Failure to Start-Battery? Electrical Drain?

I have experimented, and I've searched, to no avail yet. So my hope lies in you.


Basically my jeep's battery (optima red top) is dead some mornings. Not fully dead, but not enough to start my xj. Step 1: was to disconnect all ad-ons, so my additional lights, cb, etc. all off. And then it worked like a champ, for about a month. Recently I left my lights on all day, jumped it, and it hasn't been the same since. The XJ is back to it's old tricks. Not having enough juice to start. So one would think that the batter is faulty, but a trip to the local AutoZone says it's just great. Which means that something is draining right?

The only thing that is left connected to the battery is my stereo, and alarm. I'm going to disconnect the stereo next.

So I'm wondering if there are any known quirks that could be causing this massive power drain in such a short period of time. (less then 12 hours)

Thanks

gavin

What is your stereo setup? Do you have a CAP? Make sure your headunit is powering off your amp/s if you are using the remote turn on wire - you should be (usually a blue wire) Check the voltage output on your alternator also using a DMM.

did you clean your terminals. sometimes they can have bad contact even when they look good. next time it acts up you may wanna check voltages across the battery terminals, and then across the battery terminal clamps and check that the voltage is the same.

It sounds more like you aren't getting it fully charged. Belts tight? Clean cables and grounds? Measure the battery voltage with it running.