Battery Dying, please help... alarm causing it??

Just got my car back with the Y8 swap and it was running great for a couple weeks!

Then I took it to Best Buy to get an alarm and radio put in since they were running free instalation.

It still worked fine but I had left the car in valet mode. I only armed it a few times over the last couple weeks. After I changed the car from valet to armed the 1st time...I come out of the store and boom..batty's dead... I was able to jumpstart it and get home but I had to keep the motor revving or it would die out + gauges were jumping all over.

Put in a new battery and it was fine. Until the other day, I armed the car, came back 3 hours later and disarmed....it barely started... On the way home it started to die out on me at the stoplights so I had to keep it revving to get home...even on the highway, the lights would go dim and the gauges would jump like crazy...it still ran but if I took my foot off the gas it died...

I can jump the car and it will get up and run fine but my battery will not hold a charge..???? Could it be possible that the alarm or radio install could have messed something up here?

Maybe an alternator? I don't know what else could be suspect?
I need to get this fixed quick so any feedback would be appreciated! Thanks!

uhhh, sounds like your alternator can not handel the strain of the alternator, or they zapped your battery at best buy and now it won't hold a charge very well.

[QUOTE=fredthedragon]uhhh, sounds like your alternator can not handel the strain of the alternator,QUOTE]

ok i'm gonna take a nap i'm sounding like a retard,
what i meant was your alternator may not be able to handle the strain of the new alarm system.

I don't think it would kill a new battery that fast though...?

And I got the new battery after I went to best buy.

Sounds like something (probably the stereo or more likely, the alarm) is drawing a lot of power when the ar is turned off. I forget how to check this and pinpoint what its coming from, but if you want me to find out, i can look into it and get back to you asap.

Yeah, I am thinking the alarm but it is weird that it was fine until I took it out of valt and armed it, then when I put it back in valet... it loses charge.

I think I know what you are talking about...to hook up a voltimeter and start pulling fuses to see where the draw is coming from...I think anyway... I may just yank the alarm and see what happens...the radio always shuts down when I turn off the car, and I always take out the faceplate too.

?? This sux!! :grinno:

take it back to best buy and see if they can do anything about it, since it didnt start happening until the installed the alarm, maybe they hooked something up wrong.

Yeah, i'm trickling the battery right now and I am going to call them 1st thing tomorrow. I hope it is just something dumb...

Yeah, I am thinking the alarm but it is weird that it was fine until I took it out of valt and armed it, then when I put it back in valet... it loses charge.

I think I know what you are talking about...to hook up a voltimeter and start pulling fuses to see where the draw is coming from...I think anyway... I may just yank the alarm and see what happens...the radio always shuts down when I turn off the car, and I always take out the faceplate too.

?? This sux!! :grinno:
Yea, Im pretty sure thats how you do it. But, its fine when you dont have the alarm armed? Or does it still give you trouble? Definitly seems like your alaem though. If you cant figure it out, go back to best buy and ask them what they think it could be. Anyways, hope you figure it out.

Thanks! Yeah it seems to only happen after I arm the alarm. It was fine for over a week while the alarm was on valet both times..?? I hope it is just the alarm... rather it be that than an alternator... :iceslolan

However, the last time it happenned, I was in night school, it was fine... I armed it on the way in.. a few hours later, I came out and disarmed. It did start...but barely... and on the way home it seemed like the car wanted to die like the 1st time...

I got it home, put it back on valet and a the next day....dead....

It will crank a little but not enough to get it to turn over.

Yea, Im pretty sure thats how you do it. But, its fine when you dont have the alarm armed? Or does it still give you trouble? Definitly seems like your alaem though. If you cant figure it out, go back to best buy and ask them what they think it could be. Anyways, hope you figure it out.

It can be alot of things. Sometimes, if they let the battery go way down during the install then either jump it or use one of those comerical sized chargers, it can burn out the altinator.

