I have an 88 IROC with the following audio setup: the audio system power cable feeds a Tsunami capacitor which in turn feeds a Kicker 650 watt amp. The amp feeds two 6 x 9s in the sail panels and two subs in a box on which the capacitor and amp are mounted.

I have had problems with my battery losing its juice. Initially, the battery would die overnight. It would go from 12 volts to almost no voltage in this time period. The battery is good according to Advance Auto Parts tester. I haven't really done anything to correct the problem except attempt to diagnose, but now something different happens. Over the past week or so, over 48 hours, the voltage will drop to about 11.75 V but the amps drop enough that I can't crank the car over to start it.

The readings with my multimeter have seemed to be quite random and haven't allowed me to pinpoint anything, but today I went to work and recorded some data. I arrived at the warehouse where my car is and measured the battery voltage. It was 11.67 V. However, the car did not have enough amps to start up. I jumped the car and got it running. I ran the car for a while. Immediately after turning the car off, I unhooked the positive battery cable and the audio power cable and hooked my multimeter between the positive battery terminal and the pos. battery cable and audio power cable. I read a little over 1 amp of draw. I removed the audio power cable from this system and the amp draw was now only 70 to 80 mA. I immediately hooked the audio power cable back in line and the amp draw went up but to much less than the 1 amp draw I had gotten less than a minute earlier on the initial reading with it hooked up. Of course, when the capacitor lights and voltage display shuts off a short while later, the amp draw decreases again but not to the 70/80 mA without the audio sys. hooked up.

So I ran the engine again for about 5 to 10 minutes. Immediately after running, I measured the amp draw(audio system included): 450 mA. I let the capacitor shut down and the amp draw was 190 mA. I unhooked the audio power line and the amp draw was 70 mA. I immediately hooked the audio power line back up and now the amp draw was only 330 mA (capacitor lit up) and 140 mA once the capacitor shut down.

I ran the engine again, probably a little longer than the previous trial. A little while later, I measured the amp draw(audio system included): 850 mA. I let the capacitor shut down and the amp draw was 350 mA. I unhooked the audio power line and the amp draw was 70 to 80 mA. I immediately hooked the audio power line back up and now the amp draw was only 400 mA (capacitor lit up) and 170 mA once the capacitor shut down.

I also at one point measured the amp draw shortly after running the engine. Then I immediately unhooked the audio power line (I didn't wait for the capacitor to shut down) and then less than 30 seconds later hooked the audio power line back in. The amp draw had decreased significantly, yet all i did was unhook the audio line and then hook it back up.

To me, it doesn't make sense that every time the amp draw of the audio system is different, even after the capacitor has shut off. It also doesn't make sense that if I unhook the audio power line and within 45 seconds hook it back up, the amp draw of the audio system changes significantly. I think this has to do with my battering dying, I'm just not sure how to proceed.

Thanks so much and sorry for the long description.

 

Is the battery correct part # for the car? Does alternator test good? Does amp have a remote turn off wire? Have you tried to remove capacitor from the system all together?

 

I did some more testing today. First I removed the capacitor and the amp from the audio power line but left the line itself hooked to the battery to check for any shorts in it. The amp draw was only 70 to 80 mA, which is what it is when the audio power line is not hooked up. I then hooked up just the capacitor and there was additional amp draw above the 70 to 80 mA even after the capacitor seemed to have equalized with the battery voltage and the digital display and lights on it shut off. I then hooked the amp up along with the capacitor and this did not increase the amp draw over what it was when just the capacitor was hooked up. I checked the grounds and they seem to be good. This makes me think there is something wrong with the capacitor and that it has a leak somewhere.