Amplifiers killed my car battery??

[BigToque]

I've got 2 RF amps connected to my car (one for components and the other is for the subs).

I don't ever listen to my system with the car off so my battery has never drained.

3 days ago I accidentally left my car lights on and my battery died.

yesterday, I don't know what happened, but my battery was dead again.

I got CAA (AAA for Americans I think) to come by and they tested the battery and said it needed to be replaced and that it was likely my amplifiers that killed the battery.

Is this possible? He suggested I buy something called a "deep-cycle" battery and install it in my trunk.

What are your thoughts?

 

[thirdeye]

How many watts are you running? Chances are your battery was just old and needed replaced anyways.

 

[purbeast0]

you have the remote power wire hooked up properly right?

it sounds like bs. if you have the wiring correctly, your amp wont drain the battery. your CAA guy just was an idiot if he said that.

 

[BigToque]

Originally posted by: thirdeye
How many watts are you running? Chances are your battery was just old and needed replaced anyways.

RF p4002 for components (100W RMS x 2 @ 4ohm)
RF p6001 for subs (300W RMS x 2 @ 4ohm)

 

[BigToque]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
you have the remote power wire hooked up properly right?

it sounds like bs. if you have the wiring correctly, your amp wont drain the battery. your CAA guy just was an idiot if he said that.

The amps do not turn on until the car is in at least accessory mode.

I did not think it should have caused a problem but he said it can easily kill my battery prematurely because it puts a lot of strain on the battery and alternator while it's running.

 

[Mark R]

How old was the battery? If it was more than 4 years old, then it probably died from old age.

If you amps were installed correctly, then they don't use power unless the head unit is powered-up. If it's a cowboy install, it is possible that they were wired to stay on all the time - but you'd probably have noticed by now.

Car batteries are not meant to be deep-discharged. If you drain the battery completely by leaving the lights on, and come back to a dead car - that battery will never be the same again because of the damage caused.

Most likely - battery was old and on it's way out. You left lights on draining it completely - which finished it off.

You could get a deep cycle battery, and a split charge controller to charge it - but it's a lot of money and effort for no real benefit. A seperate deep cycle battery is only useful if you're going to be using loads of power with the car off (e.g. you're going to be doing a lot of demos and need to run your amps for several hours without the car running).

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: BigToque

Originally posted by: purbeast0
you have the remote power wire hooked up properly right?

it sounds like bs. if you have the wiring correctly, your amp wont drain the battery. your CAA guy just was an idiot if he said that.

The amps do not turn on until the car is in at least accessory mode.

I did not think it should have caused a problem but he said it can easily kill my battery prematurely because it puts a lot of strain on the battery and alternator while it's running.

It depends on how hard they're hitting... if your alternator isn't supplying enough power, it could cause your battery problems. As a band-aid fix you could throw a capacitor in there to help it out, or just get a heavier duty alternator. Do your lights ever dim when the stereo is running?

 

[spidey07]

They can certainly drain your battery. You might not be making enough power with your alternator.

 

[spidey07]

Is there an echo in here?

 

[BigToque]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog

Originally posted by: BigToque

Originally posted by: purbeast0
you have the remote power wire hooked up properly right?

it sounds like bs. if you have the wiring correctly, your amp wont drain the battery. your CAA guy just was an idiot if he said that.

The amps do not turn on until the car is in at least accessory mode.

I did not think it should have caused a problem but he said it can easily kill my battery prematurely because it puts a lot of strain on the battery and alternator while it's running.

It depends on how hard they're hitting... if your alternator isn't supplying enough power, it could cause your battery problems. As a band-aid fix you could throw a capacitor in there to help it out, or just get a heavier duty alternator. Do your lights ever dim when the stereo is running?

I have never noticed any dimming of my lights (and I specifically checked for it after I had everything up and running more than 2 months ago).

I don't know how accurate it is, but the screen of the headunit has a voltage meter built in that you can use as screen decoration as opposed to just having song information. It always showed my voltage as being 14.2-14.7V. The day before i left the lights on, I noticed it was around 15.2-15.5V (which I thought was a little strange).

I was under the impression that the battery in the car was almost brand new (i'll have to check). I bought the car from a dealership and they have a list of everything that they know about the car at the time of sale (3 months ago).

 

[spidey07]

Do the math...

bought car 3 months ago
put in stereo 2 months ago
battery is dead.

