[Miata] "Dark Current" Discussion

[Larry Alster]

That's a lot of dark current and it's the alarm.  Only solutions are drive 
the car more frequently, but not short trips, use a battery charger, get rid 
of the alarm.  The Miata battery is smaller than most and prone to these 
issues.  You will probably be "okay" with the new battery but the old one 
was probably led to a premature death by the alarm.

Larry

White Knight      1991 Crystal White   #99 CSP
Silver Bullet        1992 Silverstone     #17 SM2  FM I+ Turbo
Honey B             1992 Sunburst Yellow
Whooosh           2004 Titanium Mazdaspeed MX-5

LowCountry Miata  http://www.lowcountrymiataclub.net
Masters Miata
RAGS 074
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Luke White" <lswlistbox at earthlink.net>
To: <miata at realbig.com>
Sent: Monday, February 05, 2007 11:00 PM
Subject: [Miata] "Dark Current" Discussion


>I believe there was a discussion on "dark current" here sometime over the 
>last couple of weeks.  Dark current being the tiny draw from the car's 
>radio memory, etc.  Should have paid more attention at that time since the 
>battery in my '93 died the other day.  I got a new Westco under the 
>pro-rated warranty.  When I was hooking it up, I measured 50 milliAmps of 
>current. The only contributors should have been the radio memory/clock and 
>the aftermarket alarm.  Does that sound reasonable?
>
> I'm 99% sure the problem was simply the battery - since when I put it on 
> the charger, it gave a open/sulfated cell error, but I just want to make 
> sure the car is not putting too much of a draw on it when sitting idle.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Luke
> '93B
>
> _______________________________________________
> Miata mailing list
> Miata at realbig.com
> http://ftl.realbig.com/mailman/listinfo/miata
>