Of course, I have seen some very scary fire hazards come fromt those big chain guys :evillol:

It can be alot of things. Sometimes, if they let the battery go way down during the install then either jump it or use one of those comerical sized chargers, it can burn out the altinator.

Of course, I have seen some very scary fire hazards come fromt those big chain guys :evillol:


Just spoke to Best Buy and the 1st thing he tells me is "oh yeah, it is proabably your alternator..." He sais that when you put any new electronic equip in your car it has a profound effect on the alt. Yeah maybe if I put a $3000 system with 15 amps yes... I puy in a cheap JVC that was almost the same as the one I replaced...try again...

and I said that's funny my car ran all these years with the same alt but then you put in an alarm and every time I arm it...the batt dies... yeah...must be the alternator...

I know it still could have something to do with the alt. but I have a hunch it has something to do with the miswiring of the alarm...

I am dropping it off today...provided I can get the damn car down there with the ever-deady battery and all... :icon16:

Well before I went to best buy, I had the batt and alt tested.. batt came out good :iceslolan alt was bad :grinno:

The car was reading 12v when it was running (should be 14) so it looks like it was strictly running on the batt not the alt. However, I did not put my lights on (which I probably should have done so it would have put a little load on the batt to see if the alt would kick in..forgot.) ...but we let it run for a while and I never got a reading higher than 12.

So I guess I need to get myself a new alternator...!!

I still think something happened to it when I brought it in to have the radio and alarm installed... :disappoin

Oh well... Now I am just trying to think if there is anything else that can possibly go wrong with my car... :banghead: :icon16: :icon16:

Well before I went to best buy, I had the batt and alt tested.. batt came out good :iceslolan alt was bad :grinno:

The car was reading 12v when it was running (should be 14) so it looks like it was strictly running on the batt not the alt. However, I did not put my lights on (which I probably should have done so it would have put a little load on the batt to see if the alt would kick in..forgot.) ...but we let it run for a while and I never got a reading higher than 12.

So I guess I need to get myself a new alternator...!!

I still think something happened to it when I brought it in to have the radio and alarm installed... :disappoin

Oh well... Now I am just trying to think if there is anything else that can possibly go wrong with my car... :banghead: :icon16: :icon16:

Well, you can find out if it is the alarm but I highly doubt it. Find a place that can do a load test on your car. What you'll want to do is have the meter hooked up then arm/disarm the car and anything else you want to test. Then, what ever you test, unplug it. If you see that meter move more than a few amps, then it could be that. Again, even the cheapest alarm actually works off of grounds not 12v. Most alarms only pull about 1/2 the amperage of a factory clock when not being used. Now, when they are activating doorlocks, lights, and such, that is a different thing.

It doesn't suprise me that they automatically said it was the altinator. Like they even had a clue. The only reason I said it was that they usually take for ever for an install. Usually keep your doors and hood open the whole time without disconnecting the battery or sticking a trickle charger on the battery. Well, sometimes what happens is that you have a weak battery and what they did finally did it in. Then they stick a HUGE battery that can really crank out the juice. They put that sucker on high and get the car to start. The problem is that it's really hard on the car's electrical system and usually the regulator is the first thing to go. That's because it's already been over used from having a weak battery that luckily you haven't noticed in the wrong way. :smokin: :smokin:

dude i work for best buy so i can ask them what our policy is if we accidentally fry your alt durring an install. that may have happened if they accidentally crossed something. i'll check and get back to you tomorrow.

dude i work for best buy so i can ask them what our policy is if we accidentally fry your alt durring an install. that may have happened if they accidentally crossed something. i'll check and get back to you tomorrow.

