overnight battery drain
Bad battery or Parasitic draw…
With the limited info you gave I will leave this…
Also, you can watch video to see how to Perform a Parasitic Draw Test
If you sleep instead of staying up all night, then you might not get so drained. The sleep helps charge up your batteries.
Oh, wait. Sorry. Was this about a car?
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Wouldn’t “bad battery” or “charging system not functioning” be a much more likely explanation than “parasitic draw”? We are talking about a battery going flat within the span of 24 hours. If this was a parasitic draw, large enough to accomplish such a feat, wouldn’t you notice something like headlights remaining on, cooling fan(s) or fuel pump remaining on, etc? If this were a short or leakage to ground of such magnitude, wouldn’t you expect to smell something melting or burning?
I’ve had two that killed the battery in short order. Both were hard to find. One interior lights coming on sitting in the garage and the other a bad electronic level controller.
Nope
A module not going to sleep will often cause just such a draw, with no external warning signs
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I once diagnosed an “overnight dead battery” caused by a stuck rear defroster relay. Yeah the rear window was heated up but there were no warning lights on and no noises to alert you.
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Years ago, I had an older Vette in the shop for about a month trying to diagnose a random overnight drain, we pulled it in the shop every night and back out ever morning, every now and then the battery would be completely dead, well I would just swap out the battery’s and warranty out the other new one or charge it back up for the next time, it was NOT the battery, I also swapped out the alternator a few times, easy to do soo… Finally figured out that the rear hatch was not closing all the way and if a heavy truck or whatever drove by and the little bit of vibration from it would jar the rear hatch and the light would come on and kill the battery… That was the hardest one I remember having an overnight drain to diagnose… 
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Thanks for the info, I have printed out the sites and will take them to the dealership on the 1st of April when they can get it in again. Hopefully it helps.
There is a slight clicking noise when the engine is drained - but then it goes away. my neighbor noticed it also when he boosted the vehicle for me, but
couldn’t figure out what it was or where it was coming from.
If I start the vehicle every day and let it run for 15 to 20 min (even if I don’t go somewhere) the battery will stay charged.
But if I don’t start it daily or go somewhere in it the battery will go flat overnight.
I do have my Verizon cell phone connected to the display panel so I can use it and wondered if maybe that might be the problem.
Maybe removing it from the settings would help.
I also noticed somewhere (but can’t remember where now) that there is a TB on this that will be issued between Jan 30th and June 30th that will be coming out.
The dealer says they do not know anything about this. I keep looking for it on their web site of complaints etc but nothing so far.
Your vehicle’s battery is dead, and you can wait 2 1/2 weeks for a repair visit? How often do you use this vehicle? How many miles per year?
Operating the engine for 15 minutes will only add 5% charge to a discharged battery, this is only enough power to allow for one more day before starting. The battery needs to be properly recharged to have enough capacity to start reliably for the next 6 to 8 weeks.
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You don’t need a dealership to deal with this. Any competent mechanic can help.
In the meantime, you can easily buy a decent battery maintainer and leave it hooked up (if that’s possible where the car is kept - e.e. like probably not if it’s on the street or in an apartment complex or etc).
I put in a new battery and everything seems to work fine now. It starts ever time I go out to go somewhere. I only put less than 500 miles on a vehicle yearly so really need it to start when I need to use it even if it has been sitting for quite some time. I also disconnect the Verizon cell phone from the vehicle so maybe that was part of the problem too.
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Good news
And good luck with the new battery
Now about that old battery . . . what was the age?
Given that info, I would certainly pick up a solar battery maintainer.
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okay I will do that. thank you for all your help
The old battery I assume came with the vehicle when it was bought new (I just bought it in August as my Ford Focus did not pass inspection) so I assume it was at least 9 years old. The new battery is working fine and I also removed my Verizon cell phone from the link up in the vehicle -some said that might be the problem - and everything has worked fine since. It starts every time I go out to go somewhere.
Thanks for all your help with this matter.
Wow . . .
Was the old battery labeled Ford or Motorcraft?
9 years is pretty darn good, imo
Yeah, I’m skeptical since the battery is under the hood.
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The battery that is in the Cobalt that sat for 5 years with the trans issue, was pulled out of the old 99 G Caravan that had been in there a few years.. The battery had 0.01 volt (a year ago after sitting for 5 years) and took about a week of charging, and desulfating the battery and is still working great (so far lol), even after the very hot summer and cold winter we had this year… it has now been in the Cobalt 6 years, so it is at least 8 or 9 years old…
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