What Drains a Car Battery? (5 Common Causes)
The main function of a car battery is to start the engine. Then the generator converts the mechanical energy into electrical energy for all the vehicle’s electrical components.
But your car battery must be functional, otherwise this whole process won’t start. A car battery lasts anywhere from 2 to 5 years, depending on your driving style and climate. However, if you notice that your car battery is losing too much power or draining faster than it should, it’s because your car battery is draining too quickly.
Common Causes of a Dead Car Battery
There are many reasons why a car battery can die. Below are the 5 most common reasons that can help you understand why your car battery is draining prematurely.
1) Generator Failure
When you experience electrical problems, it’s often hard to tell if your car battery is bad or your generator is bad. In the case of the alternator, it can actually cause your battery to lose power and fail quickly. If the alternator cannot power the vehicle’s electrical components, the vehicle will turn to the battery for power. Since your car battery does not have enough power to power all these components, the battery will quickly become depleted.
2) Old Battery
The alternator is responsible for providing power to your car’s battery. However, if your battery gets old or too depleted, it will no longer be able to charge properly and perform as well as it used to.
This means that you will always have problems starting your car and will have to jump start more often. This is true for any rechargeable battery. You’ve probably noticed that your 3-year-old iPhone no longer lasts as long on a single charge as when you bought it.
3) Charging system failure
Even if your battery and alternator are fine, you may have problems charging your battery. The problem is in the charging system, which can cause your battery to lose power while driving. To make matters worse, using things like headlights, air conditioning, and radio will drain your battery even more.
4) Something is left behind
In many newer vehicles, the electrical components automatically turn off when you shut off the engine, get out of the vehicle and close the door.
This will drain your battery and you’ll find that your car won’t start in the morning. Hopefully your car has a feature that prevents this from happening.
5) Electrical Issues
When your vehicle’s electrical components continue to function when the engine is turned off, this is called parasitic discharge. This may be normal if only the vehicle’s security system and clock are powered on after you switch the vehicle off.
Often, this will cause the battery warning light to come on on the dash or, on newer GM vehicles, a warning message that says “Battery Saver Mode is Active.”