car off, still drawing power?

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/r7

Silver - Posts: 340

Joined: July 30, 2004

Location: Canada

Posted: September 14, 2004 at 7:18 PM / IP Logged

if it comes to a new battery, is it recommended to buy one of the 200$+ yellow top batteries, or will a battery from crappytire or a parts shop work fine?

and if its my alt, 120amp alt should work fine shouldnt it?

i plan on putting at 'most', one more amp into the car, it will be a class D amp, and for subs, but i dont know how many watts it will push or anything, but it will between 800-1200 watts

if the car dont start tonight after leaving it on a charger (found another one to use), then ima scrap the batt and hope thats my only problem :/

not ruling out alt though until a new battery shows the same problem.

Ravendarat

Platinum - Posts: 2,806

Joined: February 23, 2004

Location: Canada

Posted: September 14, 2004 at 7:29 PM / IP Logged

Before you get a new battery get the damn thing tested, like someone else said most parts source or other automotive shops can and will test the battery and altenator for free so utilize it. Why spend a couple hundred bucks on a battery when its the altenator that could be screwed.

double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer

Alpine Guy

Platinum - Posts: 2,478

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Joined: October 18, 2003

Location: Canada

Posted: September 14, 2004 at 8:54 PM / IP Logged

if you do get a new batt ( if thats what you need) get the new motomaster battery, , aparently its made by optima, , it looks just like it but black.

2003 Chevy Avalanche,Eclipse CD7000,Morel Elate 5,Adire Extremis,Alpine PDX-4.150, 15" TC-3000, 2 Alpine PDX-1.1000, 470Amp HO Alt.

thapimpfromchi

Silver - Posts: 616

Joined: July 30, 2003

Location: United States

Posted: September 14, 2004 at 9:49 PM / IP Logged

damn, forbidden beat me to the battery terminals. anyways, u can also check the alt, if u dont have a dmm, with a screw driver, hammer, wrench, anything metal. turn the car on, find the alt, on the back half, (the side that does not have the belt going to it) place the metal tool there, if u feel any magnetic pull, ur alt is fine. if there is none, or very weak, ur alt is dying or dead.

1990 Honda Civic HB:

Clarion DXZ545MP H.U.

2- 6.5" Power Acoustik interiors

Diamond Audio 600.1 amp

Diamond Audio 15" M6MKII

Pyramid PB881X 4 CH. Amp

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Ravendarat

Platinum - Posts: 2,806

Joined: February 23, 2004

Location: Canada

Posted: September 14, 2004 at 9:51 PM / IP Logged

Thats a different trick, I have never heard of that one before

double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer

/r7

Silver - Posts: 340

Joined: July 30, 2004

Location: Canada

Posted: September 15, 2004 at 12:03 AM / IP Logged

the alt was juicing my batt with 14.7 or .17 volts,

my dad (long time car mechanic, back in the day) did his various tests, i may not trust his judgement on car audio specifically but when it comes to the mechanics of it (i cant deny either, that his advice about what im putting in my car sounds very reasonable and makes me question what i do based on what i've read) i have dont deny it. i'll see if i can mention to him about picking up a specific one, if theres the selection where he'll prolly buy it at.

even if its not the battery,

- starting the car not jumped wont even get a response, aside from all electronics dimming.

- 3hrs of charging, didnt even change the result of the above.

kind of indicates the battery isnt doing its job, even if its not the real problem.

it seems like it refuses to charge at all.

anyways, i appreciate all the responses, i almost remember hearing that when i was younger, or having some instance of that happening in my life. but definitely never would have thought of it had i tried to think of a way. thanks for the tip :-)

chevyman26

Copper - Posts: 227

Joined: April 14, 2004

Location: United States

Posted: September 15, 2004 at 12:20 AM / IP Logged

/R7 wrote:

if it comes to a new battery, is it recommended to buy one of the 200$+ yellow top batteries, or will a battery from crappytire or a parts shop work fine?

and if its my alt, 120amp alt should work fine shouldnt it?

i plan on putting at 'most', one more amp into the car, it will be a class D amp, and for subs, but i dont know how many watts it will push or anything, but it will between 800-1200 watts

O.k. - if I'm not mistaken the yellow tops are deep cycle, so you wouldn't want to use that as the car's main batt. If you go that route, go with a red top, but any decent "regular" batt. should be fine.

Next: 800-1200 RMS for the one amp? Then how many watts for the other amps? You more than likely need a much larger alt. Of that 120 amps your car probably uses about 70-75 of those during normal operation leaving around 45 for your stereo. 45 amps at best could run about 600 watts of stereo. So if I were you I'd be looking for around a 240 or 260 amp alt. when you add that class D.

Finally: As said before - connections, connections, connections. Double and triple check all your connections. Clean the posts and terminals even if they don't look like they need it. If it's top post, measure any resistance between the post and the back end of the terminal. The resistance should be absolutely minimal. You can also check if there is a drain on your batt. when the car is off by disconnecting one of the terminals (most mechanics do the pos. for this test, but it really doesn't matter) and place a DMM set to amps or any ammeter in series between the batt. and the disconnected terminal. A draw of .5-.7 amps is normal because of clocks and other memory holding devices, but anything higher is abnormal. If you see a high draw, start disconnecting stereo equipment one by one and re-checking.

O.k - one more thing - just a thought - is the car an older (early 90's and back) Ford with an external voltage regulator? It would be a little black and silver (or the color of the dust in your area, lol) box with a dozen or so wires running into it mounted on the driver side wheelwell under the hood, probably says "motorcraft" on top. When these go out they will kill your batt. real quick when the car is off, among other strange things. If it is you will see a minimum of 7 amp draw on the batt. using the above test. If it's not a Ford, then just nevermind this..

Sorry for the long post - just got off work and I'm still in "explain it" mode. I've been thinkin' about this one all day...

You'd better get me out of this lord... or else you'll have me to deal with. -- Hunter S. Thompson "F.A.L.I.L.V."

/r7

Silver - Posts: 340

Joined: July 30, 2004

Location: Canada

Posted: September 15, 2004 at 12:36 AM / IP Logged

thats kool man, a person learns more when someone actually has the time to explain things.

anyways, my dad tested the car with everything supposed to be off, and using a tester light (screw driver/light tool), no draw was being shown while the hood was down, pulling the hood up caused a draw, thats another thing he did.

chevyman26

Copper - Posts: 227

Joined: April 14, 2004

Location: United States

Posted: September 15, 2004 at 12:36 AM / IP Logged

Sorry - couple more things - As Alpine said: Do not do the (-) disconnect trick unless the car is at least older than like an '81. And if you do the amp draw test and disconnecting the stereo doesn't get rid of the draw - open up the fusebox and start pulling fuses 1 by 1 untill the draw is gone, then check your manual to see what is all on that fuse.

You'd better get me out of this lord... or else you'll have me to deal with. -- Hunter S. Thompson "F.A.L.I.L.V."

chevyman26

Copper - Posts: 227

Joined: April 14, 2004

Location: United States

Posted: September 15, 2004 at 12:42 AM / IP Logged

Ok, well, I didn't see your reply before I finished typing. Anyways good luck and if any thing else comes up let us know. BTW - what kind of car is it?

You'd better get me out of this lord... or else you'll have me to deal with. -- Hunter S. Thompson "F.A.L.I.L.V."

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