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car battery draining with hatch open

Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 6:39 pm
by stuffedtiger23
Hello all,

I will be moving a twin size bed using my Vibe and some handy ropes to tie down the hatch. Unfortunately, this means the car will be open for the duration of the trip. My original plan was to pack up the car at night and keep it in the garage but I have concerns that this will drain the battery even if I have already turned off the interior light. Does anyone know if the door ajar alert on the dashboard is enough to drain the car battery overnight?

I've considered also disconnecting the battery or seeing if I can mess with the hatch switch to turn the light off.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Re: car battery draining with hatch open

Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 6:52 pm
by star_deceiver
Turning the lights off should be enough but if it makes you feel better, disconecting the battery overnight won't hurt anything.

Re: car battery draining with hatch open

Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 7:06 pm
by KITT222
I've left my interior lights and LED driving lights on all night and my car had zero issues starting up afterwards. Running a window several times will draw more power than the little dash LED. And I commonly adjust my windows and sunroof on battery power while operating my radio and recharging my phone. A decent draw, but my Vibe starts up first crank every time. You have nothing to worry about.

Re: car battery draining with hatch open

Posted: Fri May 25, 2012 8:40 am
by joatmon
Welcome to genvibe.

You didn't say what year your Vibe is, but it shouldn't really matter, Unless you have some other problem, such as an old and dying battery. don't know how old the battery is in your Vibe, or if you have had any weak battery symptoms, such as slow cranking

If the the interior lights are off, the door ajar light in the cluster should not be a problem overnight. I have left my hatch open for days and not noticed any problem.

a standard disclaimer, if you do it and the battery dies, then it would be from some unreported issue with your car and it's not our fault ;)

Re: car battery draining with hatch open

Posted: Sun May 27, 2012 9:33 am
by tpollauf
As others have said you shouldn't have a problem BUT there is always an unfortunate "first time occurrence" and You could be the chosen one :shock: :shock: :shock: Also if it is a manual transmission, then park it on an incline and "pop the clutch" to start her up in the event it really does go dead. You really should be fine though.
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