limequat

I like to listen to my radio in my car on lunch and have found that if I go to "On" instead of "Accessory" my battery dies in a hurry. In as little as 10 minutes it will be too low to start the engine.
Autozone hooked up their gadget and said that the battery, alternator, and starter are all behaving normally, but I don't like wringing my hands over how long I can have the ignition on. Thoughts?

sharkey

iTrader: (1)

My car will automatically turn off but will start up fine, are you in acc mode not the one that says on?

Check your connections, also do you have a aftermarket sound system?

limequat

Honestly I didn't start paying attention until I had to have the wife come with jumper cables, but I know it kills it faster when it's in "On" as opposed to "Accessory".


Battery connections are tight, no aftermarket electronics.

sharkey

iTrader: (1)

Your battery might be on its last leg even though the 'zone said it was good.

The alternator won't "charge" until the car turns on. If the battery is dying when the motor in not running, the battery holds the power by itself.

limequat

Yeah I was wondering about that. This past weekend, I replaced my airbag module and was doing the on-off-on-off thing to reset the airbag light. After watching it flash for 10 minutes or so it was too low to start. Measured voltage was 11.3V. I would expect an engine to start on 11.3V.

Crazyirish

Sounds like a battery. There's an Optima Yellow Top for our cars that would probably be ideal for your habits.

sharkey

iTrader: (1)

Some cars do...

But what the g had in electronics front bumper to back bumper, 11 volts barely cuts it

C1Forged

If you're listening to your radio with the engine off, you need to be in Accessory, as it only powers the... Accessories... where as when you have the key in the On position, everything is drawing power. I would also recommend a new battery as the others have stated, it might have an issue with holding a charge which would explain why it dies so fast. In my Chevy I used to listen to my system [stock battery/alternator, complete audio system with subs, big 3 upgrade] for up to 2-2 1/2 hours engine off before my battery would drain enough for a jump.

limequat

Cool, thanks for the point of reference.

Kris9884

iTrader: (3)

I can and have always turned the accessories on while vacuuming, cleaning the windows and conditioning the leather so probably at least an hour every other week or so and then only drive it a day or two a week so I'm pretty hard on the battery. Been doing this for 7-8 months now without a hiccup.

youstupidyou

my car 2008 did this after about 3.5 years after new. dead battery. change battery , good for another 3 or 4 years.

limequat

Thanks for the replies, all. Combined with the ABS low-battery code I found, I decided to just go ahead and get a fresh battery. Once the old one was out, I was able to see that it was the OE battery. So it was definitely time. I haven't done the experiment to see how long I can listen to the radio now, but I have noticed that the car starts much smoother now.