Just because you replaced the battery with a "new" one dosent mean anything, you have no idea how long the "new" battery has sat on the shelf. You need to do a load test and see how many amps your starter is drawing, you might have a bad starter thats over drawing.

 

cartman??
i think im adding confusion here
ill stay out of this

 

cartman??
i think im adding confusion here
ill stay out of this

 

An ammeter that can handle our alts are pretty much a volt meter with a shunt. It's going to be easier to install a volt meter and it will give you near the same information. A digital multimeter will handle the key off draw and yes, you disconnect one terminal and use the meter to reconnect it to the battery. A lamp will only tell if your drawing and a basic idea of more or less draw. A meter will give you a numerical representation of the draw which be more precise for finding a small draw. It's not really intermittently, because you have at least one condition, cold. Either the temperature is effecting the electronics or the way you run the vehicle.

 

First off your headlight and heating system does not draw 110 amps from the system. We also can't assume that he has heated seats either.

I don't dispute this but 100-200 ma in it self is not enough to kill a relatively healthy battery that is used regularly. 7 miles may not be ultimitly the best charge rate for the system but shouldn't be an issue for a vehicle with a properly operating system. He has other issues at hand.

A battery cannot survive multiple discharges. Even one or two can be cause for the issue which may have been caused previously (left lights on etc..) and has only compounded the problem.

If you find your charging system is ok, Clean your terminals and connectors thoroughly. You may be presently suprised. This can severely deplete/minimize your charge and starting rate. If charging system is OK I would start with a new battery with a high capacity and warranty. Its worth the money to pay for these.

 

With the engine running, radio on, the heater could quite possibly take the electrical system in to 110A area. Alternators are spec'd with about 10% head room with all of the accessories on, so with everything turned on the draw should be 117A leaving about 13A to recharge the battery. I know I did the math backwards, but it's with in a few amps.

A battery with 700Ah reserve will be depleted by a 200mA draw in about 3500hrs. or nearly 145 days. If it's not fully charged, the reserve is probably cut significantly. Add to that the discharges, it probably doesn't have a reserve left, which was the problems I had with my optimas. Deep cycles can handle more discharges than a starting battery, but even a starting battery can handle a moderate discharge once. Now if your in the 7-8v range, it's probably shot, but above 10 it should recover well enough.

 

Its not an electric heater, and the fan motor only pulls a few amps.

 

Yes, and the engine is going to need 60 or more amps, then the transmission will need 10-20A, lighting is another 10-20A. There are a lot of small draws that make up the need for a 130A alternator. I am not saying the fan needs 110A, I am saying to keep the vehicle running with lights, fans and radio it will require about 110A. Ford thinks there is atleast a 110A draw at some point that is long enough to warrant a 130A alternator, other wise they would put in a $35 65A alt and not a $65 130A alt in each of the 100,000 trucks they produce.

 

lmao, do you even know how many amps 110 is? the heater would draw no more then 20A headlights a max of 15-30A and the radio maybe 10A, large after market would draw no more then 50A at peak.

your alt might not be working all the time. Also.. the cold kills a batteries life. I work with everything to do with battery systems, if you have questions, lmk.

 

A big stereo system will draw over 400A (say a 5000watt system.) Watts are simple to figure, P=IxE so 600 watts is 12v and 50A, if the amplifier is 100% efficient. It's not, class A/B is closer to 50%. My 400w class D has two 20 amp fuses which means my amp will take 480watts of battery/alt and turn it into 30v/13A speaker power before the fuses blow.

Head light bulbs are 45/65 from the factory, so you have 130w for the pair, or just at 11A, plus four running lights at about 5w each for another 2A. I am well aware of power.

And I am done arguing. If you don't believe 10 dimes make a dollar or ten 10a draws make 100amps then I can't help.

 

Well, stereo systems are rated for peak power, average is usually less than a quarter that amount. They also calculate their power using about 14.5V, so the current is a little less with that.

Low beams are 55W at 12.8V, that is less than 4.5A per bulb and all the other marker lights take a lot less. Unless he has a bad alternator the stock one should handle the electrical load just fine.

edit: you've probably never blown one of your amp fuses and that is because they are usually ridiculously overrated and only meant to protect your wiring in the case of a massive internal failure.

 

It should handle it fine, but the more accessories running, the less amperage goes into recharging the battery and more is diverted into the accessories. During the winter, when you crank up the defroster, then turn the radio up so you hear the music over the fan, the battery does not recharge as quickly as it would with just the radio. Which is where I believe the temperature is causing an additional effect on the charging system.

It's completely possible I am wrong, but as I see it, the alternator is the limit of the charging system. When you require more current from the charging system, less goes into recharging the battery from starting. IF the battery is weak from previous starts and has not been charged, then it's going to be more depleted. Then a 200mA key off draw is going to harm it further.

I am saying this because this is the exact problem I have. I used to drive 3 miles per day, with two cranking cycles or more. I also have a 200mA key off Draw because Ford didn't program my VSM when I asked them to do both the GEM and VSM. So when I drive a short distance, two days of sitting later, my battery is below 11.8v. I have mine isolated, but I don't have the $120 free to have ford program my VSM and I let it sit with a charger on it for the 5 days of a week I don't drive.

 

I live in the same area and drive the same distance....no issues. My truck is a 2004 diesel and I just replaced the original batteries. They were still good....just didn't want to press my luck. I agree with some of the others that your problem is other than weather or driving distance. Either find the draw or maybe get your alternator tested.

 

Anyways truck stil broke

 

truck is still broke. problem is not in heated mirrors, or because of fan,radio, defroster running.

known constants: only happens below 40 degrees. only happens with short drive. will cause battery to go completely dead in 8 hours sometimes, will cause slight drop ini 8 hours sometimes.

I believe something is staying energized after shut down, but dont know what yet.