YACT: Is this a battery problem?

[PoPPeR]

For example, the other day I was driving my car; the headlights were on, cd player active, but when I used more than one window at once, the music would start skipping, like it was losing power. The physical display would blink on and off. My best guess is there's something wrong with the battery, but since I don't know how cars work and i'm usually wrong, i decided to ask here.

 

[TechnoKid]

car make model year

could be a number of things. if you have an autozone or kragen near you, they can test your charging/electrical system for free.

 

[neonerd]

it doesn't use the battery while the car is on...uses gasoline

actually when you're driving your car, you're charging the battery

 

[Kalvin00]

Perhaps your alternator isn't cranking out enough juice?

 

[TheLonelyPhoenix]

Could be your battery, could be something wrong with your power windows drawing too much current, could be a short circuit somewhere... could be a lot of things.

Did you try turning off the CD player to reduce the power draw and using the power windows then to see if the same problems cropped up?

How old is the battery?

 

[AlienCraft]

Bad connections and faulty grounds constitute a majority of electrical problems in autos.

 

[thomsbrain]

might just be a wimpy alternator. i have a friend with a VW cabrio where you can only raise/lower one window at a time. pretty pitiful.

 

[TechnoKid]

Originally posted by: thomsbrain
might just be a wimpy alternator. i have a friend with a VW cabrio where you can only raise/lower one window at a time. pretty pitiful.

i would blame wiring before blaming the alternator.