Your amps killed your battery.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: BigToque
I don't know how accurate it is, but the screen of the headunit has a voltage meter built in that you can use as screen decoration as opposed to just having song information. It always showed my voltage as being 14.2-14.7V. The day before i left the lights on, I noticed it was around 15.2-15.5V (which I thought was a little strange).

I'm going to guess that that voltage reading isn't what your alternator is putting out. I could be wrong, of course. No dash voltmeter?

 

[DaTT]

As said above, "an bandaid is to get a capaciotr" is wrong. If you can't supply the amps with the power they need, a capacitor will not help you, and you could possibly ruin the cap. Generally speaking, the alternator goes first, and then the battery....mostly because the alternator has to work twice as hard when running amplifiers and they keep draining the battery everytime time the bass hits.

I would get an Optima Yellow Top bettery (deep cycle) and you should not have this problem again. If you don't want to spend the money, and decent "BRAND NAME" battery will also work well. Get your alternator checked as well, you may want to up its output in the future....but I doubt it. Just have it checked to make sure its not already burned out.....or at least charginf like it should be.

 

[BigToque]

Originally posted by: spidey07
Do the math...

bought car 3 months ago
put in stereo 2 months ago
battery is dead.

Your amps killed your battery.

You don't think it would have killed it within a few days? 2 months seems like a pretty long time if something isn't right.

 

[BigToque]

Originally posted by: DaTT
As said above, "an bandaid is to get a capaciotr" is wrong. If you can't supply the amps with the power they need, a capacitor will not help you, and you could possibly ruin the cap. Generally speaking, the alternator goes first, and then the battery....mostly because the alternator has to work twice as hard when running amplifiers and they keep draining the battery everytime time the bass hits.

I would get an Optima Yellow Top bettery (deep cycle) and you should not have this problem again. If you don't want to spend the money, and decent "BRAND NAME" battery will also work well. Get your alternator checked as well, you may need to up its output in the future....but I doubt it.

Well, the CAA guy said the alternator was fine.

I honestly have a feeling that I just left the lights on a 2nd time.

 

[DaTT]

I highly doubt your amps killed your battery. Your equipment isn't enough to really put a huge strain on the electrical system.....but like I said above....Optima Yellow Top

 

[DaTT]

Originally posted by: BigToque

Originally posted by: DaTT
As said above, "an bandaid is to get a capaciotr" is wrong. If you can't supply the amps with the power they need, a capacitor will not help you, and you could possibly ruin the cap. Generally speaking, the alternator goes first, and then the battery....mostly because the alternator has to work twice as hard when running amplifiers and they keep draining the battery everytime time the bass hits.

I would get an Optima Yellow Top bettery (deep cycle) and you should not have this problem again. If you don't want to spend the money, and decent "BRAND NAME" battery will also work well. Get your alternator checked as well, you may need to up its output in the future....but I doubt it.

Well, the CAA guy said the alternator was fine.

I honestly have a feeling that I just left the lights on a 2nd time.

Does the CAA guy have a load tester on his truck?

 

[spidey07]

Yeah, but you still have a battery that needs to be replaced and it was the amplifiers that killed it.

 

[Riverhound777]

I really doubt it was your amps. If your not even getting dimming(which isn't a surprise with under 1000watts), your not even using your battery. I would say when you drained your battery, it damaged it and it no longer takes a charge. Just replace the battery and you'll be good to go. Make sure you have a good warranty if you are worried.

 

[Viperoni]

Originally posted by: spidey07
Yeah, but you still have a battery that needs to be replaced and it was the amplifiers that killed it.

Though saturn's aren't known for having particularily strong alternators (infact, they're fairly weak in terms of current output), the battery would have had to supply a chunk of current to the system.

However, his system is pretty small in terms of power consumption, and I would NOT blame it for the battery dying.

An old, or even just poor quality battery + leaving lights on = dying battery.

For reference, I have a 1 year old Energizer (purchased from wally world) battery, and I had my stereo on for 4 hours straight inside a 70f shop on Sunday. Full tilt, and I'm pulling about 400watts RMS (bout 300w RMS going to the front stage and about 100w to the sub) through 3 amps, along with an active crossover. I noticed I'd have an issue when my amps started cutting out; voltmeter said I was touching 10v. Not good. Tried to crank it over twice, and it ran outta juice. Let it sit for 20 minutes while I cleaned up. Came back, and it slowly cranked but it turned over, and the voltage has been normal ever since.

So no,