I seem to forget to turn my lights off and run down the battery too often. I'd say it happens about twice a month. I have a portable battery jumper in my house and its no problem starting the car when I forget to turn off the lights at home. But it really hurts when I forget away from home. I may have to keep the portable battery unit on the passenger's side floor. I'm afraid to put it in the trunk, because you know what will happen. A dented trunk, from within.
To be properly warned, I bought one of those light minders from Miata Marketing. Its a buzzer and has two wires that attach to a couple fuses inside the car. Unfortunately, the ends of the wires have clips which go under two specific fuses, but its too thick to insert them into the fuse holder without forcing them in and damaging the fuse holder. Yes, I used the right clips (there were 3 depending on year and model). The bottom line: I had to cut the clips off and wrap the bare wire around the fuse leads and insert them in. That worked for a while, but the vibrations cause it to no longer make a good contact and the warning buzzer no longer works. I plan to solder the wires onto the fuse leads, but what if that fails?
My other idea is to get one of those Priority One units which cuts off the battery when in reaches a threshold. Then if I leave the lights on, I can open the trunk and press a button to allow the battery to work enough to crank the engine. However, the friggin thing is almost as much as buying a new WestCo battery.
Other than telling me to not ever leave the lights on again, is there any advice or tips or products?
Thanks,
Gary