Electrical probs!

[dodgedude1998]

Hey guys, new to the site.I am having some issues with my electrical system and and getting really frustrated. Problem: After sitting for more than a few days battery is pretty much dead and truck wont start.After I bought it, I let it sit for like a month and then bam---nothing. So I figured bad batteries, I'd try to drive it more often. Its our 3 vehicle so I just was using it to head to the mtns to go snowboarding and to the beach (throw the surfboard in the back) and for camping --we have a cab-over shell on it. Anyways, I have the batteries checked---Autozone says one battery bad, Alt OK. I replace both batteries and cross my fingers. Starts great for about a week. Then I leave for a trip, gone about a week and a half, come back--same ____.Take it in to the ZONE--they say both batteries ok, Alt is ok.WTF?So I take the truck to a specialty auto electrical joint. They run the tests and tell me everything is fine and I am not driving it enough. They said there was a small volt drain for a 2 or 3 min period after I shut her off--and then it stops and everything is fine. They tell me to drive it more. The problem is we're in a subdivision that doesnt like cab-over campers parked on the stree--so I put it into a storage unit until the winters over (going to put the camper at my girl's folks house in the mtns after the winter. When I put it in there, I disconnected the ground off each battery. There it sits for about a month, until last week when we used it to take some bikes down to the beach. It started fine when I hooked up the battery, but alas I didnt drive it much and now its dead (or back on the charger.)WTF now?I am planning on taking it back to the electrical joint to have them keep it for a week and test it after every few days to see whats happening, but I am not sure they'll be able to figure it out.Can you guys help me out here?Any ideas? Anything I should ask them to do while they have it.Is this a problem folks see in Dodge's?BTW---the electrical problem was present before I got the cab-over camper and presently it is unplugged from the truck's electrical system.Thanks in advance for any help.Cheers.

[Mopar1973Man]

There is a electrical drain on it for sure. The easiest way to spot it would be pull on fuse at a time and using a DVM (Digital Volt Meter) on Amperage setting probe each fuse socket and see how much power draw is in each fuse. With the truck off it should be very small amount of power draw but it all should be milliamps...

[anoldbiker]

1st thing I do with a new battery is charge it 24 hours before I attached it to the truck. I also drive it every weekend when it was my 3rd vehicle, but she's my main now. If it was accessible to an electrical plug, like I have now, I keep one of those battery tenders on it when I'm not using her for over a week. If no access to an electrical plug, might consider taking the batteries home and doing this when letting her sit for weeks on end. Sounded like the shop said there was no drain after a couple of minutes, if this is questionable, try another shop for a 2nd opinion. But using it often or keeping her charged is the best option in my opinion.Not allowing you to park a truck with a camper shell ? Sounds like California in the LA or Orange county area.

[JAG1]

I wonder if you have a situation in which the camper is not on a relay or a battery isolator and the camper is not disconnecting from the truck. When you park it would put enough of a small load on your truck batteries to draw them down.Also check your connection between both truck batteries as it seems odd one battery would go bad when they are in parallel. Usually both batteries get drawn down when one battery is bad so both would show as low go.Hope to be hearing about the fix you find.Oh yeah I had a truck that had a glove box light that was out of adjustment. The light stayed on with the door shut. nobody knew. The only way I saw it was at night with a little bit of light glowing from behind the dash.

[CUMMINSDIESELPWR]

something on the camper....

[dodgedude1998]

As was written in the original post:BTW---the electrical problem was present before I got the cab-over camper and presently it is unplugged from the truck's electrical system.Not the camper.When they originally tested it, could they have tested the system without looking at the fuse panel--like connecting stuff to just the battery or something. I am not well versed in all this, so I am not too knowledgeable.I do appreciate the help though so far and ideas presented will be forwarded to the repair guys.

[stodg73]

Is the trucked parked inside or outside?If outside, you might get a solar cell to keep the batteries charged while it is parked. If you go this route, make sure to get one that is at least 15 watts, this translates to about 0.75 amp/hour charge rate.I agree with Mike, pull the fuses one at a time and check for a power drain.

[JAG1]

I feel bad if your only option is having to go to the auto electric places.. More often than not I paid for wrong diagnostics :spend:I finally figured it out for myself one time and the place did give the money back. Just a little reading on the subject helps enormously. Soon you'll begin to realize it's not difficult for the most part anyway.

[CUMMINSDIESELPWR]

i must have misread it... my bad!

[pepsi71ocean]

you have a drain that shouldn't be happening. i started my truck up after 4 months of sitting idle and she fired right up no issues, help 12.4v the whole time.i agree with mikes assessment, you should get a volt meter and start probing it will be much cheaper then trying to find something else.ALSO did you load test your alternator to see if it is working correctly.