It's simple, there are policies and procedures in place when damage occurs to a vehicle while having an install performed at a Best Buy location. A pre/post installation checklist is used to show any features that are not operating properly. These are used to protect both the consumer and the company. You would be suprised how many people try and scam a big company like that, meaning they try to blame pre-existing damage on the work that was just completed on their vehicle because they know the company has insurance to cover such damages. I think there is something that everyone fails to realize in this situation. The wiring in a 4G Civic/Crx is so basic that it would be very difficult to "fry an alternator" while installing an alarm. First of all, all of the major circuits are fuse protected from the factory, plus the alarm has fuses of it's own that are smaller in amperage, so they would blow first. Usually, an alarm has a 15A fuse on the main power line, a 10A fuse on the light flash circuit and a 15A fuse on the door lock relay packet. The relay packet would only be involved if you have a 5-wire door lock circuit, if you have power door locks at all, which most hatchies and rexes don't have power locks anyway (unless aftermarket or JDM) and there aren't any Honda's that have 5-wire systems in them (I don't really want to get into how that works if you don't know). It is just really hard to phuk up that badly when installing a basic alarm. If it was a full alarm/remote start/keyless entry on something newer and more sensetive......maybe.

I would have suspected this.....Y8 swap, couple weeks old....wire pinched but not broken or shorted..YET. Driving around for a couple of weeks, cranking the new ponies, causing vibration, the wire could have worn causing a short that would put a large strain on the electrical system...the alternator was already old and the added strain just took its toll. Just a theory.

The theory of a high powered jump box blowing it up????? How many amps do you think a battery has while it fully functional?? Usually between 450-1000 CCA's depending on size. The biggest jump box I have ever seen was maybe 200A, the box that is available in a Best Buy bay has a 30A jump circuit on it.

All I am saying is don't be so quick to blame the installer. If you had that much doubt in their abilities, you should have never went there in the first place. Also, when you have a problem and go get advice from a forum like this and then go off half-cocked on the shop, don't expect to get a lot of co-operation. Give them an honest chance to check out the problem. I have been a professional installation technician for longer than A LOT of the people on this forum have been driving. Well, I have said what I have to say and I hope everything turns out for jackacc when it is all said and done.

peace
Griff

P.S. For the record, I think forums like these are great, it is just people interpretation of the information that is often skewed or misinterpreted. :nono:

Damn Griff, that was a mouthful!! :biggrin:

I was just annoyed when I called BB because when I asked the guy if I could bring it in so he could look at it, he caught a major attitude with me and pushed it back on my side of the table....immediately...didn't even let me finish my explanation...Everyone I talked to, even my mechanic friends said it was highly unlikely that an alarm or a radio would put enough stress on the system to mess it up...so I was left with 2 choices... the alternator or the installation...but the installers reaction was so defensive it annoyed me a bit...I work on computers and when someone comes to me with a problem on any work I have done, I have to be objective before I tell them it is an user error...)easier said then done but that's the biz..)

And after all this... it did turn out to be a problem on my end.. there was a loose bolt on the alternator that was causing this to happen intermittently... :rolleyes: Thank God... I didnt have $ for a new alternator now anyway... :icon16:

So all is well... Thanks for all the replies!

Damn Griff, that was a mouthful!! :biggrin:

I was just annoyed when I called BB because when I asked the guy if I could bring it in so he could look at it, he caught a major attitude with me and pushed it back on my side of the table....immediately...didn't even let me finish my explanation...Everyone I talked to, even my mechanic friends said it was highly unlikely that an alarm or a radio would put enough stress on the system to mess it up...so I was left with 2 choices... the alternator or the installation...but the installers reaction was so defensive it annoyed me a bit...I work on computers and when someone comes to me with a problem on any work I have done, I have to be objective before I tell them it is an user error...)easier said then done but that's the biz..)

And after all this... it did turn out to be a problem on my end.. there was a loose bolt on the alternator that was causing this to happen intermittently... :rolleyes: Thank God... I didnt have $ for a new alternator now anyway... :icon16:

So all is well... Thanks for all the replies!

