Boxer and battery life?

That seems like a high draw, mine has a disconnect under the hood that I flick off when Im done. My clock loses time but the battery is ready when I am and the car doesnt burn to the ground in the garage when Im asleep because of some hidden faulty wire I dont know about.

 

I have been using a trickle charger lately. I know one time when I let it sit for a couple of weeks, the battery went dead.

 

I sure hope you meant 13.8 "volts" and not "amps" -- or please explain how you measured "13.8 amps" (which would kill a battery in a lot less than 2 weeks ).

With the ignition key "off" (or not even in place) and all the doors/hoods closed (or at least any door/hood switches held in their closed positions), remove one of your battery terminals and place the amp meter in series between the battery post and the disconnected battery cable terminal -- shouldn't be more than a 0.05A~0.1A current draw (if you've only got a clock running). If you measure something like ~0.25A you might have a bulb somewhere that is not getting switched off, or anything higher might mean some of your added electronics (if any) isn't really "off" when the key is "off". Anyway, just wanted to suggest that you confirm what the true "off" current draw from the battery is before deciding on the best solution.

 

I use a float charger which is a smart trickle charger if you will. Trickle chargers can over charge and damage battery plates. Float chargers will, like a trickle charger, deliver a constant low amperage charge to the battery but can sense when the battery is fully charged and stop delivering it's output current until needed again.

And as Steve suggests you should definately determine your off current draw. As a charger just may be masking a underlying problem. Unless the car is outside in the dead of winter an otherwise healthy battery should be able to last at least 2 weeks easily. I've gone over 3 weeks w/o my float charger on it and the car fired right up with a battery that's at least 3 yo.

 

I use a Griot Garage "smart" trickle charger hard wired to the battery. Just raise the front clip & plug in. Leave it on all winter with usually no starts. Never a problem, fires right up. Battery on it's fourth season. I'm not an engineer but I have read several sources that say not to let your battery run down, not good for the dinoplex.

 

What type of battery do you use? My BB512i Optima battery is almost 3 years old now and starts the engine up every time. You may have a problem with one or both of your alternators. Drive it to Pep Boys, AutoZone or Advance Auto Parts and they will perform a free battery and alternator/charging system diagnosis. That's how I found out my Boxer needed both alternators rebuilt a few years back.

 

I have the spastic turn signal issue, but no battery problems...that I know of. Could the turn signal thing be a bad bulb somewhere in the chain?