Anyone ever drained a car battery while installing carseats?

scatterbunny

New member
It seems to happen to me all the time. I leave my sliding doors open while I'm installing, so there's a breeze and I don't overheat. But that makes my interior lights stay on, and I ended up with a dead battery. :eek: So now I have to wait for dh to get home to jumpstart the van so I can go somewhere. This happens every time I install a Husky/Regent. I always want to install it with long belt path and short belt path, in every conceivable seating position, so it takes awhile.
 
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skiersnowboarder3

Senior Community Member
Aww, that's sad. Can you turn the interior lights off once you open the door. And to answer your question, no I never have because in our van, the dome light goes off on its own eventually and in my car, I turn the dome light off. Otherwise, I probably would.
 

snowbird25ca

Moderator - CPST Instructor
Hehe, never while installing a seat, but I have while setting up camp at a campground last summer. (Twice, you'd think we would've learned after the first time that the battery protector doesn't work when you have the keys in the ignition. :whistle: )

Can you turn your dome light off? Ours are auto off, but I usually start the engine and let it run a little once I've had them go off on me a few times. Of course that was winter when I needed the light to play carseats. :)

I hope you're not stranded at home for too long if you have to go out.
 

cpsaddict

New member
Yeah, I do and did. Last night I was installing the Radian in my car, but it's way to easy to install in my car. Darn it. I mean, I am so happy it's easy to install! ;) However, we were playing with it my friends car for awhile. It was cold, windy and drippy, but we were determined!
 

murphydog77

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
Uh, Darren?

I used to leave my interior lights on, but I started getting nervous about doing that because of the battery. Now whenever I do my videos, I turn off the interior lights. I'm only ever out there about an hour, but I still don't want to take the chance. If I'm at my friends' store playing with new car seats, I'll turn them off there too.
 

scatterbunny

New member
My dome light can be turned off, but AFAIK, the lights on the inside of the doors can't be.

I'm glad to know others have done it, too. :p
 

jen_nah

CPST Instructor
While I have never drained my battery installing car seat but we have had parents drain their batteries at our fitting station many of times. I have had my battery die sitting at Kaylee's softball practice in March. I had the rear hatch open & K2 & her friend were watching tv. I had left the ignition on but the truck wasn't running. We ended up replacing the battery completely since it was 3yrs old.

Try turning off the interior light if you can. Also check to see how old your battery is. Most people don't realize is a batteries life span is usually only 3-4yrs.
 

singingpond

New member
I fortunately can turn off the dome lights in my Toyota, and generally do if I'm working on carseats -- since I know it usually will take me longer than I anticipate :rolleyes:.

Our other vehicle ('90 Ford) does have the problem of various courtesy/convenience lights that just can't be switched off. On occasion, when we know we have to have the doors open for a few hours (e.g. at some amateur radio events my husband attends), we've actually pulled out the relevant fuse, or even disconnected the battery. We also got the largest-capacity battery that would fit in the vehicle, when it came time for battery replacement -- gives more of a buffer if you do end up having the doors open for an hour occasionally.

Katrin
 

DabOfLoven

New member
I haven't installing car seats. But I have while cleaning our jeep pre-kids. The battery was weak anyway, but while I was cleaning I had the radio going and in interior light on. It was dead as a door nail! lol
 

emandbri

Well-known member
I haven't but I know from experience that the door of my sienna can be left open for 12 hours and it will still run start but not if left open for 18 or more.
 

bethng

Active member
I have not done it from installing seats as all the lights turn out after about 5 minutes as a precaution against this in my van. In my older van that didnt happen. My dh has a portable battery jumper so I just hooked that up and bingo! Might want to look into getting one of those.
 

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