So I have had this problem for a while, after leaving the car parked for a week or more, the battery starts to drain to the point it does not have enough juice to start the car. I suspect its the alarm, its a Viper 791, has anyone come across this situation with this alarm?

What are recommendations when it comes to having a car in storage but still having the alarm hooked up.

 

Bring a pair of jumper cables with you when you pick the car up. You have to find the power drain. If you have to disable the alarm for a week to see if that is it then i would do it if it is in a safe place.

 

The universe is so interesting. Today at 4am my car was broken into, the alarm scared them away, they then went to another maxima where I live and broke the window,alarm scared them away. I saw it happe. Crazy howe I was thinking about this alarm stuff and then when I go to bed, this happens.

 

Hi sorry to here that they broke in thank god for the alarm. As far as could it be causing a drain its possible you have to have a draw check done on the car to figure out were the problem is coming from. this can be donein under a day and would narrow down the problem so you wouldnt have to disconect the alarm for a week.

 

Something iv never done, might have to pull up google n YouTube on how to check for drain.

 

do you have the right tools i dont know if you can find it on youtube i can do it if you like im on long island

 

I am sure I can figure it out, im pretty handy. Probably just need a voltmeter.

 

Battery Tender. Best $25 you'll ever spend. I have them on all the cars I hardly drive and no longer have battery/no start issues.

 

But does the Battery Tender need to be connected to wall outlet(ac) ? I live in an apartment complex and have no power outlets available.

 

cant use a basic voltmeter to do a draw tes has to be done a certain way if not done correct will short things and destroy the voltmeter

 

Yeah, that's gonna be a problem. When you said "storage" I figured you were in a garage, or parked on the side of the house near power.

As an alternative, you can permanently or temporarily install a second small 6lb Oddessey etc battery (or even take the battery out of one of those battery jump start packs). If temporary, you could literally pop your hood, grab the battery, disconnect the wiring in less than a minute.

 

Could also be a bad battery. Don't forget to get that tested. If it's older than 3 years, may want to get a new one anyway. But get it tested, see if it's got issues holding a charge.

 

I ruled that out, the battery is 2months old.


Wizard, I was thinking of having the alarm wired directly to the battery then unplug everything else. I'm just not sure if that will work since the alarm won't know when doors are opened.

 

Ruled that out because the bat is 2 months old, or because it happened with the old bat, and you put a new one in and it's still draining?

I've had a 6 month old battery go bad, so don't just rule it out simply by age is all i'm suggesting.

 

Nah its the 3rd battery in a year.

 

It's definitely not the battery then...you can rule that out...

 

I've gone through a few batteries as well and electricity is a weird thing.
-With batteries if they are not getting the right charge then slowly they can die. If they die and sit for awhile there is a gel build up on the inside that will cause them not to take a full charge unless you hook them up to another type of charger that can break down that gel.
-Not getting the right charge I found can happen if your grounds start going bad or you have bad battery connections. Filing down the metal on the ground strap going to the tranny, the frame connection, and on the tranny connection side made my car start and run like new, I couldn't believe I was putting up with issues for years because of this. (recently installed rebuild tranny).
-When you turn off the car, lock and close the doors, the security light should be solid for about 30 seconds and then start blinking. If it does not then one of the sensors is not allowing the car to go to sleep. For example the trunk lock can go bad and the car won't go to sleep.
-Any car that is modified or has a stereo system should have a backup measure of security. Our cars are easy to steal especially if they don't have immobilizers so it would be wise to have a kill switch that kills something to make the car undriveable, for example a kill switch for the coils or ecu, no power, no drive.
-It is possible to make a circuit to run a small battery that disconnects from the main circuitry when the car is off just for the alarm system. 12 volt back up battery