Ok.... I think it's time I turn to the collective minds of this forum for some assistance!

My '05 SRT6 roadster has had absolutely no electrical issues until last week. But about 6 months ago, I did decide to buy a new battery just as a preventative measure, after realizing it looked like I was still using the original one from the factory. I went with a Bosch from Pep Boys (which they claimed was their "high end" battery they sold).

So anyway, last week, I dropped my car off at a local shop for some basic service and to see if they could check out a problem I had with my convertible top not wanting to close without the rear window bow "sticking". They told me they did the oil change and replaced a front passenger side marker lamp that was burnt out, but couldn't find the reason behind the rear window sticking when trying to lock back in place. (Verified that the hydraulic fluid was full and no leaks.)

But they said they had to jump start the car to move it into the garage from their lot to work on it, and it would need another jump for me to get it home, and asked if I had battery problems before.....

When I got there, we jump started it with a battery pack he had in the shop and we noted that the voltage read out as 13.6V after the car was running, but only 11.9V before that. His battery pack had a digital voltmeter integrated into it. (So he felt that meant the alternator was good.) But then, while paying him inside for the repairs, the car died again. He lent me the battery pack in case I needed it again while driving back to Pep Boys, to get my battery replaced under warranty, as we assumed that was the issue. So with one more jump start, I drove about 20 minutes to Pep Boys. The car sputtered once or twice on the highway, with the BAS ESP light briefly lighting, but I made it as far as the exit ramp before it died on me again. Had to jump start it once more to get from there to Pep Boys.

They swapped batteries with another new Bosch replacement (free warranty swap), and everything seemed to be good. Except 2 days later, I went out to my car and found the battery was too weak to start it again. (Just clicked a few times as lights on the dash flickered.)

So now I started assuming a short someplace.... I have an old Radio Shack voltmeter but the Amp settings on it only go as high as 250ma. Using that setting, I connected it in series with the negative battery terminal to measure power draw and the needle immediately pegged. So definitely more than 250ma getting drawn.

I tried pulling various fuses including #9 for the alarm system, and 2 different fuses related to the top hydraulics. No change.

Could this be a bad alternator causing this kind of power draw?