So my battery is only about 2 months old. I left my lights on the other night and of course, it was totally dead in the morning. I had a friend come by and give me a jump. It took about 10 minutes of idling/revving to get it to crank enough to start. I drove to a gas station by about 15 minutes away and shut off the car without thinking about it, and when I went to start it, it was totally dead again. I thought I just hadn't let the battery charge up again enough, so had to get another jump. I had to let the other car idle for about 20 minutes this time to be able to start the car. Drove home, same thing again yada yada, but this time I let the car idle for about an hour to remove any doubt in my mind that the battery was fully charged. The second I turned it off, everything in the car was dead, not even the dome light would turn on.
This just seems kinda weird to me. I don't see why my battery wouldn't hold a charge, and my alternator was working fine, so I don't see why leaving my lights on would screw my alternator. Any one know which it is or have a similar problem? I'll go get them tested tomorrow I guess, but I would like to know if it's just my battery so I could just take that out and save myself the hassle if possible. Sorry so long for a seemingly simple question. Thanks.
This just seems kinda weird to me. I don't see why my battery wouldn't hold a charge, and my alternator was working fine, so I don't see why leaving my lights on would screw my alternator. Any one know which it is or have a similar problem? I'll go get them tested tomorrow I guess, but I would like to know if it's just my battery so I could just take that out and save myself the hassle if possible. Sorry so long for a seemingly simple question. Thanks.
. If you have a volt meter you can check your alt. at home. Just get the car started and put the volt meter to the battery and see if it reads at least 14.2 volts. any thing lower than 14.00 means the alt is not charging.
