Battery dies after 3 or 4 days

L

los

New member
After 3 or 4 days of not driving my battery dies.... Marauder has a month old altinator and a month old battery... Took It to the ford dealership and they are telling me it's the stereo equipment...I have a 1000w amp and 2 12in subs in my trunk.. They are telling me that when the power wire is disconnected from the battery the car starts every time.. They had my car for 8 days.. I have a kill switch to the amp in my car that I turned off when I put my car in the garage for a long time , battery would still die... I've had this equipment in my car for 7 years and never had a problem... I explained to them that the kill switch is turned off while the car is sitting and he told me maybe the switch is bad.. It's not bad because I have tested it multiple times.. They have had my car twice for the same reason over the course of a month.. First they said the battery even though the battery was brand new... Lol... I don't think its the stereo equipment but I'm going to leave it unhooked until next Friday and try to start it.. What do you guys think ?
 
los said:
After 3 or 4 days of not driving my battery dies.... Marauder has a month old altinator and a month old battery... Took It to the ford dealership and they are telling me it's the stereo equipment...I have a 1000w amp and 2 12in subs in my trunk.. They are telling me that when the power wire is disconnected from the battery the car starts every time.. They had my car for 8 days.. I have a kill switch to the amp in my car that I turned off when I put my car in the garage for a long time , battery would still die... I've had this equipment in my car for 7 years and never had a problem... I explained to them that the kill switch is turned off while the car is sitting and he told me maybe the switch is bad.. It's not bad because I have tested it multiple times.. They have had my car twice for the same reason over the course of a month.. First they said the battery even though the battery was brand new... Lol... I don't think its the stereo equipment but I'm going to leave it unhooked until next Friday and try to start it.. What do you guys think ?
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Disconnect the positive battery cable and connect either a test light or voltmeter between the positive battery post and the cable. The light should be on or the voltmeter should show voltage. Start removing fuses and circuit breakers. When the light goes out or the voltage drops to zero that circuit is the problem. Need to troubleshoot that circuit.
 
fastblackmerc said:
Disconnect the positive battery cable and connect either a test light or voltmeter between the positive battery post and the cable. The light should be on or the voltmeter should show voltage. Start removing fuses and circuit breakers. When the light goes out or the voltage drops to zero that circuit is the problem. Need to troubleshoot that circuit.
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Uhmmmm,I think you left out a couple of important details. Like the draw that will be on the lead for 10-20 minutes while the caps all charge back up. Depending on the meter if one is used, you can blow the internal fuse if there is a big enough draw.

I would recommend a shunt between the battery and cable if you plan on using a meter or light. Several manufactures sell clamp on DC meters for tracking down circuits that have excessive draw issues. I have used a clamp on meter I got from Matco, it certainly expedites troubleshooting.

In reality,it is quite possible that the amp is creating a draw. How is your kill switch wired up? Which part of the amps circuit are you interrupting with the switch?
 
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Usually the amps have a remote turn on switched 12V that you wire to your deck's remote amp turn on (or vehicle ignition). If this is wired up, the amps should not draw any power while the car ignition is off. No need for a kill switch.

If you have an aftermarket deck, that might also be pulling more power than required when the ignition is off.

If you have a Boost-A-Pump and did not wire it through a relay to the fuel shutoff switch it will draw power at all times (i.e., if you wired it straight to 12V).

The cigarette lighter also provides power when the car is off - if you have something plugged into it, or used its wire for anything, it will draw current as well.
 
MarauderMax said:
Uhmmmm,I think you left out a couple of important details. Like the draw that will be on the lead for 10-20 minutes while the caps all charge back up. Depending on the meter if one is used, you can blow the internal fuse if there is a big enough draw.

I would recommend a shunt between the battery and cable if you plan on using a meter or light. Several manufactures sell clamp on DC meters for tracking down circuits that have excessive draw issues. I have used a clamp on meter I got from Matco, it certainly expedites troubleshooting.

In reality,it is quite possible that the amp is creating a draw. How is your kill switch wired up? Which part of the amps circuit are you interrupting with the switch?
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I'm not sure which circuit it's interrupting ... I have a switch inside that I can cut off while driving and I have one under the hood right before the battery ... I have both off while the car is in my garage... Before the switch under the hood it used to be a fuse. I use to remove the fuse while the car was sitting and the battery would still die... These same people have told me the altinator ( got that changed ) they told me to battery ( got that changed ) now they are telling me the amp.. I have paid them 2 diagnostic fees.. Because of the past misdiagnosis I don't know if i trust them about the amp.. Right now the amp is completely unhooked and I have the car back in the garage.. After about 5 days I will try to start again and see what happens
 
los said:
I'm not sure which circuit it's interrupting ... I have a switch inside that I can cut off while driving and I have one under the hood right before the battery ... I have both off while the car is in my garage... Before the switch under the hood it used to be a fuse. I use to remove the fuse while the car was sitting and the battery would still die... These same people have told me the altinator ( got that changed ) they told me to battery ( got that changed ) now they are telling me the amp.. I have paid them 2 diagnostic fees.. Because of the past misdiagnosis I don't know if i trust them about the amp.. Right now the amp is completely unhooked and I have the car back in the garage.. After about 5 days I will try to start again and see what happens
Click to expand...

Your draw can be from many sources, if a relay us stuck, it will draw current (enough to kill a battery in a few days) depending on what said relay is for.

Let us know if the battery is dead in a couple of days, then we can go from there.
 
Ok ... I definatly will... I'm going to give it until wensday or Thursday of next week before I start it again... I will let you guys know what happens... Thanks for the help
 
Yep...like I thought.... Amp has been disconnected for a week and my battery still died...taking it back to them because I paid them to find the problem twice
 
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