I nearly found out how fun it is to jump a dead car tonight when I left the overhead light on while getting stuff out of the glovebox and then going inside.

Four hours later, my mom notices the light is on. Oops. I run outside, shut it off, sit there for a moment, and then turn the key.

The car cranks up without problem, just as it always does. I was astounded.

So, what's the electrical draw of the light? Obviously, it's not too much, or else I have a heck of a charge in the battery. I figured four hours of the light being on would easily make it so the engine wouldn't crank, but I guess not. What about you guys? Let's hear some stories!
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'89 244 GL--25/22 ipd sways, Alpine head, Eclipse front speakers

Mine would take much less time to drain battery, I put two 20watt rear anti-fog bulbs instead 5W.. but dome light is now really bright, so I don't think it's possible to forget about swtiching it off when leaving the car.

Leave the parking lights on 8 hours and see how that goes. Do not test by leaving headlights on 8 hours. Lotsa draw for them = dimmed out B4 eight hours.

Dodging the bullet is a nice feeling, though.

Regards,

Bob

:>)

it's a 5 watt bulb. Give or take, figure about 1/2 amp. If you have a 700CCA battery, you could leave the dome light on for 140 hours and the battery would still be at 90%. That's almost a week.

For your info. CCA != amp-hours.
.
CCA means cold cranking amps, which represents the maximum
_instantaneous_ current draw from a fully charged battery at a given
temperature (0*C?)
.
amp-hours represent energy capacity - how many amps can be drawn from
a charged battery for an hour to discharge it...
.
Most batteries are 60-80 amp.-hr in capacity, which means that to
discharge them by 10%, you'd have to leave the dome light on for
12-16 hr.. Still a long time, just not *quite* as long.
.
-b.

I've left my parking lights on for ~3hr. while at school once, cranked just fine. I've left the overheadlight and/or the glove box open (w/light on) overnight, cranks fine the next day. They don't draw much.
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forums.turbobricks.com