My electrical ideas and electrical problems.

[nateberrier 10+ year member]

Bear with me here, hopefully someone will actually read this, I help you shiz heads out all the time. Anyhow, my first problem is my HC1400. I woke up this morning to check my resting voltage on my HC1400 and it was sitting at 12.35 after all night in 35-40 degree weather. Is it time to look for a replacement or is there anything I can do to save the beast?

Second is my voltage drops, obv my alternator cannot keep up with 2k daily. My battery is in the trunk by default, my solution to this issue would be to run a smaller battery aka HC1400 or 800 as the starting battery and then run my stock wiring to that battery. Then I want to run a deka and have my 1/0 run go to that battery and run my amplifiers directly off of it. The other idea was to just run all charging sources to the starting battery and parallel them. The thought behind this is to have the amps draw off the bigger battery and isolate the voltage drops there, while the starting battery keeps a solid 14.4.

If my 1400 is toast does anyone want to sell me a smaller batt?

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[chunky cumz 10+ year member]

get more batt... one u got might be save if you are able to get it out and condition it

 

[nateberrier 10+ year member]

Whats the best way to condition it? Float charger?

 

[nateberrier 10+ year member]

also im picking up a deka on the 12th

 

[benzmansl65amg 10+ year member]

HC1400 under hood and deka in rear. Run 1/0 straight back to other batt. Then amps of the deka. fuse on all power of course. Big 3 done?

 

[nateberrier 10+ year member]

Big three is done but my battery is in the trunk stock, I drive a Pontiac G5. Most people dont see their voltage drops because they have the front battery that doesnt see the amplifier load but I dont have that luxury. My concern at this point is can I fit the deka in the spare tire area and still reach the power cables.

 

[Sarthos 10+ year member]

you can always use a big marine switch to cut off the amplifier power wire when the car is off.

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

If your battery is all the way down to 12.35 volts your alternator is not keeping up at all. When it is fully charged it should be at 12.9 volts. You should never allow your AGM to rest under 12.7 volts because just like every other lead acid battery when they discharge lead sulfate forms on the plates of the battery and if left in this condition it will weaken the battery (do not care what it is) long term. Alternators are not built to desulfate a battery either.

 

[nateberrier 10+ year member]

When the car is off it sets at 12.9 and trickles down from there. When i checked it in the morning it was at 12.35. The alternator holds at between 14.5-14.9 when the car is runnign. I am drawing maybe 300rms additional from my system now. with the car at idle right now I get maybe 100-1500mv of voltage drop with my stereo going. Is there any way I can recondition it.

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

When you measure a battery just coming off a charge or from a running car it will have a higher voltage for a few hours, when you measure the batteries OCV you should wait a few hours after the charge/car was running. Also when your engine warms up the voltage from your alt should drop to the 13.8 to 14.4 range especially if it is a newer car. What is in your charging system? If you leave a battery undercharged from a system that pulls more than your alternator can keep up with then you are using the battery quite a bit and not allowing it to keep charged up it will drain. Leave a battery keep getting drained over and over it will sulfate (which happens to lead acid batteries when they discharge it is how they work) leave the battery in a low state of charge the sulfation will be harder to get rid of (recharging is a form of desulfation) if the sulfation is heavy and not crystallized you can recover it with a charger like a ctek 7002 if it is chrystallized the battery isn't recoverable. Then again if your alternator is always putting out 14.7+ to 15+ volts it can overcharge a battery as well.