Among all the other crap i gotta fix on my car, my battery dies slowly over time..and by slowly i mean like if i let it sit for 12 hours its not strong enought to start. I took it to checker a while back and they said the battery is good....so i had em check the alternater with their machine thing and they said that its good also. So wtf is making the battery die. Im thinking a possible short somewhere ? When i get time this weekend im gonna pull out my stereo and see if theres anything there but ive checked it before...really stumped on this one.

Edit *****

Do I need, or should i get a capacitator? I have three 8' subs with 2mids and 2 tweeters, and a 600W amp. They came with my car so i never thought about getting one.

 

The cap won't do you any good if your car isn't running and the sound system is off. How long ago did checker test your battery? If it's died a few times already have it tested again, it could possibly be bad now. But yeah, look for shorts, thats the most probable bandit...

Bruce (90RS305)

 

also check your ground on your stereo, if its shorting, it kills batteries FAST... but i like bruce's theory also.. batteries dont take too much abuse before they absolutely die..

 

The cap is to reduce strain on the system during hard bass hits. I had a 660W amp and 4 subs in my VW Bug (when I was 20) and if I cranked it all the way up the car would stall.

 

Oh yeah.. the subject of the topic...

If you want to find which circuit is possibly draining your battery, get a decent ammeter (or multitester), pull a fuse out of the block and connect the probes across the socket and check the amperage. If for instance your headlight fuse is reading current when your lights are off, you found a problem.

Edit:

Does your amp have a remote turn-on? If it's hot your amp will be on all night. That'll kill a battery in short order.

 

it is remote turn on

 

A quick/easy check to see if it is your battery would be to just disconect your battery over night and see if it will start in the morning when you hook it back up. If it starts then its the battery, if it doesn't then you need to do what Synapsis said.

 

An easier way than that when you disconect the battery watch to see if there is sparks between the terminal and the battery when you pull off the cable if there is something is still drawing power....

Make sure your amps are wired to turn on by your deck and not direct to the battery (and I mean the remote turn on lead not the main power wire)

 

How do you differentiate the sparks between a current draw from a short and normal draw from things such as an engine computer, the radio, the capacitors built into the amps, any possible ignition upgrades, etc...

I get sparks touching doorknobs on a dry day.

 

Static buildup is one thing...But when your car is off there should be no draw on the battery...That is why there are mini capacitors in the electronics to retain the memory

 

All the stuff I named draw on the battery when you initially hook it up.

 

So if the computer draws from the battery why is it we have to disconect to data link conector to reset codes?

 

Think about that question. You disconnect the fuse to the computer, why would that be?

 

Why wouldn't you just discontect the battery for 30 secs not the data link to reset the codes?

Have ever noticed disconecting the battery will not reset codes?

 

Haynes Repair Manual, Page 6-4:

"Note: Whenever the positive battery cable is disconnected, all stored Trouble codes in the ECM are erased."

Chilton Repair Manual, Page 4-19:

"Stored fault codes may be erased from memory at any time by removing power from the ECM for at least 30 seconds."

Or you can take a look at this post, or this post, or even this post.

 

Ok fine so maybe I am incorect but the amount a drain from the ECM or any other standard electronics will not draw or create the size of spark that a AMP would if even noticable

 

That would depend on the width of the contact to the battery. The initial contact of a rough battery terminal will more than likely be at a high point (lead terminals get gouged over time) and if it's thin enough it'll cause a spark even at low currents.

If you have a very thin piece of wire (or even a piece of dust) you can create a spark with relatively small current.

Regardless, a spark at the terminal could be from ANYTHING on the car. I'm done explaining, American Hot Rod is on now.