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Car won't stay charged

1K views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  importracr317 
#1 ·
Not sure if this is the right place or not-

When I installed my Phoenix Gold amp and components, I ground the amp to the bolt that hold one of the metal cargo tie down rings. The car has an Optima Red Top with nothing other than the amp and the regular power wire attached to it.

Problem is the car won't stay charged. If I leave it sit overnight, I can tell its pretty low on juice. if i leave it sit for a full day without driving it, it goes dead.

I'm thinking i've got an open circuit somewhere. Should I buy more gorund wire and ground it to the battery? No one's ever told me any different- i thought I could just ground it wherever and be good.

I'm not leaving lights on or anything, (duh) no electronics are staying on, the battery is just getting run down in a 24 hr. period.

Any suggestions?
 
#3 ·
importracr317 said:
Not sure if this is the right place or not-

When I installed my Phoenix Gold amp and components, I ground the amp to the bolt that hold one of the metal cargo tie down rings. The car has an Optima Red Top with nothing other than the amp and the regular power wire attached to it.

Problem is the car won't stay charged. If I leave it sit overnight, I can tell its pretty low on juice. if i leave it sit for a full day without driving it, it goes dead.

I'm thinking i've got an open circuit somewhere. Should I buy more gorund wire and ground it to the battery? No one's ever told me any different- i thought I could just ground it wherever and be good.

I'm not leaving lights on or anything, (duh) no electronics are staying on, the battery is just getting run down in a 24 hr. period.

Any suggestions?
No need to ground it to the battery.

What exactly did you install entail? Did you install a new head unit? Did you do anything else?

Disconnect the power to your amps and see if there is any change in the situation. We can then troubleshoot from there.

That is, of course, if your battery isn't already destroyed.
 
#6 ·
as scoot57 mentioned,
there is a remote line on the Amp that tells it to shut off when the radio isn't playing and to turn on when you have the radio playing. Check to see where you have this connected. Sounds like its on a constant line that stays on, draining your battery.

you have an Optima so I don't see how that can not keep a charge unless its totally drained.
 
#7 ·
the battery was bought new early 05'.

The amp was installed with 2 component sets, to a head unit that was installed professionally back in July 04'.

The remote line is connected correctly to the antenna line (its always been blue in color, with a white stripe- on the 4 or 5 stereo's i've installed). The amp has a blue LED indicating when it is on or off. When the radio is off, there is nothing indicating that the amp is still getting power- when i turn it the head unit on, the amp turns on.

The power wire to the amp is wired directly to to the battery, with an in-line fuse.

I did not have this problem until i installed this stereo.

The battery will charge if i stick a chrager on it- it will charge until full, but if i would say, charge it to full, and leave it sit for a full 24 hours, it will be dead the next time i try to charge it up.
 
#9 ·
hmm...
1) Could be your battery is bad even though you bought it fairly new (Bad Battery).
2) Your amp could still be drawing power even though it says its off (Bad Amp)

Do this, charge up the battery and pull out the amp entirely. If the battery becomes dead even if the amp is out of the car, then you have a bad battery that doesn't hold a charge.
Can we try that?
 
#10 ·
rllinghardis300 said:
hmm...
1) Could be your battery is bad even though you bought it fairly new (Bad Battery).
2) Your amp could still be drawing power even though it says its off (Bad Amp)

Do this, charge up the battery and pull out the amp entirely. If the battery becomes dead even if the amp is out of the car, then you have a bad battery that doesn't hold a charge.
Can we try that?
thats my plan for tonight- gonna stick a charger on for about 2 hours- should get it to full, disconnect the amp, leave it sit for a full 24 hours and see what happens.

thanks for all the advice so far everyone.
 
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