Brandon, of course he can still have intermittent grounds etc. Just trying to explain a way to start dividing up the problem a little.(old time expression was divide and conquer) If during a drive the alternator or charge circuit proves it has constant output to the battery it will be eliminated as the problem. On the otherhand if current output does not remain high indicated by voltage dropping on the meter in cab it will be in the charging loop somewhere. Be it a bad ground,intermittent alternator, bad power wire or termination etc. But if voltage remains high and constant we either have a battery with a real fluky defect or a high intermittent drain situatuion going on. Remember he had a flare up awhile ago that spontainiously dissapeared I think. The only drain with this kind of potential that came to mind was the glow circuit. But it could be something else. Was not trying to discourage bad grounds as a possibility or anything else. He was just starting to get frustrated and had not really done anything definative in my opinion to truly divide up the problem yet. I am not a working or retired mechanic so do not have the feel that you aquire from working day to day on cars so I have to engineer tests to eliminate or prove what the fault is on a lot of occasions. Years ago got tired of doing things in repair proceedures that turned out to not be the fault or spending money to replace parts that were good before locating the actual problem especially electrical. This is kind of a hobby to me. I want to enjoy it. Just wish I knew more. Anyways again I was not trying to discourage anything as a possibility. You could be right and it's important for him not to get discouraged with the car. If I had some of the cars that have the smoking problem that nobody seems to be able to localise themselves even with a lot of effort on their part it would make me become discouraged as well. Even if he does not have a functional cigarette lighter socket he can run wires from any constantly on circuit to his meter even if they have to come from under the hood. To be fair his mechanic will probably locate the problem so it should be over.