Please help! I'm really worried/upset

[CJohnson85 10+ year member]

The other day in the school parking lot, I left my fog lights on for the whole 7 hours of school. When I went back to my car, nothing worked. I had to get a jump from another kid's ride.

Ever since then:

When I turn up the bass on my system, the bass hits for about 5-10 minutes and then it just cuts off completely for almost 15 minutes. No bass. I have two 12"W1v2 JL audio subs and a 500/1 JL amp.

My friend told me it was my alternator and I screwed it up when I left my lights on. I don't know what to think or do but I'm really upset cause I just bought the system about 6 months ago. I don't believe I blew the subs, cause when they do hit for the 5 or so minutes, they hit nicely. Maybe my amp is not getting enough power?

If you think it is my alternator, where can I get that replaced and how much would I have to spend? I'm really not that great with cars.

And should I let someone at Circuit City replace it? They won't mess up anything because it's difficult, will they?

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[Raven 10+ year member]

You totally drained your battery, and that little jump didn't exactly give it a full charge. You are simply draining the battery to the point that your amp goes into protect mode (Low voltage) and stops working. The simple answer is that unless you own a deep cycle battery (Optima, Kinetic, etc) you're better off replacing the battery you got.

 

[Safe-N-Sound215 10+ year member]

You totally drained your battery, and that little jump didn't exactly give it a full charge. You are simply draining the battery to the point that your amp goes into protect mode (Low voltage) and stops working. The simple answer is that unless you own a deep cycle battery (Optima, Kinetic, etc) you're better off replacing the battery you got.

Yup

 

[phyphoestilic 5,000+ posts]

that or ur amp is drawing more power than ur alt can keep up with, still draining the battery completly, but a new alt can help.

 

[Phreaker 10+ year member]

x2

Do you have a battery charger?

Either that or get a deep cycle....yellow top is a good dual purpose batt....think it's 1000 CA on the group 34/78.....I saw one yesterday at Autozone but I am going to check costco when I get a lil money together that can be used for spending instead of going into my savings acount.

Optima Yellowtop,Kinetik,Stinger are all good batts.

x2 on the current draw of the amp and the current of the alt....

how many aps is your alt rated for?WHtas the amp do at the ohm load you are using?

 

[djman37 5,000+ posts]

The other day in the school parking lot, I left my fog lights on for the whole 7 hours of school. When I went back to my car, nothing worked. I had to get a jump from another kid's ride.
Ever since then:

When I turn up the bass on my system, the bass hits for about 5-10 minutes and then it just cuts off completely for almost 15 minutes. No bass. I have two 12"W1v2 JL audio subs and a 500/1 JL amp.

My friend told me it was my alternator and I screwed it up when I left my lights on. I don't know what to think or do but I'm really upset cause I just bought the system about 6 months ago. I don't believe I blew the subs, cause when they do hit for the 5 or so minutes, they hit nicely. Maybe my amp is not getting enough power?

If you think it is my alternator, where can I get that replaced and how much would I have to spend? I'm really not that great with cars.

And should I let someone at Circuit City replace it? They won't mess up anything because it's difficult, will they?

wrong.

You'd be better off with one of the above listed 'better' batteries. I'm on my second stock batt.

 

[killahbean 10+ year member]

yea stock batts cant handle being discharged like that....u might need a deep cycle batt.....

 

[CJohnson85 10+ year member]

thanks a lot

So you guys seem pretty certain that it's my battery

!. Where should I go to get one of those deep cycle batteries?

2. And how much do they cost?

3. Should I have it installed professionally or is it easy (I'm not that great with automobiles)

I'd like to get it in soon and really don't want to screw up my car by installing it myself, so would any simple retailer like autozone or circuit city install it?

Thanks, I appreciate the help

 

[disturbedfuel15 10+ year member]

Yeah, same thing happened to me. Left my lights on for 8 hours, battery was completely dead. Getting a new battery solved the problem completely //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[angrytrucker78 10+ year member]

thanks a lot
So you guys seem pretty certain that it's my battery

!. Where should I go to get one of those deep cycle batteries?

2. And how much do they cost?

3. Should I have it installed professionally or is it easy (I'm not that great with automobiles)

I'd like to get it in soon and really don't want to screw up my car by installing it myself, so would any simple retailer like autozone or circuit city install it?

Thanks, I appreciate the help

1. Autozone, Advance Auto, WalMart sells them here, speed shops should as well.

2. ~100.00-150.00 +or-

3. It's just a battery.

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

How much does this car get driven?? (length of time between stops where the vehicle gets shut off completely)

It is possible (possible, mind you, but unfortunately not probable) that you simply have not completely charged the battery up yet after completely discharging it when you left the fog lights on all day during school.

It is possible that you simply need to completely charge the battery up to full-hot and not have to spend any money. That's what I would try first.

Charge it up completely then have the battery load-tested (most any auto parts store would be able to do this for you and the majority of them do not charge a fee for this service)

If, after doing that, the load-test shows you need to replace the battery then do so but it's a step (and some $$$) that you possibly may not have to go through.

As I'm a cheapass I'm all for avoiding unnecessarily spending money that could be spent on audio gear //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[CJohnson85 10+ year member]

Actually I drove it for about 1-1.5 hours straight after the jump. I think it had time to fully recharge.

But you said take it to an auto parts store (such as autozone) and have the battery tested for free to little money?

I minus well do that and try that first like you said before I buy a new battery.

The only problem with my car is the lights don't turn off automatically and it's an 04 gt mustang. I know it's my fall for forgetting, but it would've been nice if had that feature.