Battery problem

igot95 · #1 10-25-2008, 12:36 AM

i got a alarm system installed in my car and my cars been siting for a week and i tred to strt it 2day but didnt strt i had a dead battery. can my alarm system kill my battery in a week or its not suppose to drain my battery that quick

mike561 · #2 10-25-2008, 10:50 AM

If your battery is aged chances are it could have been weak before the alarm was put in and the alarm is making more of a drain. id get the battery tested and replaced if needed.

bhw33191 · #3 10-25-2008, 10:52 AM

it really shouldn't drain the battery that quick. I have a chevy van i installed an alarm on and after sitting for a week it still started. i guess you should check your wiring. I heard theres a trick you can do to tell if theres something using a significant amount of power from your batt. when the cars off. I think what you do is disconnect the negative terminal (make sure that your hood is closed enough so that the light doesnt go on) and then tap the negative terminal with the wire. If you see a spark then it means something is using power while the car is off. So i guess try that. I'm not really sure what to do to fix the problem though.

bhw33191 · #4 10-25-2008, 10:58 AM

Actually i agree with Mike. After i installed my new radio i had to get a new battery. I think it was a crappy battery to begin with. But i think between having the door open to install the speakers and stuff and listening to the radio with the car off just totally killed the battery. I could charge the battery and it would start fine. Even after multiple consecutive starts. But the battery just lost its memory and i had to shell out another 75$. By the way that battery was only ONE year old. So you might need to do the same and get a new one.

igot95 · #5 10-25-2008, 03:38 PM

no i had to get a new battery like in july and plus its a wal mart battery idk and i disconnected the postive post from the battery and put an voltmeter to it and the black to ground and i get a number strting a 1.25 the it drops to 0 in like a min or so sp that means i dont have a drain right?

'97ventureowner · #6 10-25-2008, 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by igot95

no i had to get a new battery like in july and plus its a wal mart battery

Oh, you mean a "Neverstart"??

I've has the worst luck with those over the years to the point I'll never buy one again. They always failed within a year or so, making me go back and deal with getting a replacement one, which many times wasn't an enjoyable experience. I ended up paying a little more and getting an A C Delco battery which have outlasted those WalMart ones many times over. I'd go ahead and get the battery tested to see if that might be the source of the problem.

mega420 · #7 10-25-2008, 09:28 PM

i personally would use a optima yellow top they last forever. also if you belive toy security is killing battery install a battery switch.

igot95 · #8 10-26-2008, 02:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mega420

i personally would use a optima yellow top they last forever. also if you belive toy security is killing battery install a battery switch.

WHAT IS A BATERY SWITCH

Solomon Cloud · #9 10-26-2008, 03:14 AM

a security system will kill a bad battery pretty quick its pretty much time for a new battery. also get some quality stay away from wal-mart they are crap. I've had a walmart battery go dead on me 8 times this year and they tried to say it was my charging system... psshh yah right with a 200 amp iraggi and 1/0 wire for my entire charging system i doubt it.

There are great batteries out there from duralast to ac delco and interstate. and even better ones like optima, kinetiks, stinger etc. but those are for large sound systems and what not i doubt you would want to spend 170 for the optimas and 400+ for the other ones.

bottom line ditch the neverstart and get something that costs bout 10 bucks more they wont crap out. believe me i used to work for them bloodsuckers at walmarts tire and lube express and i replaced more neverstart batteries than i did oil changes.

mega420 · #10 10-26-2008, 04:41 PM

a battery switch is a switch that street dragers use to kill battery after they run its like a safty switch but this happened on my old grand prix and i put in a switch and walla started every time. i belive you can find them at most good auto part stores like napa. just install it between the positive battery line and after you go some were just turn it to off and it interups all power to and from battery

j cAT · #11 10-26-2008, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by igot95

i got a alarm system installed in my car and my cars been siting for a week and i tred to strt it 2day but didnt strt i had a dead battery. can my alarm system kill my battery in a week or its not suppose to drain my battery that quick

If the battery has no voltage 0 volts DC I would say that the alarm has drained your battery.....this is because it would be very unlikely that all the cells failed at exactly the same time...

when the alarm was installed by the alarm shop they may have blown the alternator as well or installed the alarm wrong...

when you charge your battery with a charger does it charge properly...? if not then your battery is defective . then return to walmart for a free replacement....also they will test batteries with a load tester..

excide makes the worst battery...on the a/c delco battery they can be very old so you must check date...I believe the wally mart batteries have 2-3 year warrantees..

good luck!!!! alarms are nothing but trouble as the people that install them are usually hacks and they will damage your ride ....

gatoratoy227 · #12 10-27-2008, 09:44 PM

a tip i've learned, is if you have a regular batt. with removable caps for the cells, open and check the electrolyte levels, if low fill them with distilled water, not tap water and DO NOT get the liquid in the cells on your skin its dulited hydro-sulphric acid (very corrosive shvit) one way you can partially recondition the batt. is if you know any where that sells powered asprin the kind that comes in individual wrappers and looks like coke, put the contents of 2 packets in each cell that should help, granted your batt. isn't older than Moses or any of the cells are fried

bhw33191 · #13 10-27-2008, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gatoratoy227

a tip i've learded is if you have a regular batt. with removable caps for the cells open and check the electrolyte levels if low fill them with distilled water not tap water and one way you can partially recondition the batt. is if you know any where that sells powered asprin the kind that comes in an individual wrapper and looks like coke put the contents of 2 packets in each cell that should help granted your batt. isn't older than Moses and the cells aren't fried

I've done this before. They make this device that you insert a tube into each sell and you suck up a little bit of the acid. Theres a float inside the device and a scale telling you if that cell is good or bad. I think they sell it at places like autozone. I don't htink it costs that much either and its a good way of assuring yourself that you really do need to spend the $75 on a new battery

'97ventureowner · #14 10-27-2008, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gatoratoy227

a tip i've learned, is if you have a regular batt. with removable caps for the cells, open and check the electrolyte levels, if low fill them with distilled water, not tap water and DO NOT get the liquid in the cells on your skin its dulited hydro-sulphric acid (very corrosive shvit) one way you can partially recondition the batt. is if you know any where that sells powered asprin the kind that comes in individual wrappers and looks like coke, put the contents of 2 packets in each cell that should help, granted your batt. isn't older than Moses or any of the cells are fried

Quote:

Originally Posted by bhw33191

I've done this before. They make this device that you insert a tube into each sell and you suck up a little bit of the acid. Theres a float inside the device and a scale telling you if that cell is good or bad. I think they sell it at places like autozone. I don't htink it costs that much either and its a good way of assuring yourself that you really do need to spend the $75 on a new battery

Oh the memories. I haven't owned a "non-maintenance free" battery( with removable caps) in God knows how long. I remember saying and doing that stuff over 20 years ago.

I don't even know if I could find my "baster with the colored gravity balls".

bobss396 · #15 10-28-2008, 11:45 AM

To me, a battery is a battery. In 99.99999% of the cases, a well maintained battery from Joe Schmo will last a good number of years and at least come close to living out the warranty.

With that said, go back to who did the alarm and tell them what happened. They should be able to check your charging system and ferret out a short somewhere, if that is what is draining your battery.

Bob

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