subs drained battery

[REZN]

i had to jump start my car today because im guessing the subs drained the battery. i had left the subs running with the car on acc.i was with a couple friends just sitting around and when i went to go turn it on it wouldnt start and i had to jump start it.any ways i can avoid this from happening. i like listening to music without wasting gas alot.

[Mikey178]

If your battery is old, I'd guess more than 5 years, then replacing it won't be a bad idea.

I had an old battery in my truck not knowing when it was put in but i've used it for the 3 years i've owned the vehicle and it crapped out on me because of the same subs draining the battery with the truck off. The battery had started hinting that it was weak as the sstart up seemed like a struggle everytime leading up to its demise. Funny it happened on my driveway and I had just pulled in and was playing a song or two as I was cleaning out the truck and the subs shut off and the deck powered down and that was the end of that battery.

With the new battery, I've played music out of the truck for 4 - 5 hours straight with the truck off and starts with no hesitation at all.

Some tips to keeping the battery from draining:1.Turn off all interior lights.2.Close the driver side door as the "Bing" sound will drain the battery.3.Start the vehicle and let it run once in a while for about a minute or 2 and shut off.

[KyooX4]

Yeah could be your battery is getting old, and Mikey made some good points. Also, you might want to look at getting a capacitor.

[REZN]

thanks mikey for the tips and i have no clue when the battery was put in since i bought the car used.. so that might mean something. it looks new tho so i never thought anything of it.and yeah i was wondering what exactly a capacitator does.

[Mikey178]

From what I've heard and don't quote me on this, capacitors are not helpful for your issue, nor will it help with playing your music with the truck off.

Capacitors are essentially another battery but it stores the energy and it is used when you need it. An example, if your playing a song with bass, without a capacitor you may notice dimming in the lights (Interior or exterior) at times. With a capacitor the stored energy will act as the extra energy needed and won't put that strain on the battery, hense it won't dim the lights when the subs hit hard.

So in conclusion, the capacitor will help pretty much when your truck is running and playing music loud with heavy bass as you'll be constantly charging your battery through the alternator. That to my knowledge is the use of a capacitor. I don't have one installed in mine, tho I do notice minor dimming with some heavy bass songs.

Hope that helps, if anyone has any further thoughts on capacitors I'd definately like to hear about it as I've been on the edge about getting one.

[slickroger]

Ive got an eliminator battery and its amazing i wash movies i play music pretty loud and it hasnt crapped out on me yet. I think ive had it for about 6 months now all my other batteries died pretty quickly.

A capacitor holds a second charge so it actually acts as a seperate battery for your sub amp.

I have a capacitor in my car and it kind of warns me when my battery is dying because the music starts to play choppy, as soon as i hear that i start the car.

I have also wired my alarm to my capacitor so that if someone tries to cut the battery cable to bypass my alarm my cap will still have the alarm enabled. they also look cool if you get a digital one because you can see how much voltage every bass hit takes.

Some tips to keeping the battery from draining:1.Turn off all interior lights.2.Close the driver side door as the "Bing" sound will drain the battery.3.Start the vehicle and let it run once in a while for about a minute or 2 and shut off. 4.If you've done the fog mod remember to turn them off5.Get a capacitor

[Pwnin O'Brien]

A capacitor can be best described as a band-aid for a much larger issue. What a capacitor does is it stores energy for a very short period of time. The capacitor will initially charge up and when your sub tries to pull a lot of current (when it tries to play a supper-low note) it will in effect drain the capacitor instead of trying to pull that current from your electrical system. The capacitor will then continue to charge up and then drain over and over again. The capacitor is rated for the subwoofer amplifier, ensuring that the amplifier cannot pull more current than the capacitor can discharge.

If you notice that your headlights dim or anything of the sort while you are playing your music, this means that your battery is not supplying enough current to drive your vehicle electrical system as well as your subwoofer amplifier. A vehicle battery is rated at a specific amperage (depending on the battery temperature) and the average vehicle electrical system pulls very little current with respect to the battery, allowing for some expansion of your sound system or electrical system. However, when you add two 12" subs powered by a 2000 watt amp, then you are pushing that current draw much farther than the battery is spec'd to handle.

To ensure that your sound system or any other aftermarket electrical add-ons get enough current, you must select a battery which can supply enough current for your entire vehicle (factory electrical system, sub amps, aftermarket fog lights, etc.) plus some. The best way to calculate your current draw is to add up the current rating of all of your fuses. This will give you a good idea as to how much current your battery should be able to supply without causing a brown out.

A good analogy is to picture your battery's current supply as a four lane highway. When your vehicle was stock, the electrical system probably only used two lanes of that four lane highway. Now you've added two subs, a new head unit and some fog lights. Your new stuff and your electrical system now requires a six lane highway, so you must upgrade that battery to a seven or eight lane (maybe even nine lane) highway. If you don't upgrade to more lanes, then your highway gets congested and nothing works to its potential.
Modified by Pwnin O'Brien at 11:59 PM 9/7/2009

[Empty V]

Well said P'wnin. Out of all of the sound systems/battery combos that I've tried the Optima Yellowtop outperformed all others. I tested it while doing my brakes a few weekends ago and had it blasting with the subs cranked for 2 hours and had ZERO issues starting. I think the Yellow top offers more cranking amps which helps with quick startup.

Billy

[ganesh21]

For playing music while the car is off you should get this the biggest battery for under the hood or get a battery isolator.

http://www.sonicelectronix.com....html

You can install a second battery in the truck and you would never need to worry about starting the vehicle.

[fueler]

yup a cap will not help in this situation. but the digital caps with voltage readout would be useful for seeing how much juice youve got.

Optima yellowtop (deep cycle gel battery) best for offroading and long drains

[Empty V]

yup a cap will not help in this situation. but the digital caps with voltage readout would be useful for seeing how much juice youve got.

Optima yellowtop (deep cycle gel battery) best for offroading and long drains

Some decks like the AVIC-D3 (and I think my Z3) have a voltage meter built into them that you can bring it up on the display. It's also got a G-Force meter, angular velocity, slope, acceleration, a tach, a speedo and a few other useless gages/meters. Can't forget the clock with 3 different skins/looks.

Billy

[WINNIPEGS_MOST_WANTED]

Just bought myself an Odyssey battery on Friday. Have yet to put it to the test...

[sicwitit]

1st, see what the new batt does2nd, if issues persist, check wiring....maybe the power/grounds need to be reevaulated, and make sure all connections are tight!3rd, you might need to look into a higher output Alt, If you only have a system upgrade, and arn't running a ton of other accessories, you probably don't need one, I think the first 2 things I said should fix your problem, but a new alt might not be a bad idea.

Keep us posted