First Show - Battery drain?

Newbie question (recent owner and totally new to the whole car thing)...

I'm taking my D to my first car show Saturday morning - just a local cars and coffee gathering. I looking forward to going to many others throughout the summer. It seems that most people display their D's with the doors open for obvious reasons. So here's the question: Is there any danger of draining the battery from the doors being open for an extended period of time (a couple of hours)? I imagine the door lights don't draw a lot of power but it would be embarrassing to go to start it and not be able to. I have a Wings-A-Loft system with the battery cut-off switch, but I have not had time to install it yet.

Any recommendations, or am I overthinking things?

Chris

You can un-plug the door light switches to disable them. Or if you have LEDs you don't have to worry too much about drawing excess power.

Are your lights original or LED? IIRC the original incandescent bulbs could cause drains when left on all day but the new LEDs are lower-draw and don't normally cause issues. If you can buy or borrow a portable jump-starter it probably wouldn't hurt just to have a little extra insurance.

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Originally Posted by blueshark66

So here's the question: Is there any danger of draining the battery from the doors being open for an extended period of time (a couple of hours)? I imagine the door lights don't draw a lot of power....

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It's a good question.

No, you are not running much of a risk unless the battery is questionable. If you have LEDs in the doors then it's almost no risk.

As a new owner you should get the battery load-tested soon in any case so you know you can count on it. It's cheap peace of mind, along with a few other unrelated checks around the car. Ideally the previous owner's records tell you the battery is a young one.

Thanks, everyone. I just put in a new battery and the door lights are LEDs so I should be in good shape. I appreciate the help!