Guys, what would be the best battery for playing my stereo at decent volume levels for extended periods of time without the motor running? Thanks.

 

depends on the car and what it can handle

 

get a battery isolater and a second battery to run the audio system off of, that way when it dies, your car will still start

 

I am using Yellow Top Optima under the hood and could not be happier.

 

Cat 8D

 

haha in a herse i guess you need something tho power thoes 6 15 's !

 

As many Deep Cycle batteries you can fit in the car

I have 4 Tsumani Compitition X151200 AGM batteries and can play for about 6 - 8 hours depending on volume setting with a 5000 watt system.

 

Its going in a ford explorer. Trying to stick with 1 battery in the stock location. Estimated use with motor off , MAX 2.5 hours. Is this doable ?

 

Sure it's doable but it depends on your current draw and package space.

I would also say you want to use some form of regulated amplifier that's very efficient to lower current draw.

An unregulated A-biased amp can suck a battery dry in a matter of minutes at a high volume setting.

Note the amp hours of the battery and estimate your average current draw (not max) and solve for time.

If you want to play at MAX POWER continuously, use max current draws of the system; however, max power continuously does not mormally happen with music.

Once I had a system rated for 600 watts and with bass music at max volume the average current draw was only 30 amps (414 watts @ 13.8v).

Voltage will drop with car off, but assume we don't play at max volume and current draw is 30 amps.

2.5 hour X 30 amps = 75 amp-hours

So this battery or something like it should fit the bill:
http://www.svrbatteries.com/battery_page.php?bid=24&vid=-1

If you want the system to be able to draw more current for 2.5 hours, well you will need more battery (ies)

 

I run all JL amps. Regulated power supplies and max power down to 11 volts.
Thanks everyone.