Yea, it was a mouthful, but it was not meant to be offensive to anybody inolved in the thread, so I hope no offense was taken. I can say on his behalf (the installer) that it gets really annoying having people blame you for stuff that happens to their car because you worked on the audio or alarm system and 99% of the time it was not their fault. Yea, I know you have to get a lot of ID 10 T errors, lol. Anyway, I am glad for you and everybody else that it was an easy fix. Hell, you might want to even call the installer and tell him you figured out the problem and thanks for his time, even if it was only time on the phone. You never know, he could help you ought one day.

peace
Griff

Yea, it was a mouthful, but it was not meant to be offensive to anybody inolved in the thread, so I hope no offense was taken. I can say on his behalf (the installer) that it gets really annoying having people blame you for stuff that happens to their car because you worked on the audio or alarm system and 99% of the time it was not their fault. Yea, I know you have to get a lot of ID 10 T errors, lol. Anyway, I am glad for you and everybody else that it was an easy fix. Hell, you might want to even call the installer and tell him you figured out the problem and thanks for his time, even if it was only time on the phone. You never know, he could help you ought one day.

peace
Griff


1st off, glad everything was eventually found out and fixed. Griff, what I meant about the jumpbox's or heavy duty chargers with a "start" mode wasn't that those were the culpret. If you reread what I said before you'll see it. I meant that when you have an older car with a battery that's on it's last leg then have the doors and everything open, something can happen. Like either the battery living enough to get the car home, or finally doing in the alt's regulator because it was already being over driven because of a being overworked.

I too used to work in a big chain store. We also had a checklist to go over but it rarely worked. If the kids actually did it, usually the customer would leave before they found the problem. The idea was to have the customer to sign off on it BEFORE work was to be done.

Also, I hear all the time that people get their heads chewed off when they go back to the chains with problems. Don't people know that "cusomers are always right"? I have no problems telling people about stuff without sounding over defensive. Of course, I have a reputation of being one of the best in the area. But, sometimes things just happen. Just like when a friend of mine was putting a remote start on an older Buick that really didn't run very well. When he went to start it with the key, there was a loud pop. Here the plastic intake shattered and blew right off!!! He ended up having to fix it!

1st off, glad everything was eventually found out and fixed. Griff, what I meant about the jumpbox's or heavy duty chargers with a "start" mode wasn't that those were the culpret. If you reread what I said before you'll see it. I meant that when you have an older car with a battery that's on it's last leg then have the doors and everything open, something can happen. Like either the battery living enough to get the car home, or finally doing in the alt's regulator because it was already being over driven because of a being overworked.

I too used to work in a big chain store. We also had a checklist to go over but it rarely worked. If the kids actually did it, usually the customer would leave before they found the problem. The idea was to have the customer to sign off on it BEFORE work was to be done.

Also, I hear all the time that people get their heads chewed off when they go back to the chains with problems. Don't people know that "cusomers are always right"? I have no problems telling people about stuff without sounding over defensive. Of course, I have a reputation of being one of the best in the area. But, sometimes things just happen. Just like when a friend of mine was putting a remote start on an older Buick that really didn't run very well. When he went to start it with the key, there was a loud pop. Here the plastic intake shattered and blew right off!!! He ended up having to fix it!

Haha, I hope that when you stated "customer's are alway right" you were being sarcastic!!! Ya know, I had some little punk-ass MF'er yelling shit at one of the guys I work with the other day, and I got right in his face and told him the best thing he could do for himself was leave. He got my point. Yea, I might have misread what you posted, but you got my drift. Those checklist can and do work, if they are backed by an insurance company. They will investigate the probability of things happening based on the age of the car etc... Your absolutely right, shit happens, even to the best of us and sometimes you have to pay for stuff. One of my most memorable "you gotta be kidding me's" was when I sat a sub enclosure on back of a Ford Probe witht he hatch open, the very corner of the box caught the edge of the side window (they have no moulding) and it just cracked into about 10 million pieces. There was a manager standing right there and he did not even believe that I actually broke it. Anyway, I digress and as I stated before my original response was not intended to discredit anybody's opinion. :smile:

peace
Griff

good to hear jackacc, glad it's all fixed w/ no $$ spent.

you know that guy catching an attitude w/ you is completely against company policy and he prolly should be written up for being an ass to a customer, you can get that done if your irritated enough you know.

