Battery draining; dead

[napacruzerC5]

Last Sunday the battery was completely dead. Needed a jump from AAA to get started. It was an excuse to drive so I did about 30 minutes. The voltmeter in the DIC started at about 12.9. After about 15 minutes showed about 14.1. By the time I got home and shut it down showed 14.0. The following Tuesday it was dead again.

Both times the headlights came up but not on. That's how I figured something was wrong. Can that have something to do with the battery dying? Twilight sentinel is not on.

Recent mods: installed window valet about two months ago and installed a door lock cover. I know raising and lowering windows with the engine shut off would take a lot of power from the battery but would just having it installed draw any additional current?

Need some opinions before I take it to the dealer. BTW I have a 23-month old Optima red top whcih has been trouble free until now.

 

[motorman]

put a multi meter between the negative battery post and the cable and see how much draw you have. anything over a .5 amp start pulling fuses till the meter drops.make sure the hood light is pulled and wait about 30 minutes for everything to shut down

 

[Bioscache2]

when the car is on the volt meter tells you the voltage the alternator is putting out, not the voltage of the battery. You might want to check the connection of the battery for corrosion or being a little loose. If they become semi loose the low voltage difference during charging isn't enough to cross the gap but the high voltage difference during start up is. Essntially you get a battery that will only discharge and not charge.