what are some of the reasons a charged van battery?

Question

can go completely flat overnight

ie:the seating compartment light
has 3 settings ON /OFF/AUTO ON ~lights when doors open

i switched it onto what i thought was the off position
and no light illuminated when i opened the door
but there is a slight bad connection there and sometimes
it flickers on and off or it can take a few punches to the light casing to get it to work!
if i switched it ON instead of OFF but no light illuminated all night would that still drain the battery ?

Answer 1

If it's grounding somehow, yes. Could just be a bad battery--take it to a parts store like autozone---they have a service where they'll charge the battery and load test it to see if it's ok or not. If it tests ok, then you have a drain on the battery somewhere. Unplug the dome light and try again overnight or test for a drain on the battery. You can test for a draw between the battery negative terminal and the negative cable (taken off) with a test light or ammeter. If you see a large draw on the battery with ignition off, pull fuses one at a time until the draw goes away---that will be the bad circuit.
http://www.schumacherproducts.com/applications/?id=0014

Answer 2

During the night when you have it in a dark area. Either you or some friend remove the negative cable from the battery, when there is nothing on in the car...everything is shut off.

If the cable arcs or sparks on the battery then there is a short.Or something is drawing too much current from the battery.

My suggestion is to leave the cable off over night and hook it up in the morning so it does not drain the battery when you need it until you have someone locate the short.

The seating light might have a loose wire and is shorting out on metal. You will have to remove the light switch to check it.

Answer 3

it's possible, but i would look more towards the alternator to see if it is recharging the battery to find out is to start the van and while the van is running disconnect the positive battery post if the van stops running your alternator is bad a needs to be replaced .