Car battery dies after 20 minutes of audio use

[alan-31 10+ year member]

I have a sedan with a 12 inch subwoofer in the back with this amp just for giving some bass boost: Pioneer GM-X862. Its specs say 380 watts x 1 (for a single 4 ohm speaker).

It says its max watts is 760w x 1. Says its average current drawn for 1 channel is 10amps for 2 channels and 17 amps for one channel. Its not a powerful amp. Its just good enough to give me a slight bass boost and I just got it cheap for $40.

The car battery is "AutoCraft Gold Battery, Group Size 24, 700 CCA" and I bought it 1 year and 4 months ago. It has 900 good reviews on the Advanced auto website.

When I'm waiting at the laundry mat for clothes to be washed, I listen to music and today is the 2nd time that after about 20 minutes of low to medium volume, I tried started the car and the battery was dead. I had to get a jump. I dont know what the problem is. Is that normal for a situation where a sub-woofer is being used with an amp for around 20 minutes and the car is not running?

Do I need

1. A better battery.

2. A solar trickle charger to keep the battery topped up (6 watts and I can put it under the rear windshield)

3. to not listen to music unless the car is running?

4. An emergency jump start kit that has a portable battery for around $50?

5. Another battery? I dont want the extra weight.

6. Some kind of battery capacity monitoring system?

I think I need to do 3, which is to not listen to music if the car isn't running. Ideally I'd like something which I dont have to worry about maintaining so maybe an emergency battery that is charged by the system and only kicks in when the main battery is dead.

I can make electronic projects so I could try making some kind of system where there's a solar charger and it charges the batteries and the 2nd battery switches when low voltage on the main battery is detected. But that would be a big project for me to get it all done.

Any suggestions as to what I should do?

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[michaellane 5,000+ posts]

Dont use your system with the car off. Problem solved.

 

[C1500martin 10+ year member]

#3 or check yourbattery might be a bad battery. is it resting at 12.6v or around there?

i listen to music with my cars off when i wash them and all have atleast 1000w running to a subwoofer and never have any trouble and i take my time washing them sometimes 2 hours. i do turn them on for a bit after about an hour but 20min should NOT be killing your battery

 

[alan-31 10+ year member]

Dont use your system with the car off. Problem solved.

Yea I guess.

People in this thread talk about the battery dying in 20 minutes but these are probably more powerful systems than mine.

Or maybe my system still draws a lot of current. Yea. I guess have to stop using the amp if the car is not running. I could turn the bass all the way down.

 

[alan-31 10+ year member]

#3 or check yourbattery might be a bad battery. is it resting at 12.6v or around there? i listen to music with my cars off when i wash them and all have atleast 1000w running to a subwoofer and never have any trouble and i take my time washing them sometimes 2 hours. i do turn them on for a bit after about an hour but 20min should NOT be killing your battery

Yea it does 12.6 at rest and 14-14.2 when the engine is running. Thats nice you can run your system for 2 hours. What kind of battery is it?

How can I find out the battery's true CCA? I bet its actual capacity is is like 30-50% of its advertised value which is 700CCA. On one forum I saw someone say that AutoCraft batteries aren't that good and thats why they take returns easily. Mine has a 3 year return warranty. I'll use the warranty now but I want to get a better battery of another brand if possible so I dont have to worry about this.

 

[C1500martin 10+ year member]

Yea it does 12.6 at rest and 14-14.2 when the engine is running. Thats nice you can run your system for 2 hours. What kind of battery is it?How can I find out the battery's true CCA? I bet its actual capacity is is like 30-50% of its advertised value which is 700CCA. On one forum I saw someone say that AutoCraft batteries aren't that good and thats why they take returns easily. Mine has a 3 year return warranty. I'll use the warranty now but I want to get a better battery of another brand if possible so I dont have to worry about this.

My mazda which im running about 1500rms all in all has a basic autozone duralast battery, my truck which is about 1100rms has a sears die hard platinum agm, and my girls car which is running about 800rms has a normal pepboys chepo battery. never had issues with any. maybe you just got a lemon

 

[alan-31 10+ year member]

My mazda which im running about 1500rms all in all has a basic autozone duralast battery, my truck which is about 1100rms has a sears die hard platinum agm, and my girls car which is running about 800rms has a normal pepboys chepo battery. never had issues with any. maybe you just got a lemon

Yea. Maybe. I'll get it replaced and see how that goes.

 

[BEEKAY]

Get the battery load tested. Shouldn't die after just twenty minutes.

 

[michaellane 5,000+ posts]

Ya im betting bad battery or alt about to go.

 

[alan-31 10+ year member]

Get the battery load tested. Shouldn't die after just twenty minutes.

Thanks. I'm going to call auto shops next week and see what they can do to test the battery (current/load and not just voltage or a good CCA /capacity test) and also the alternator.

 

[loudenuff]

Yea it does 12.6 at rest and 14-14.2 when the engine is running. Thats nice you can run your system for 2 hours. What kind of battery is it?How can I find out the battery's true CCA? I bet its actual capacity is is like 30-50% of its advertised value which is 700CCA. On one forum I saw someone say that AutoCraft batteries aren't that good and thats why they take returns easily. Mine has a 3 year return warranty. I'll use the warranty now but I want to get a better battery of another brand if possible so I dont have to worry about this.

goto AutoZone they'll test it for free. my battery went bad, rated at 850cca but tested to put out 340cca. go get it checked out. I used to run a 1k system blasting in my eclipse for an hour or two on a regular lead that was pretty old and never had a problem.

 

[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

Takes power to make power. Alt sure sounds to be the issue.Asstated..Orileys,Autozone can test for free.Fo rbest results remove the alt and take it up there so it can be machined tested for under heavy/max loads rather than using a DMM