bminnix

My NEW battery dies every day or two. I checked the alternator at a local shop and my charger/convertor at home. Both read a good charge from the alternator. Also, it seems to re-charge fully on its own during travel, but it dies after a night or two.

I have an amp, speakers, and deck. All lights are off when door is closed. What could be draining the battery? Where do I start looking?

Thanks

Camaro305SB

I'd double check all of your connections, are you running the system off a factory spec alternator and battery or do you have a capacitor? Do you run the system with the car off? Otherwise there is a possibility you have a parasitic draw killing the battery overnight. Also it could still be a bad battery, I've seen new batteries test bad (I do a lot of preps at the dealer lol). What kind of battery is it?

camaronewbie

Have the battery tested at any local auto parts store to verify battery is good 1st.

If it's taking a day or two, it's a small drain - lights and/or stereo stuff will drain in several hours.

Does the fuel pump run after you urn off the key? Put ear to gas tank and see if you hear it humming when car is shut off - fuel pump takes 1-2 days to drain a battery - if that's the case, replace the oil pressure sending unit above the oil filter. Until you can get it replaced, there's a fuse between battery and fender tucked in a weatherpack - remove that fuse when not driving for awhile to save the battery.

The OPSU has a direct connection to the battery regardless of the key - it can go bad where it 'thinks' it's sensing oil pressure, and thus make the fuel pump run. Remove it and take it with you to parts store to get the right one, because there are several different ones depending on the year of car.

92droptopws6

iTrader: (10)

I had a bad starter selonoid causing the same type of problem.

bminnix

Resourse POWER 50 is the battery ???? The alt. and battery are of book specs.

The fuel pump is mechanical.

No capacitor and I never run the system without the engine running for a few minutes.

I have been having antenna problems lately. I think the motor went. Could that be drawing power even though it's broken?

NINÅ

camaronewbie

Not to harp on the fuel pump - but to clarify my thought ... didn't 1986 and 1987 carbed cars have an electric 'helper' pump in the tank as well as the mechanical pump on the block?

bminnix

O I don't know about that fuel pump then. I'll listen for that.

I will check all the other things when I get my hands on a meter from home

Gumby

The power antenna could be a problem, so can power seats, windows....
on old cars, along with cig lighters.

Was a rash of hotrod fires a few years back traced back to original crudded up cig lighters that over time started to short out.

bminnix

Sorry about getting back to you guys so late.

I disconnected the stereo system from the battery and the battery now stays charged. So, this includes the Amp, Deck, Speakers, Power Antenna.

My guess is something to do with the antenna. Regardless, I know it's broken and need a new one. Any recommendations for one that goes up and down? I got this last one from autozone two years ago(universal pos).

If this doesn't solve it, I'll continue down the list.

Thanks

camaronewbie

You have the amp hooked up with a signal wire from deck that turns it on/off right? Besides antenna, that's all I can think of.

bminnix

It's kind of a weird setup to me but maybe this is how it is supposed to be done. Came with the car 5 years ago and never had a problem:

The amp is wired to the battery through a huge wire with a fuse located near the battery (30 or 40 amp i think). On the other side of the fuse is the antenna power wire and the large wire for the amp. The deck and speakers are connected to the amp (also with a smaller fuse) and powered off of that. Except the antenna, all are made by Alpine.

I'll be digging into it in 10 days during my vaca. I'll post back what I find for reference. MY guess is that the antenna is trying to go down when the car is off. Since the antenna motor is broken, it keeps drawing power through the deck and so then through the amp.

camaronewbie

Sounds like an antenna issue then - it has constant power from battery sounds like.

Antenna should be powered by a wire that comes from behind the head unit - there should have been a wire for the stock radio (assuming the power antenna is stock) - otherwise there should be a wire out of your head unit harness to power the antenna.

Head unit should be powered from the radio fuse, not the amp (a red or orange wire).

There should also be a yellow wire that from head unit that gets battery power always (to keep stations in memory and time).

BUT - there should be a blue wire from head unit to the amp that 'turns on' the amp. The amp gets power from the large wire to battery, but it's turned on/off electronically by a signal from the head unit on that blue wire.

Not sure that helps any - check Alpine website for wiring colors on your head unit and amp and verify what you've got is where it should be.

Gumby

personal note I membered, I got a Pioneer deck in my Buick that is wired right, but even when off, its not 100% off, I gotta remove the face plate if its gonna sit for more then a few days or its low battery time for me.

Though its a nice deck but an odd ball. Struggled for a while on why the sound started to get crappy around 60 on the volume dial. Which never had me go past it. Found out later max volume is 62, not 100 DOH!

Camaro-454

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like you've found the problem but a few things to keep in mind anytime you are having problems with your battery draining over time.

Make sure that your battery connections are tight. Keep your terminals clean and free of corrosion. It helps to use corrosion washers and to put a dab of vaseline on the terminals to ward off corrosion. Also make sure you don't have any grounds, and that everything is turned off. ( naturally ).

Camaro-454