Hi boydyer and welcome to TSF:wave:
Does your alternator work?
If you have a voltmeter, you can test the alternator by starting the car and measuring the voltage at the battery terminals. It should be over 12 volts at idle and up to 14.8 if you give it a little gas.
If your battery is discharging that fast, you should be able to feel some hot wires somewhere, or smell smoke.
After you charged the battery, does the 3 second cycling problem still occur? It would be nice if fixing one problem would cure both ills.
Best regards:smile:
Mack1