Need Advice Please!

[Plati]

I bought and use a Battery Tender.
https://www.batterymart.com/p-battery-tender-jr-12v-0_75a-battery-charger.html?msclkid=a4b9f5f03cc51f6b16e1ab835cdbd886&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=*Shopping - Battery Tender&utm_term=4576992030823614&utm_content=Battery Tender

My 2003 Expy sits for up to 6 weeks at a time when I travel. The battery used to drain and then would freeze in the cold .... damaging it. No more, it's maintained at 12.8V until I'm ready to use it again. Nice! I permanently mounted the pigtail to the battery so all I have to do is plug it in. I almost think EVERY new vehicle should have this feature built in and batteries would always be charged up and at full strength all the time (if you plug it in). Maybe in the future there will be wireless charging like for cell phones. You just pull into your spot in the garage and charges overnight.

patent ---> https://patents.google.com/patent/U...utomobile&oq=wireless+charging+for+automobile

 

[Spaznaut]

I second a battery tender or a solar charger (good one). The tell is that when you replaced the battery it worked good for awhile and it slowly got worse. You drive once a week and you didn't say how far you go. I'd say your not getting the battery charged back up after it sits for a week and small parasitic draws from the computer, radio, and other small things are drawing you down slowly. Cold and hot weather don't help. I have this issue with a van I have that doesn't get driven enough. It will kill your battery prematurely. The rear wiper motor would have probably shown while they were checking voltage.

 

[Aspen03]

Having caught up on here the aftermarket radio is a very likely place to start. If it and cluster lights are going out, something is amiss. I have no idea what they would have tapped into that would affect the cluster unless the person doing the radio install was a complete fool and just probed around until they randomly found 12v and said that'll do or mangled a ground in the process of doing the install

If they hooked the aftermarket up and have the amp turn on wire for the factory system connected to a constant 12v rather than accessory that could easily drain the battery over time. If you have basic tools it's a pretty quick job to pop that radio out and see if the problem persists. Worst case you know what it isnt...

FWIW if the mechanic did a proper test and literally went circuit by circuit without skipping anything he would have found something drawing current, the circuit it was confined to anyway. Its sometimes a little hard pinpointing the exact cause unless it's something totally on it's own.

 

[jpeltzel]

Does your windshield leak? The times I've had a dead battery, it had rained or snowed a day or two before and water got under the dash and my blower motor would come on,, intermittently