battery charging question

[chevyfiftynine]

Thanks for your replies - I don't know if there's a fault or not, but maybe the tender is the answer so the level of charge is always maintained. I've been using a charger for short bursts and a solar charge for long spells of inactivity. This however is not strong enough to prevent the battery from running down. I'll give the tender a go and see if it'll maintain a proper charge so the alarm doesn't go off or the hood won't open.

Regards, Barry.

[mikefocke]

Is there anything in the car that is not standard...for example a tracking device or GPS or radar detector? Even some radio or amp? We are looking for something that might stay on long after things are supposed to go dormant.

The link I posted above gives a diagnostic approach for finding out what circuit is creating the current draw. Basically it is a measure the current draw across each fuse and then figure out what is connected to that fuse.

A tender or maintainer is often different than a charger. The chargers will often overcharge the battery. The maintainer will maintain the level of charge but will not really charge a charge depleted battery below a certain level.

My car used to hibernate in winter for months at a time outdoors in freezing weather with many cm of snow on it with a maintainer connected and would start immediately on request.

How is your tender hooked up? Are you sure that connection is connected to the battery when the car if off and key removed? US and UK cars can be different.