Power issues, unable to deturmine cause.

[D420mac]

I Drive an 06 IX MR

I'm having issues with my EVO I think I need a bigger, ALT, or other issues, I'm thinking of just downsizing. I have a 1500 W Amp pushing two kicker 12" solobarics, and the foose series 450W arc audio amp pushing the component speakers, I have a 12 farad cap, and a Optima yellow top battery. It's pretty loud can be kind hard to breath when it's turned up.

My Major issue is it seems like I have a slow/fast drain on the car.

Sometimes after driving, if I shut off the car, it won't start, ie gas station, mall, stall (music too loud). I don't drive around banging my music everywhere I go so it's confusing why the battery dies so quickly.

On the other hand Sometimes it can sit for a day or so and start right up, so it seems like an intermittent fault. I just don't know it pisses me off.

Another thing that's wierd is when I boost, my gauges will dim a bit, I'm not sure why. Music on or off, dosen't matter still the gauges will dim when boosting ??

I'm planning on installing a cut off switch on the battery, so then when i'm not driving, the battery will stay fresh. I know it's difficult to make suggestions without seeing the car.

so what do you think a bigger alternator, cap problems, or do I have other issues? Also what would be a few of the bigger Alternators that's a direct fit for the EVO IX.

I'm thinking my best option, would be to install a bigger alternator, and a seperate battery for the system, to isolate the system from the cars power.

Thanks Dan.

[majestic*]

Could be the alternator not charging the battery properly. The battery may need to be reconditioned... Optimas are bad for that... it's not good to let a deep cycle drain or die too often... it affects the life cycle and recharge rate of the cells.

I would suggest starting the car, and then disconnecting the battery while it's running. If the car stops... then your alternator is no good.

Try another battery, try reconditioning your existing battery.

To test if there is a power drain, take a test light, disconnect the power wire of your stereo system, turn off your dome light, then disconnect the positive terminal on your battery. Put the test light inline with the power wire. So one end of the test light goes to the positive terminal (which is disconnected from the battery) and the other end of the test light touches the positive terminal on the battery itself. If there is a power draw the test light will light up. If it lights up, start disconnecting or unplugging aftermarket accessories one by one until the light goes off.

In my opinion, I would suggest going with a Kinetik Power Cell as opposed to the Optima, look at rewinding your stock alternator or replacing with a high output alternator (Ohio Generator), get rid of the 12 farad cap... especially if you get a Kinetik Power Cell.

Capacitors are 70% filter and 30% storage device... it's good to have a 1 farad cap inline with the system to use as a filter, but not worth the $ as a storage device. 1 Kinetik 1400 is more than 200 Farads of capacitance. Check www.kinetikaudio.com

Hope this helps,

Nick

[D420mac]

Thanks, I'll look into that. Yea it'll still run with the battery disconnected. Yeah it's wierd it only started to do this after a deer hit me in 07. It was repaired, and the battery started dying ever since. I've been too busy to get it fixed, but now I'm really sick of it.

I don't drive it much and when I do I just jump it and it'll usually last all day.

[D420mac]

Mmmm

[MRCole]

Though battery experts say you technically cannot blow a cell, you have done something similar...You need to run 2 batteries for as much power that you have. IMO: get rid of the cap and run two batteries and bigger alternator. Caps are a waste of money.

[Zerokei]

I had close to a similar problem, found out i had a weak alt. changed it and everythign worked fine.