Draining Battery

Hey all,
I've got a bit of a delema with my old 74 CJ5 (also affectionately known as "Big Al").
Its a plow jeep, as well as a fun tool around in the woods and town jeep, but not a serious mudder/rockcrawler. (Not yet anyways!) Over the last year I've gone through three batteries, which seems a bit excessive. It is entirely possible, and I'm checking to see if this is true, that someone (me or my wife or my brother in law) have been leaving the plow up/down lever in down when its parked, which might be slowly draining the battery, but this is probably not likely, as I assume the key needs to at least be in the accessory position to let any juice flow to the plow mechanism. Other than that, I have no idea why I lose juice, unless the battery isn't being charged. Help! I want to stop buying batteries from Napa! Is there any way I can figure out where the drain/lack of charge is coming from? Is is a relatively recent development, as before I inherited the jeep, it lived in my Father-in-laws garage, and seemed to do fine (battery fine), but once I got it, and it started living outside, it started to have battery problems. Could it be something corroded? Possibly jiggled lose? (Also looking for a dual battery set up - any suggestions?) ANy and all help will be greatly appreciated. :?
Thanks again

Owner of Big Al - Evergreen CO

 

1st thing check your battery cables, make sure they are making good contact and are not corroded.

2nd does the plow move whith the key off? If it doesn't then I'm thinking you can rule that out.

Other than that you just have to take a test light to find what is powered up with the key off.

My bro n laws Jeep had a hot wire for his radio that was draining his battery, like to killed him when I found it. R)

 

This is the general rule of thumb I follow in situations like this. I had gotten this suggestion from a fellow jeeper a few years back.

An excellent tool to use would be the test light, of any kind.

Unhook the ground cable from the battery and attach it to the test light. Attach the other lead of the test light to the ground cable.
The brighter it glows, the more current being drawn.
Pull fuses and the like until the light barely glows, you will be able to detect what system is the culprit.
You may even need to disconnect the alternator wire to make sure it is not discharging the battery.