left light on, dead battery and cold temps

[rundrave]

just realized I left the bed light on in my tundra for about 24 hours. I left it on when I got back home last night about this time. I worked from home today and just noticed it now.

I heard a ticking noise like a blinker light near the fuse area in the dash. Then I realized what I did.

so the battery got ran down to nothing, sat over night and today in cold temps. Its probably 25 degrees in my garage if I were to guess.

I have it on the charger now but did I ruin this battery? Should I charge it slowly over night or jump start the truck now?

feeling pretty stupid at the moment. Just what I wanted to do on a chilly week night at this hour.

[Dozer]

I dought it would wreck it, it wasnt that cold today. I would put a charger on it and hope for the best. Park it so its accessable for a jump start tomorrow, just in case!

[leech~~]

Hey don't feel to "stupid". We had a vendor come to our work and we all went to look at some equipment at another companies building which all took about 3hrs in my bosses car. When we came back and dropped the vendor off at his car. It was still running with the keys in it!!!!!

He must have really had his mind on the sale!

[rundrave]

well i was going to let it sit and charge but decided to go start it. Fired right up and I went and drove at highway speed with the RPM's at about 1500 for a good 45minutes.

Got home and tested it with a battery meter and it said %100 and voltage was good also.

I was going to get the oil changed tomorrow anyway so I will have them test the battery for good measure.

[CAMAN]

I wouldn't worry about ruining the battery, they are made to take an occasional draining.

I wouldn't trickle charge it though if you need it by morning. Depending on the output of your charger it might not be close to charged when you need it. I'd atleast bump it up to a mid range setting.

*edit* glad things worked out.

[rundrave]

Hey don't feel to "stupid".

actually I really did, its not a normal thing for a Toyota owner to be looking under the hood, let alone with jumper cables. Its supposed to get to -9 here tonight, maybe hell really is freezing over lol

[Whoaru99]

actually I really did, its not a normal thing for a Toyota owner to be looking under the hood, let alone with jumper cables. Its supposed to get to -9 here tonight, maybe hell really is freezing over lol

Not that it would do most of them any good anyway.

[Jeremy airjer W]

actually I really did, its not a normal thing for a Toyota owner to be looking under the hood, let alone with jumper cables. Its supposed to get to -9 here tonight, maybe hell really is freezing over lol

I haven't even opened the hood to add washer fluid in the last four years!

[rundrave]

I checked the battery this morning and it was down to %20 percent. i started it up and took the kids to daycare.

I decided to work from home today as I don't want to risk it sitting out in below zero weather all day and not have it start when I get done working. I will throw it on the charger and let it get a nice slow charge all day today and hope that it will keep a charge when its done.

[flyfisher03]

The biggest issue with batteries being drained with cold temps is it looses its ability to keep from freezing. When a battery freezes it can break the bridges between the cells and may render the battery junk. Also charging a battery that is frozen doesn't do any good either.

[Pinusbanksiana]

That bed light on my Tundra has screwed me up plenty of times. If I didn't occasionally need it I would take the bulbs out. For some reason I can't explain it has a mind of its own, not turning off like it is supposed to. I have to watch it like a hawk.

[rundrave]

That bed light on my Tundra has screwed me up plenty of times. If I didn't occasionally need it I would take the bulbs out. For some reason I can't explain it has a mind of its own, not turning off like it is supposed to. I have to watch it like a hawk.

I have never had problems with it, but I was unloading stuff from the bed so I turned the cargo light on and simply forgot to turn it off.

[Jeremy airjer W]

Is it the original battery?

Replace it if it is.

[Pinusbanksiana]

Mine comes on every time I shut the truck off, or open the doors. It usually shuts off within 30 seconds or so, sometimes it doesn't. I think I found that if my door doesn't shut all the way tight it can stay on. Something with keys in the ignition too. I tried to research it but nothing could be found. Probably a bad switch.

[BobT]

I wouldn't worry about ruining the battery, they are made to take an occasional draining.

No they're not. But, there's a possiblity it wasn't damaged too bad.

Any time a battery is run down (deep cycled), even deep cycle batteries, it has a negative impact on its life. Deep cycle batteries are designed for low amp draw and repeated deep cycling this is true but they can only handle a limited number of deep cycles. The deeper the cycle the harder it is on the battery. Okay, enough said about deep cycle batteries.

In this case we are discussing automotive starting batteries. They are designed for high current and repeated shallow cycling. If you've ever tried using one to operate an electric trolling motor you would probably find that you will be replacing that battery after a relatively short period of time. They don't like deep cycling at all. YES, they can do it but each time you deep cycle a starting battery you take a huge chunk out of its life.

In the case of the OP. Your battery may work fine but I would have it load tested to see what its capacity is like. It's a quick easy test that will tell you if the battery suffered enough damage to require replacing or if it will work for the rest of the year for you.

OR you could just take your chances that it is okay and hope for the best.