Battery Switch

[HDdave]

So I have not spent much time driving or wrenching on my car the last 3 years or so- life just kinda got busy. Over that time span I noticed I have got some kind of parasitic draw that keeps killing my battery.. I am assuming because when I bought this care (stole it for $7k with 152k on it back in 2018)- it had a Viper alarm system in it.. That was one of the first things I tore out of the car and it was an absolute nightmare of wires running everywhere. I never really had any problems the first few years with the car draining the battery, but I drove it a lot more back then too so the problem could have been present and the alternator was just making up for it. Granted I probably should rip off the alternator and go have it tested, but this seems to die just from sitting hence why I am guessing parasitic draw.

I live at the coast and spend a lot of time messing with boats, so I got to thinking why not just put a marine battery switch in the trunk so I can switch it to off when the car is sitting? I cant personally see it causing any issues but figured I would ask if anyone has tried it before? There are two leads coming off of the hot side of the battery terminal, I suppose my only real question would be can I run both of those hot leads to the same pole on a battery on/off switch- or should I get two switches and isolate them? Or is my idea completely idiotic and will screw stuff up? It seems harmless and much much easier than chasing a parasitic draw on a car that gets driven maybe once or twice a month.

[sapote]

here are two leads coming off of the hot side of the battery terminal, I suppose my only real question would be can I run both of those hot leads to the same pole on a battery on/off switch- or should I get two switches and isolate them? Or is my idea completely idiotic and will screw stuff up? It seems harmless and much much easier than chasing a parasitic draw on a car that gets driven maybe once or twice a month.

One cable to the DME and other elec modules, the other to the alternator which can cause drain with a damaged regulator.

Just use one switch for both paths.

[HDdave]

Awesome, thank you for the info. I was unaware a bad alternator regulator would cause a draw on the battery. I will likely still go the switch route, but plan to investigate the alternator a little more beforehand.

[sapote]

Awesome, thank you for the info. I was unaware a bad alternator regulator would cause a draw on the battery. I will likely still go the switch route, but plan to investigate the alternator a little more beforehand.

Proper way to diag: learn how to measure the batt sleep current (happens after 15 minutes key turned off and pulled out).

Just disconnect the big black cable from the fender jumper post and see if sleep current is less or unchanged.

[HDdave]

I will give that a try first.. I would prefer to do it the proper way seeing as I put so much time and care into the transmission conversion, vanos, and everything else I did the first couple years I had the car.. The battery switch still might be the best way out seeing as how badly they had to cannibalize the wiring harnesses back in the day for those Viper systems.. But I will give the proper way a shot first

[bigjae46]

Won't cause an issue, would be annoying since you'd have to reset the clock, radio, and seat memory among other things. Yes, would need to wire in both large battery cables to prevent the battery from draining. Would probably be easier to wire the cutoff through the negative battery cable.