Jobi

Hey guys, I had a little incident the other day with my car.
So I just put in my Sony Xplod 800w amp and 2 10' Rockford P1's in my trunk. I was in my car listening to music for about an hour to an hour and a half with my battery off, when suddenly my ipod connection to my headunit (Pioneer DEH-P600UB) stopped playing and it wouldn't play music from my ipod anymore. I don't know why but I tried turning on my car and it wouldn't start. My headunit and my headlights still worked but my car wouldnt start. When I turned the key in the ignition all the way I would hear this sound: trrrrrrrr trrrrrrr trrrrrrr. I thought my starter blew so I got my car towed to my house. I got in my car and noticed tat my battery died. I boosted my car and it suddenly started. I drove it to the shop just incase and they told me there was nothing wrong with the starter or the battery, they charged my battery for me however.

I was really contemplating taking the entire system out, I don't want this to happen again unless their is a solution to this!
What did I do wrong and what can I do from preventing this to happen ever again? Should I not be listening to music with the car turned off?

Bassbreaker

iTrader: (8)

depends on how old your battery is, how loud you had it...but clearly with your battery now not only powering yoiur deck and speakers, it's powering an amp and subwoffers...Personally i don't like running my system for very long without the car on...if i was sitting for 20 mins with it on, i'd turn the car on for a min to re-juice.

Jobi

How long should I leave the car on to "re-juice" it?

Stel

You'll need the car running and charging the battery when running that much wattage (the Sony number is probably peak wattage btw). There's probably nothing wrong with the battery. Some people add a second battery to extended the amount of time they can listen with the car off. It will need to be vented to the outside and sealed off from the cab/trunk though.

Stel

Depends how loud you play it and for how long. At full power with say 350w RMS that amp can pull up to 30amps. You can install a voltmeter and see how low you can take it without having trouble starting.

Jobi

Is this normal for most people or is there something wrong with my car? Has anyone else had this problem?

Also, so as long as my car is turned "on" nothing will happen?

Stel

It is normal. It's possible your battery is old and not lasting as long as a new one would, or a high end Optima battery, etc. But generally you can't run these systems without charging for very long. Most stock audio systems draw less than 5-10 amps, your probably drawing 3-6 times that.

ThreePointO

iTrader: (3)

if i run my system for more than 20-30 min. things will start to dim and the car will start but doesnt turn over as fast. I draw a lot of power for my system though so thats why it drains so quickly. I dont usually leave the car off anyway because it doesn't sound nearly as good but i have a few times. Plus before i had my cap, my subs would cut out if they hit to hard or were on too long, sometimes even if the car was running & just at idle. But, like i said, a capacitor fixed that, and i also got a new battery because mine was around 6 years old and some walmart brand.

Jobi

Is a capacitor necessary in my situation?

new maxi owner

iTrader: (1)

ur bat should of been fine once its been recharged depending on its age. if it was like 4 years old then i woulda charged it then had it load tested. as much as i dispise them sams club and walmarts have a nice charging system tester. a cap is nessicary if when ur listening to your system and the bass hits and ur head lights dim. the cap is like a 2nd mini battery. it takes some strain off your charging system and ur alternator by drawing off that cap insted of your batterty. if u have a system with a large amp and you have it loud it will make the alt work harder and shorten the life of it. as for the yellow top optima. in my experience in selling them they ast jsut as long as regular car batteries. the only pros from them are they are completly sealed and no leaks so they can be mounted upside down on its side any way you can think of and any where as well. i hope this was helpful. i had a 1200 watt amp. which was running about 600 constant with 2 12" sony xplod and they were dimming pretty bad on my 89 firebird so i had a cap in there and it helped it emensly.

ThreePointO

iTrader: (3)

( but in my max)

new maxi owner

iTrader: (1)

ive only had my max for about a month and 1/2 now and im hesitent about installing my system in it because i do like the Bose in it. id hafta repalce the speakers i guess cause theyre powered seperately, or something havent looked into it too much im geting lazy i guess. lol and it works fine for me so im happy with it for now. plus to install my headunit it takes forever because its a pioneer avic n2 navigation system with a missing map disk. lots of extra wires to run and im just to lazy right now.

Tyutyunnik

iTrader: (1)

Running your amps generally isn't a good idea with your car off, a cap wont help you in this situation

ImmaSquashYou

iTrader: (7)

running ur system with your car off is the same thing as running ac/heat or leaving your headlights on. Just think about it, you're using a portable device that runs on battery, well, if you plug it into the wall socket, it'll run basically forever (i know not everything lasts forever) but if you unplug it and run on the battery alone, its going to drain out and you'll have to recharge your battery. That is what your alternator does, it charges your battery, if the car is not on, the alternator is not charging the battery which is why you have a dead battery.

peabody3684

Correct.

Caps are a mythical solution. Strong alternator + deep cycle battery = true solution. (good fuses and wiring help too)

If you are in dB competition, sure cap it up... but even then, the wall of Yellow/Red Caps they have is contributing more.