Topic: clock draining battery?
in Forum: C3 Electrical

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It shouldn't. I used to let my '74 sit for months without starting, with a reproduction battery, it wouldn't drain the battery. I now have a dis-connect, and use a battery maintainer on it. More of a safety issue for me than anything. Have you had your battery tested?
Joel Adams
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I had to disconnect the battery in my 72 because the clock did kill the battery in less than a month. It is one of those new quartz updated clock. I don’t know the drain, I could measure and also that intrigued me for years. Safety disconnect with one of those screw thingys on the battery connector.
I had a parasitic drain that turned out to be the light in the center storage compartment. It wasn't going out with the lid shut.
Didn't notice it until I was looking for something in my dark garage. Killed my Optima battery.

Hi, Don't mean to degrade your abilities, But can you disconnect the wire on the clock?
The clock question got me interested in figuring out the battery life.
Please correct me if my calculations are not correct.
I measured my battery drain with just the replacement quartz clock running. It draws .019ma or .019A.
Assuming a car battery has 40 - 60 Amp hours capacity when new, I'll go with 50.
.019 x 24 hours = about 0.5 AH a day. 50/ .5 = 100 days till dead.
Not wanting to go below 80%, or the car won't start, that means 20 days.
Of course a bigger battery or one with little life left will affect this.
That's about what I found out in real life, so I disconnect the battery when not in use.
A battery maintainer would solve this this for sure.
The original GM clock with the autowind mechanical movement - I have no idea what that intermitant draw would be.
Wasn't sure if it can be reached,Just thought i'd see what the actual drain was for the clock.Thanks for the reply.I think the problem was the center compartment lid wasn't closing all the way.Only had the car a week.