Battery Help

[phil3842]

i just had a stereo installed in my 97 civic hatch and the stock battery dies real quick when turned up and i wanna upgrade it to either the optima yellowtop or the stinger v35 just wanted to know which is better. and when changing the batterie should i change the power cable and terminals.

[solitz]

id go with the optmia yellow top battery but the stingerV35 is good asewll, just my personal preference.

if ur battery is dying real quick would u want to check ur alternator just to see if it is actually charging ur battery.

someone can correct me on this but id rather want to upgrade the ground cables in the bonnet than the power cable.

[phil3842]

what sort of ground cables do you reccomend or are they all good. and the battery charged fine before i had the stereo installed, it just drains to much power out of the battery now with 2 amps

[solitz]

um change all ur ground cables is someting id reccomend. change them to the same type of ga thickness that ur using on ur amps

[narchi]

what amps do you have and rated power? Just to determine how much draw they have.

[phil3842]

i have a 500w and 250w pioneer

[narchi]

hmm they shouldnt be drawing that much power.
How old is the battery? In all honesty there is another problem here. Changing to an optima may not solve the problem. specially the $200 difference in price you wanna make sure first.

This does sound like a charge issue not equipment.

[davec]

yeah i recommend to check the alternator
like narchi said, it shouldn't be drawing too much power from the battery
go to an auto electrician, they should be able to to test the alternator for you at no charge and let u know what the problem could be
also theres no harm done in changing grounding cables, just make sure their the same size or even larger than the cables used to power your amps.

[phil3842]

the battery has been in the car for bout 4-5 years so will get that and the alternator checked and change the ground cables any way. and is there a grounding kit for a 97 civic on the market

[narchi]

if thats a normal lead acid battery they generally have a lifespan of 2-4 yrs. I would say the battery could be at its end. costs nothing to get it checked. But you should only need to replace it with another lead acid battery.

[dc2dc2dc2]

i don't think its ur battery dude.

how long do u listen to it before it dies. ?

[phil3842]

bout 10 minutes before it dies

[solitz]

yeah dats sound to me like a charging problem, check ur altenator mate asap before u rule out the battery as the problem

[B18cEG]

so ur saying with the car not running you listen to the stereo for about 10mins then it dies, how loud do you have it?

[Phuong1987]

yeah i recommend to check the alternator
like narchi said, it shouldn't be drawing too much power from the battery
go to an auto electrician, they should be able to to test the alternator for you at no charge and let u know what the problem could be
also theres no harm done in changing grounding cables, just make sure their the same size or even larger than the cables used to power your amps.

you can test your alternator your self, start the engine on with your music on, then pull out the positive lead from your battery. IF the car turns off means that your alternator is gone because its not generating power,then its not charging your battery. If you take it off and the engine and everything remains on then you need a new battery.

[narchi]

does it last for 10 mins while the engine is off or running. thats something i should have asked b4.
If while its running then yes it will be your alternator.

[B18cEG]

does it last for 10 mins while the engine is off or running. thats something i should have asked b4.
If while its running then yes it will be your alternator.

yes thats what i asked

[Phuong1987]

yes thats what i asked

When the engines not on of course, then the battery dies out in 10min

[phil3842]

does it last for 10 mins while the engine is off or running. thats something i should have asked b4.
If while its running then yes it will be your alternator.


yeah 10 mins while car is off.

[narchi]

i suggest just checking both. But if your car runs fine while your driving i would imagine its not the alt. The battery isnt holding its charge. Therefore replace battery. But any store that sells battery will be able to give you a free battery test.

[B18cEG]

How loud do you haver the system runing at before it dies from 1-10, 10 being max.