Battery Keeps Dying

[Egg]

Damn is it cold today, 6 Degrees with a windchill of -13. Went out to start my car today and it has no juice!. This has been happening to me for a while but my red top has always managed to start her up. Im thinking the cold is just a but to much for it this time though. Somthing that does happen when i go to get out of the car is the tone alarm will go off untill i jiggle the ignition. Somtimes i forget and this may be why it is dead. Ive got the battery on a charger as i write this. What i want to know is what is wrong with my ignition switch and if this is the problem before i go out into the parking lot and freeze my ballz off checking wires. Also what wires can i check real quick so im not out in the cold for hours grabing cold wireing. Thanks

PS: I forgot to mention that my battery is only taking 2 amps from the
charger which is 10 amps

Update: Well shes been on the charger for at least 45 minutes. It turned over twice then wouldnt turn over again. Its acting like the battery is dead but the charger says different. Another note is that i did replace the stock terminals on the cables and have checked them for tightness several times then tightened them anyways to make sure. I also used di-electric grease on the wires and terminals to prevent corrosion.

Dan

 

[NotSoSlowSHO]

before you do anything else, id suggest getting a multimeter.

 

[Egg]

Battery just taken off charger: 14v

Battery with the charger almost 16v, that seems real high

 

[NotSoSlowSHO]

A battery straight off of a "fast" charger should be reading 13+ volts. But this says nithing about amperes that the battery is capable of providing.

Is there any way yo ucan get it to an autozone or something to get load tested?

 

[Egg]

Not till tomarrow but somthing tells me its going to fail, everything acts fine untill the starter hits and everything goes dark.

 

[Fourcats]

Cold will **** a battery that is not in great shape. A battery should be able to HOLD a charge, have good CLEAN connections and be fully charged. Cranking a motor with a bad battery heats up the starter, setting it up for failure. A low battery greatly increases your chances of going nowhere...

 

[SHOZ123]

16V on charge. The battery is toast. Get the ignition cylinder replaced. Only $20 and easy to do. I put up with the same thing for a year and a half.

FWIW a modern maintenance free battery will be severely damaged by allowing it to go dead. The sulfation quickly seals off the plate surface. This is why you had the high voltage at the terminals. A good battery should not ever read over 15V unless you are pushing too many unregulated amps into it or it is hot.

If you have the type that you can add water to it look in the cell while it is charging. Any rapid gassing is a sign of excessive current. There will be slight gassing but for it to boil means it cannot take the charge.

 

[Egg]

Didnt bother getting the other battery load tested and just got an optima yellow top. Put it in and it fired right up without any hesitation. Battery reads 14.7v with engine on and everything seems fine. Thanks for all the suggestions & help

Update: OK Maybe not so great... Im getting an 80.9mA draw with the car off and nothing on. Is there anything SHO specific i should look for? Im gonna start pulling fuses once a friend arrives to see where the problem is.