Aftermarket stereo is draining the battery

[Jeff7]

I'll take a look at the guide there when I get back, thanks man. But ya last time I left town I unplugged it directly from the back of the deck and my battery was good, this time I just pulled the fuse because it's easier.

 

[Gambles]

Possibly get a 50$ battery tender if you let it sit often, between my head unit and my alarm blinking a week and a half to 2 weeks will leave my dual battery set up dead also.. might be partially to blame on the Texas heat on the batteries, but even with 2 fresh batteries a week and it was reluctant to start..

 

[RawbDidIt]

You're right, that is easier, and it looks like that fuse only goes to the radio. Sometimes the radio fuse is clustered in to the HVAC controls, and/or the dash lights in the fuse box, so I don't like to diagnose from the fuse box. You never know what the manufacturer puts on the same circuit. Case in point: another thread on here mentioned that the power locks went out. Turns out the fuse for the cigarette lighter was to blame. You never know what's on what circuit, the descriptions in the owner's manual are foggy at best, if you even have the owner's manual.

 

[RawbDidIt]

Possibly get a 50$ battery tender if you let it sit often, between my head unit and my alarm blinking a week and a half to 2 weeks will leave my dual battery set up dead also.. might be partially to blame on the Texas heat on the batteries, but even with 2 fresh batteries a week and it was reluctant to start..

Have you tested your draw? Dual batteries after a week shouldn't be dead, not even close. If you have a draw that bad, it sounds like an issue with your amp (I'm assuming you have an amp with an aftermarket head unit and an after market alarm).

 

[Jeff7]

Yeah I do have a trickle charger, it's just annoying because with my old deck this was never an issue. And I live in norther Alberta so if my battery gets low in the winter it freezes and then it's toast.

 

[df2x4]

Two weeks killing a single battery setup seems nuts to me, let alone a dual setup. I run single Odyssey PC1500s in both of my trucks and they sometimes sit for over a month between starts. No issues. And my red truck has a ton of aftermarket electronics. That kind of parasitic draw would drive me crazy.

 

[RawbDidIt]

Well all the way up there, I hope you have a block heater on that thing, or you'll be wishing you did in October

 

[Jeff7]

Well all the way up there, I hope you have a block heater on that thing, or you'll be wishing you did in October

Yea of course haha, but a block heater doesn't keep your battery from freezing, and you don't leave it on the whole time. You only need it on for about 3 hrs before you start it, otherwise you're just making your power bill go up for no reason.

 

[Gambles]

Yeah that's what I was thinking, I'm just going to gank the alarm out when I do my dash swap, more hassle then it's worth only thing I like about it is I can roll my windows up and down with it, but my simple solution till I feel like Messing with it is a trickle charger lol

 

[RawbDidIt]

You're right, you don't need it 24/7, but it's nice to leave plugged in overnight and know that it's going to start right up in the morning. You can get a battery heater as well if it gets really cold up there.