# Battery parasitic drain

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/battery-parasitic-drain/807>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Tags:** batteries\
**Created:** [June 21, 2007, 8:21pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/battery-parasitic-drain/807 "2007-06-21T20:21:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sophiesdaddy2006](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@sophiesdaddy2006](https://community.cartalk.com/u/sophiesdaddy2006)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 8:21pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/battery-parasitic-drain/807/1 "2007-06-21T20:21:16Z")

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my battery keeps diy0ng about one a week. i have tried hooking up a circuit tester bridged between neg post and ground and then started pulling fuses and reinserting them to pin point the bad circuit. with the battery saver fuse in, the light on the tester is steady. the radio fuse circuit causes the light to blink. what’s the difference? which of these two circuits (or both) is draining my battery? tia

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**Author:** ![Joseph\_E\_Meehan](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/joseph_e_meehan/32/21_2.png) [@Joseph\_E\_Meehan](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Joseph_E_Meehan)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 8:47pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/battery-parasitic-drain/807/2 "2007-06-21T20:47:22Z")

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```
I have no idea what a battery saver fuse may be, but the radio would normally have a small drain to keep your radio Channel presets. Other items in your car should also have small drains. Depending on the car disconnecting the batter may put the car in limp mode the next time you drive resulting in lower mileage and less power. 

```

Are you sure it is parasitic drain and not a bad battery, charging system or cables?

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/3X/1/d/1d47c66a543aa6c5a7873bb2320858f978ff52ed.png) [@system](https://community.cartalk.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 1:26am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/battery-parasitic-drain/807/3 "2007-06-22T01:26:54Z")

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alternator is charging like it should

fuse diagram says ‘10A battery saver’. i don’t know what that is either, but the radio doesn’t work with it pulled

positive cable once had a red guard covering it  
i don’t know what happened to it - would that affect anything? other than that, both cables look fine  
battery is 2 months old. maybe it’s not the correct size for the car?

there are actually 2 radio fuses. one is diagrammed as ‘radio’ and the other says ‘radio memory’  
I’m guessing the radio memory would drain the least?

i’m thinking that something just isn’t grounded right  
argh