem might be on my end since the battery is only 3 months old. I've checked for the obvious (lights left on, etc.), but haven't found anything.

 

[wrcsixeight]

Even the venerated Enersys can put out a substandard battery, but you need to determine that no parasitic draws exist on the battery. One more common failure of batteries is owners who assume a 15 minute drive across town is enough to fully charge a battery. Or the owner who thinks that you can fully deplete a battery, let is rest there for a week, recharge it an it that the battery has not been compromised.

Do you have a digital multimeter? When you remove or return a battery cable to the battery, is there a spark which jumps the gap?

The battery could certainly be bad. The fact that this is your second one going bad points to a parasitic draw killing your batteries through over discharge and under charging, and at the 3 month point, it becomes obvious.

 

[brasskey]

Do you have a digital multimeter? When you remove or return a battery cable to the battery, is there a spark which jumps the gap?

Thanks for the tips. I'll break out my multimeter and look at it.

 

[WOODY2]

There are reports of the NL unit malfunctioning not sure of why but a good place to start is disconnecting the two systems and that may tell you if there's a drain from the aux system and go from there?

 

[Dave Bennett]

DO NOT leave the Warn remote control box plugged in to the winch controller. If you do, there's your parasitic drain.

 

[Xterabl]

Yeah, what Dave said.
Keep the controller in your recovery bag along with your d-rings, tree-saver, snatch block, etc.

Also, the ultimate test: disconnect the negative lead from the battery post and see if it still drains.

 

[Hilldweller]

Yeah, what Dave said.
Keep the controller in your recovery bag along with your d-rings, tree-saver, snatch block, etc.

Also, the ultimate test: disconnect the negative lead from the battery post and see if it still drains.

This.

Disconnect it, charge it all the way up. Test it in an hour; let it rest overnight and test the voltage in the morning with absolutely no load. You should have the same voltage --- if it dropped, battery is probably bad.

 

[Martyn]

Seems suspicious that you are having the same problem with the new battery.

I'd have the new battery load tested to see if it's good or not. After eliminating the battery as the culprit it would be time to check the vehicle electrical system.

 

[brasskey]

Thank you for all the input. I couldn't find any parasitic drain. So, I took it into Sears where they tested the battery. They said it looked good and they couldn't detect an electrical drain either. So, still a little confused, but I'll try Hilldweller's advice and report back in a day or two. Lastly, I do keep my Warn wireless control box unplugged from the winch unless I'm using it. Thanks again.

 

[Hilldweller]

watch this:
http://youtu.be/-yPlx4MBNRU

 

[Abqlloyd]

A great investment for any RV / solar guy is a wattmeter or similar. You will have to add the right connections but you can place it inline and determine exact amp discharge. Then simply disconnect circuits or devices as needed to determine what is using power. Expect to pay $50 or so.

 

[Nlpfister]

I had similar problems with my super duty. Problem ended up being my viper gps alarm

 

[brasskey]

Well, it looks like I just never had a good charge on it. I guess something drained it initially, but it's fine now. I charged it overnight and it's been good for a while. Thanks for all the help. Now I now what to look for.