What is the normal battery drain? With the car stopped and everything off, I measure 10 mA between the disconnected negative battery post and the negative ground cable. It was over 100 mA, but I isolated that problem and am now wondering whether I am back to normal (i.e. not having to worry about a dead battery after a few days).
Normal Battery Drain?
Feb 13, 2006
3 Replies
I'd say 10mA is normal.
Having spent 20+ years as an auto mechanic, I agree with Dave Plowman that
10 mA is fine. Some of the cars that I have seen over the years could stand up to 40mA if driven frequently. A few cars, mostly owned by proverbial "little old ladies", required the installation of a smaller alternator pulley to keep the Battery from going flatHomer ...{º¿º}...
my parents always had problems since they don't drive much and when they do they take the small grocery getter. So my dads car would run out of juice. I hooked him up with a battery tender / battery minder. It keeps the batteries nicely topped off. He never has dead batteries anymore and they last a lot longer.
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