Hi all. Was reading some threads today about our car's battery problems, and I'm wondering if anyone's actually used an ammeter to measure the drain on the battery when the car is parked? I tried to look in the owner's manual, but it doesn't have this info available.

In normal cars, the drain should be like 30-50 milliamps, in which case a car can easily be parked for 2-4 weeks without draining the battery more than ~20% (I think we have a 62 amp-hour battery).

 

The car drains at about 160ma for about 30 minutes after you turn it off and lock it. About 30 minutes later, the drain drops down to ~35ma.

 

One of these days, you're going to be too knowledgable for your own good.