Dead battery

I drove my van yesterday and everything was fine. I went to start it today and the battery was dead. I jumped it and it was dead again in an hour. The battery is 1-2 yrs old, no lights or anything were left on?

I just installed a new battery in my van because all the lights went out and the radio shut off and the lights all shut off and the battery light came on. I went to park the van and shut it off and when I did so the battery would not turn back on; just made a clicking sound. What do you think the problem might be?

99 Windstar 130k miles, background- driving on expresway, abs light comes on, continue driving, make two stops, 2nd stop 3hours, come out abs light is out, drive 5 miles abs light comes on, notice headlights going dim than out. Stop ( cant see ) shut off van ( mistake ) Battery dead, Jump start all well, 5 min later headlights go out, interior light goes and stays on, slow drive home. Put new battery in, drive 15 miles, battery dead, Put in new alternator. All fine rest of day, start and stop with 3-4 hour breaks. Next morning battery dead-- odometer and raido reset, jump, starts right up, all day fine, next mouning DEAD. Put volt meter between neg terminal and cable ( series ) 12.5 volts-- a short. Pull EVERY fuse and relay, inside and in the high power box in engine compartment. Still a short, even disconected the alternator. Where do I look next?

I will first say that im just a regular person that may be wrong in suggesting this, but.

In my windstar, I was having battery problems as well. It would go dead so easy. Time and time again. Turned out, I felt it had a bad cell in the battery and wasnt holding a good charge. I replaced it with a good walmart battery with a 5 year waranty. Works great now.

Something to consider.

Cost $70.00, Time: 15 min install time

I was giving your question more thought and I did notice that you said that your battery had been replaced, so let me just add this. (And this is just my opinion)

Most times, a problem such as you are having is usually a more basic problem rather than some huge puzzle. But, like most problems, sometimes things that should be simple in complexity are the ones which can cause the most frustration.

My personnal guess would be that you have one of two obvious problems. The altermator isnt charging properly or the battery itself has a bad cell. You need to eliminate these two basic possibiliies before going any further. Even though they are new. I would gather the basic tools to remove them if it were me and drive myself to autozone or somewhere where they can test them for free and remove the battery and have them test it. If it comes back fine, then do the same to the alternator. If it comes back fine as well, I'd put them back in and double check that all cables and grounds are clean and properly connected.

Now, I know you think that since they r new, this isnt the problem and you may be correct, but sometimes you can still get a faulty part and that will make trying to figure something out.A struggle because you assume thats not it. So, I'd double check them.

I have been where you are my friend many times and I can feel your pain. Maybe someone else has a more helpful suggestion but if it were me, this is what id do. And if you dont find the problem after a second looking over just to be sure, then I'd look closer at the other possibilities.

And one more thing, make sure the cable from the alternator to the battery is in good shape. Make sure no wires are worn or are touching anything they shouldnt be.

One more thing. If you are testing for a short across a battery itself, from one terminal to the other. It WILL always show a short. Lol The battery is a stored(potential) energy source with electron flow from positive to negative and is never isolated. Batteries always show a short when testing continuity. So this should not scare or concern you.