Alarm draining my battery?

I have a 2k Eclipse (surprise!). I installed a DEI Sidewinder 5000 into it back in early 2000 when I was working as an installer. A year or so ago my car started having issues with the battery getting run down easily. If I don't drive the car for a week or more then it won't start, I'll have to jump it. I even got a new battery but had the same issue. One time last year it wouldn't even jump at all! I disconnected my 4awg amp wire, still wouldn't jump, I disconnected my alarm brain and it jumped immediately. I never did any more research past that point. I'm assuming that there must be an issue with the alarm since it shouldn't cause it not to jump, unless that was just a coincidence. The reason for my post is that I just recently installed a PC in my car and need for the battery to be up to par. I'm considering getting a new alarm and completely redoing the install but I'm curious if anyone has had experience with an alarm causing excessive battery draining. I also have the 530T module and the windows are very slow... but if I rev it to about 3k they do tend to roll up a bit faster. This was the only 530T I ever put in so is it possible that it needs replaced or resoldered? Maybe the 5 years it has been in there has caused some corrosion on the solder connections? Just a wild thought. I've considered pulling it out and reconnecting like stock to test but haven't had the time yet. I'd appreciate if anyone has anyone experience to share on this.

When you say it doesn't jump, do you mean it doesn't crank? Was the alarm installed with a starter cutout? That may be why it didn't crank until you disconnected the alarm. Should be easy enough to make a current measurement on the battery draw on standby. If you do that and compare the current draw with the alarm both connected and disconnected, you can see if the alarm is really the problem or if it's the other things you have hooked up. You just have to start disconnecting all the added items to see which one is drawing excessive current. If you don't have a meter for some reason, you could use a small 12V test light and hold it between the battery terminal and post, then disconnect the terminal, and watch the brightness of the light. If it's bright, start disconnecting things until it goes dim. You must have a fairly heavy draw if it'll take down a new battery in a week, so it should be easy to find.

I know I'm a noob here, but I'm not a noob :) When I say it doesn't jump I mean that being connected to the jumper cables, and another car, it still didn't have enough power to start the car... it'd crank but that was it. Once I unplugged the alarm it was fine. The weird thing was after one successful crank it was fine even with the alarm and everything reconnected. I do have a dmm so I'll have to test that. I had done it in the past and for a short while it was reading quite high but then all of a sudden was back to normal and wouldn't go high again. I don't believe the draw is constant, but I think that it may peak on and off at certain times. It may be hard to find.

Yeah, looking at your installation work, it's obvious you're not afraid to get deep into things- Don't know if you did this, but if you connect the battery after having it disconnected, it'll show a high draw for a short period as things initialize and caps charge up, etc. That's why you want to connect your meter between the terminal and post while the cable's still connected, and then carefully disconnect the terminal while maintaining contact with your meter probes. That way you're checking the true standby draw rather than a temporary peak reading. If the problem's intermittent, then it'll be hard to find. Maybe it's the wireless link you have hooked up, since that'll come on at certain times, and that PC must draw a fair amount of current- How often does it link up while the car's off (if it does)?

When the battery goes dead thes the alarm will go into starter lockout untill reset. If your car was ok for a long time ( 6 mo. ) then it just may be a battery.

I have had problems with my battery going down if I dont drive the vehicle for awhile either. I cured it by going to walmart and buying a small trickle charger. I believe Energizer is the brand. It is tied up under the car near the battery. It has a short 120 volt cord that I can just reach up under the car and plug an extension cord into when parking the vehicle. Just don't forget to unplug it when you leave :)       My battery has never drained since. I've had it about 2 or 3 years. The charger was $25.       If you can't find a fix for you problem this might be an option for ya.

Yeah, if you just have a lot of equipment installed that draws a lot of current on standby, the trickle charger would be the way to solve it, unless you want to install a disconnect switch for the things you don't really need power for, when parked for a long period. If you have it out in the sun, you can get a solar panel trickle charger to supply some charging current during the day to make up for the power lost. I got a cheap one from Harbor Freight which doesn't supply a whole lot of current, but it's enough to make up for the alarm draw and maintain charge.