1st off, glad everything was eventually found out and fixed. Griff, what I meant about the jumpbox's or heavy duty chargers with a "start" mode wasn't that those were the culpret. If you reread what I said before you'll see it. I meant that when you have an older car with a battery that's on it's last leg then have the doors and everything open, something can happen. Like either the battery living enough to get the car home, or finally doing in the alt's regulator because it was already being over driven because of a being overworked.

I too used to work in a big chain store. We also had a checklist to go over but it rarely worked. If the kids actually did it, usually the customer would leave before they found the problem. The idea was to have the customer to sign off on it BEFORE work was to be done.

Also, I hear all the time that people get their heads chewed off when they go back to the chains with problems. Don't people know that "cusomers are always right"? I have no problems telling people about stuff without sounding over defensive. Of course, I have a reputation of being one of the best in the area. But, sometimes things just happen. Just like when a friend of mine was putting a remote start on an older Buick that really didn't run very well. When he went to start it with the key, there was a loud pop. Here the plastic intake shattered and blew right off!!! He ended up having to fix it!

Actually, no I was not kidding. I always "act" to the customer like I know and believe what they are saying. Then, in a professional manor, I show them why it wasn't me. 95% of the time, this works.

Unfortunately, when you have some punk tunerdick in the shop, you'll never be happy unless you either throw him out or thump on him. I was merly talking about the normal customer.

Ah, Ford glass! I use to see my co-workers break a lot of Ford and import glass. The glass on those seem so thin for some reason. Anyway, we'd all hold our breath when there's an alarm install in one. Reason was that you had to test the impact sensor. Seemed if you hit the windshield too close to the top, it'd crack. I personally never had this happen but seen it plenty of times. :banghead:

good to hear jackacc, glad it's all fixed w/ no $$ spent.

you know that guy catching an attitude w/ you is completely against company policy and he prolly should be written up for being an ass to a customer, you can get that done if your irritated enough you know.


Thanks! I was glad when no dough was shed on this problem!!

I don't want to write anyone up or anything...the guy that actually installed the equip. was cool as hell. I know there are a bunch of guys that work back there and everyone has a bad day once and a while...

Actually, no I was not kidding. I always "act" to the customer like I know and believe what they are saying. Then, in a professional manor, I show them why it wasn't me. 95% of the time, this works.

Unfortunately, when you have some punk tunerdick in the shop, you'll never be happy unless you either throw him out or thump on him. I was merly talking about the normal customer.

Ah, Ford glass! I use to see my co-workers break a lot of Ford and import glass. The glass on those seem so thin for some reason. Anyway, we'd all hold our breath when there's an alarm install in one. Reason was that you had to test the impact sensor. Seemed if you hit the windshield too close to the top, it'd crack. I personally never had this happen but seen it plenty of times. :banghead:

I understand where your coming from and don't get the wrong impression about me, I am curteous and professional with 99.9% of my customers. Your right, most of the time, if you give them the time, they will understand your point of view and things eventually get worked out.

The "punk tunerdick" customers are becoming more and more common. I love this "sport" and the "lifestyle" is pretty cool, but these little jerks that come in and mommy and daddy pay for everything because they can't turn a wrench or are just dummer than mud, get really irritating, especially when they try and tell someody that has been doing it for 8 years (my co-worker) that he does not know what he is talking about. Never-the-less, it is a part of the business, and they only get they far under my skin once in a blue moon.

About the glass....man I was pissed, but at the same time it was funny. I was pissed that I just created a bad impression for the customer and a problem to boot, but it was funny that it broke into so many little itty bitty pieces and it stayed in. i covered it with 2 layers of heavy black tape inside and out so he could take it to a place to get it replaced. He was not even upset when he came back to get the car, he just asked if it was going to get replaced? He thought he might have to pay for it , lol. I think that piece of glass cost like $900 :eek:

peace
Griff