Hey guys

Not sure if this is the right place to ask this question, but I suspect my car audio system to be the culprit. Let me give you guys some background.

I have about a 2 1/2 year old Optima Battery.

My system is an alpine 7995 deck, boston acoustics pro components, kicker 12's, kenwood 800w 4chan, and a jl 500/1. Kenwood is running my mids and highs, and the jl is running the subs

If I leave the car sitting for a couple days, battery is pretty drained... and wont start. If it's only a day or 2, usually im ok.

I'm thinking the following things:
1) Bad battery... not holding a charge. Is there a known issue with Optimas?
2) Car audio isn't wired correctly and is draining the battery once the key is out of the ignition. I don't think it'd be the deck or speakers.... probably the amps.
3) I have a bad ground connection somewhere.

What do you guys think? What can I do to test the system (each point I've brought up). I don't have $ to throw at this problem, so if I don't have to buy another battery then I wont.

 

my sony headunit went bad, and was draining my battery of .20 was supposed to be .005

 

Do you have a DMM (digital multi meter) and know how to use it? If so the first step should be see how much current the car is pulling when shut off. If you don't have one, it's time to get one. Cheap ones can be had for under $20.00.

 

I have one. Measure current across battery?

 

No. Measure current in series with whichever circuit you're testing.

 

Check and see if there is any voltage on the remote terminals on both amplifiers with the car turned off.

 

you can do that and just pull individual fuses to see when the draw stops

 

NO. Like firebirdjosh said, in series with. An amp meter is a vary low resistance. Measuring across the battery would affectively short it, then blow the fuse in the meter. You need to disconnect one of the battery wires. Then connect the amp meter in between the battery and the disconnected wire. Note that most amp meters have separate jacks of the mA range and A range (typically 10A). Start off in the A range jack.

Oh, and are the power lights on the amps coming on?

 

you might have a wire shorting out

 

appreciate all the tips guys.

how do I track down a short?

And when you said pulling fuses, you meant pulling the fuses on the amps and seeing if current / voltage dropped?

 

Do get to fair ahead of your self. Find out what the car is pulling when it's off. Post that back here. If it's pulling excessive current you can pull fuses to isolate the circuit. If it's not pulling to much current you'll need to look at the battery and the charging circuits.

 

My '87 would drain the battery all the time. Even when the car was off, keys out, lights out, driver out, etc. the clock would stay on all the time. Not that a clock would be a big deal but the fact that it never went out. I just unplugged it and called it a day. Only drive it 2-3 times a year anyway.

 

wouldn't the eazy way to test if the amp is draining the bat, be to just disconect it for the bat for a few days and see if the bat still drains.

i would check the fuseable links going to the starter use gauge to see if current is going threw or even a test light ground one end and probe the fuseable link ends

 

That's a vary good idea, it doesn't sound like he's driving it every day. But if he would need to know faster.....

 

 

did you fig ouy prob?

 

did you fig ouy prob?

 

Car has been in the shop trying to pass smog. I bought a digital multimeter so I'm ready to go.

Saturday I'm going to try and track this down. Can't leave it alone for a couple days because it's my daily driver.

 

Did that and battery was pulling only .1 mA.

Measured current and voltage across the remote terminals on each amp, nothing.

 

Your first problem is your car is "pulling .1 mV". Current is measured in amps, not volts. If you don't have 12V on your remote turn on wires then you're fine- it means your amps are turning off. If your car is drawing only .1 mA and that "mV" was just a typo, then you probably did it wrong since your stereo, computer, and other parasitic drains will be more than that. If you mean .1A then thats bad. Just read up on meters and electricity then take some readings again. Also, remember to turn everything off, close doors, turn off lights (underhood ones if you have it) to make sure they aren't throwing off your readings.

 

Uhm, the only thing I could think of, take out ur head unit and make sure your amp's remote turn on wire is wired in at the right spot, could be wired into a all the time hot wire. Make sure its wired in the ignition wiring. If it was wired in hot, ur amp would be on at all times.