Electrical draw and I cant find it?

[firework]

My 75 standard beetle w/alternator and 1835cc engine keeps killing my battery if it sits undriven for to long.
I have a Optima red dry cell battery that is good .
Is there a way to check to see if its drawing a charge even when the engine is off?
Thanx
See ya at woodburn bugin.
 :D

[BusDriver]

Nice ride! And I am not sure about Air Cooled, as I am a Water Cooler, but this is what I would do in my car. Go behind your fuse panel and there should be a mess of wires find the main trunk comming in from your battery and put a volt meter on it if it spikes you have power comming thru.

If it is different in your beetle than it is in my car you can just start tracking wire groups and see what they go to then use your volt meter to see if the end station is hot. I had a similar problem turned out to be a light  that was on with no bulb ergo you could not see a light source so it would stay on and drain the battery, missing any bulbs in lets say a lower door lamp, or the trunk space?

One of the Air coolers may have a better or less time consuming way of tracking it, and if so will spit it out I'm sure.

Nice to meet you.

Just curious real quick: How did you find us?

[firework]

Thanx.
I was one of the original  liquidubs members but have moved on.
I was checking the dates for the Woodburn Bugin and saw a web site for you all and thought id check it out.
Been wanting to talk to some other local aircooled enthusiasts.

[TotallyVW]

I know that my radio is not on a switched circuit (always hot) so it takes a couple of days for the small glowing lamp to kill my battery.  I got a little frustrated because you can't see the glowing red ember in the daylight.  It wasn't until dark that I noticed the stupid little light.

Helpful Hint #5:  If you don't have a volt meter, you can use a continuity probe (sharp pointed stick w/light) to test for unwanted electrical draws.  Open the circuit in question, remove fuse or unplug connector, and use the continuity probe to close the circuit (aligator clip to one side and probe to the other) and if the light lights up then you have a current draw.  Quickest way to start is by disconnecting one of the battery terminals and putting the probe in-line.  If it lights up, you got more work ahead of you.

[firework]

Thanx for the info .
I tracked it all down last night by setting a volt meter inline with the neg terminal on the battery and then pulling fuses.
Turns out that my CD player, Amplifier and Tach were pulling volts even when the car was off.
All of those have to have a constant volt.
Except the tach.
That one is alittle interesting.
I bought a battery refresher deal from Harbor freight to help keep the battery fresh.
I just need to figure out a way to keep my battery from dying when not plugged in?