Battery Draining- help troubleshoot?

[NEKExplorer]

So the battery is going dead overnight. I just put in a brand new one. Had the alternator checked and it is putting out steady 14.4 volts, battery had a good static charged after driving around, replaced the battery cables. Battery light stays lit however. The truck seems to hold a charge for a few hours, but it seems like something is draining the battery. I cannot figure out what it is. As far as I can tell nothing seems to be obviously running or turned on.

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[jrruiz211]

I had an issue similar to this on another vehicle. My brake light switch broke keeping the brakes on causing the battery to drain. Maybe that's something to consider.

 

[MStudt]

Have you tested for a parasistic drain? It's an easy test, and all you need is a probe light. Loosen the negative terminal first. Then connect the ground clamp on the probe to the grounding screw on the fender. Then touch the probe to the grounding post on the battery, and then raise the terminal off. The light should dim down to almost nothing. If it stays lit then you have a drain.

 

[Tyota89]

Have you added anything recently or is this an issue you been dealing with since owning it? I had a led bulb grounding to itself that drained my battery before. Smallest things can cause a battery to drain so check all aftermarket installed parts first.

 

[Konkordmusk]

Have you tested for a parasistic drain? It's an easy test, and all you need is a probe light. Loosen the negative terminal first. Then connect the ground clamp on the probe to the grounding screw on the fender. Then touch the probe to the grounding post on the battery, and then raise the terminal off. The light should dim down to almost nothing. If it stays lit then you have a drain.

Adding on to this, keep the test light connected and start pulling fuses, one at a time, and see which one makes the test light turn off. Once you find what circuit is draining, report back.

 

[MStudt]

Adding on to this, keep the test light connected and start pulling fuses, one at a time, and see which one makes the test light turn off. Once you find what circuit is draining, report back.

You only need to do this if the light stays bright. You can connect a volt meter the same, and watch the volts drop. If the volts fall to near zero then there is no drain, and it's most likely a bad battery. If the volts do not drop then you can start pulling fuses to see where it's coming from.