Hello everyone. I'm new here and hopeing someone might have some suggestions for me. I have been plagued with an electrically problem for the past few years that is driving me nuts.

When I first got my system installed a few years ago I had no problems and then all of a sudden I started getting a dead battery. I would charge the battery up and it would be good again for a little while and then dead again. Unfortunately this tends to takes it toll on batteries and so I have had to replace the battery about every 6months. This last time I got a deep cycle hoping this would help the cycling out but the battery is still going dead.

Actually since the last bettery change in about Sept it has been fine, but two weeks ago I could tell it was chugging to start the engine and then I left town for a week and when I came back it was stone dead.

So far I have pulled the alarm module, power door locks (they are aftermarket), replaced the alternator, and replaced the head unit (old one got flaky).The only thing that anyone has every been able to mention after all the tests I have had done is that the there is that they think there is a slight draw from the stiffening cap that is pulling it down.

The big problem in diagnosing this problem is that it typically takes weeks or months before I see it causing problems again and the battery guys are telling me that the battery is getting cycled out.

I have a 1 farad cap, is it possible this could be pulling enough during off times to kill the battery?

I have been looking at caps with a remote hookup on them? Any benefit to these?

I have a Clarion amp that has a specific hookup on it to tie a stiffening cap in. The amp tends to cause some of the speakers to cut out occassionally and distort when the temperature gets a bit cold lately too. Could it be the amp that is the problem?

Any suggestions or recommendations would be appreciated.

 

you will need to get a multi meter and see what voltage your battery is at..... if its around 12.1V, (should be around 12.4V-12.8V) charge it up with a 10A charger to 14.5V (on multi meter) . now start the car and see what voltage is at..... it should be around 14.4V-14.8V. if its around 13.4V-13.6V the alternator is charging too low.

 

Hehe, unless it's a GM, they never seem to charge better than 13.8 or so.

 

are you sure the battery is in a fully charged state when the measurement is taken?

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Yeah, GM's are pretty notorious for charging low, the W-bodies are so bad there is a harness for the alternator to trick it into outputting 14.4+.

 

^^ tell me more im a w body owner....this could help me

 

my lumina would do 14.2-14.6 for the first few minutes after start up,after that it would sit around 13.8 my olds was the same,as well as my beretta,not sure what the sunfire is doing havent checked it .......

 

ZZ Performance

Should work with a lot of other GM's, I just want to know how it works. I'm gonna order one and figure it out. I assume it has a resistor or something on the sensing wire to make the alternator think it's charging lower than it is.

 

ordered stage 2 CANT WAIT!

 

sounds like some self discharge some were in the system . with the car off go around and try and find power at the places you think could be drawing . your alt should be between 14.3-15.3 or so . if not it needs to be adjusted , don't trust the gage put a multimeter on the battery with the car running and use that voltage . how big is your alt ? are you drawing way to much out of it and not letting the battery charge back up ?