what's draining my battery?

[MelWaldorf]

Gang,

Thanks to everyone for the advice on getting my 68 Sport Wagon jump started. Stripping and cleaning the negative wire got the wagon up and going. Now, the question remains, what keeps draining the battery? It's certainly possible that the battery is bad, and I have to take it in to be tested, but since the battery is only a year old, I doubt it would be bad without something making it bad. Any ideas on common battery drains? Maybe a bad alternator? The starter was replaced just before I bought the car three months ago. I'm not that knowledgeable on electrical issues (or mechanical, for that matter) so if there's a good resource online I should be browsing please let me know.

Thanks,
Mel

[BUICKRAT]

Quick test for a draw on the battery...disconnect negative battery cable. Touch cable to battery...if there is a spark, you have a draw. Repeat this test a couple times...if you don't se a spark the first time, it may be a small one. Now hook an ammeter between negative battery post and neg. batt. cable. If there is more than a 50 milliamp draw, pull fuses one at a time till the draw goes away. If pulling fuses does not remove the draw, disconnect alternator and recheck. Same with starter. Note that your battery may be a year old, but if it is used only infrequently, it still may have pooped out. Good Luck!

[65specialconver]

and with the poor/dirty cable connections,its doubtfull the battery was getting a full charge.might just need 24 hrs on a trickle charger.