Cramer Posted January 21, 2010 Report Share Posted January 21, 2010 Ok I have been having issues with my 5 month old battery dying on me if I don't drive it for 3 days or so. I have recently installed a alarm/remote start combo but I don't think that is my problem. I can watch my alt gauge go from a little over 14amps fluctuate to about 12.5 or 13 amps when I come to a stop or hit the brakes with my lights and heat on. I had 2 different Advance Auto stores check it out and one said that he wasn't getting a reading from the alt and that it was only charging at 6.35 amps and my gauge said it was around 14. And the other said that my alt was charging at 14.5amps. The alt looks to be the original which has around 135k on it. The belt also is worn and I have a new one for it but I didn't want to put that on if I had to change the alt. I also have an amp wired up and I don't know if it is drawing the power out of the batt when sitting. Has anyone had similar things like mine happen? If so what was the cause? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinthegreat Posted January 21, 2010 Report Share Posted January 21, 2010 if your alt is good and your battery is also, then it sounds like you have something like a radio or alarm drawing power. who installed your alarm? is your amp on when you turn your truck off? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cramer Posted January 21, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2010 I installed the alarm about 2 months ago and about three weeks ago is when I started to have the problems with the no start dead battery. The amp is connected with the module to bypass the oem sub and all that and the amp light stays on but that has been in the truck for 4 months or so and haven't had a issue with it since then. I just took the fuses out of the power wire to the amp and the power wire fuses to the alarm out to see if the truck does it again. Last night I did remote start the truck for about a min and then I remotely turned it off just to see if it would start and it did. And that was after two days sittiing. I know I had my radio, gps, radar detector, and heat (turned all the way up) on. I heard that if you turn off the Remote Start and don't open the door it will keep things on for about 15 min. Is this true, or do the accessories turn off? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddies-blk-intimidator-06 Posted January 21, 2010 Report Share Posted January 21, 2010 Ok I have been having issues with my 5 month old battery dying on me if I don't drive it for 3 days or so. I have recently installed a alarm/remote start combo but I don't think that is my problem. I can watch my alt gauge go from a little over 14amps fluctuate to about 12.5 or 13 amps when I come to a stop or hit the brakes with my lights and heat on. I had 2 different Advance Auto stores check it out and one said that he wasn't getting a reading from the alt and that it was only charging at 6.35 amps and my gauge said it was around 14. And the other said that my alt was charging at 14.5amps. The alt looks to be the original which has around 135k on it. The belt also is worn and I have a new one for it but I didn't want to put that on if I had to change the alt. I also have an amp wired up and I don't know if it is drawing the power out of the batt when sitting. Has anyone had similar things like mine happen? If so what was the cause? same hapend to me and it was the bat, it wouny show bad till after the 2nd night w/out starting the truck, i figured out un pluging both bat cables let bat for 3 days then check it back with a volt meter and it read 11.2 or so but it died once i tried to start the engine... trie that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yttaf Posted January 21, 2010 Report Share Posted January 21, 2010 I am having this same problem as I've gone through 4 batteries in about 2 years & 2 of those were red top Optima. I took out the fuses for my alarm/remote start & so far so good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinthegreat Posted January 21, 2010 Report Share Posted January 21, 2010 yeah if you dont open the door everything stays on for 10 or 11 mins. i beleive. if your amp light is on all the time then you are slowly pulling power from your battery also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex.t Posted January 21, 2010 Report Share Posted January 21, 2010 you need to re check all wires and make sure nothing is touching anything it shouldn't it could take a while but in the end will save you alot of money in grief. second of all if you think its some of your accessories like stereo or radar dector, gps, things of that nature you can always make it switchable power and this will clean up all the wires at the same time because you dont have to plug anything to cigarette lighters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse 05ss Posted January 21, 2010 Report Share Posted January 21, 2010 I just recently watched a show on truck U and they say with the chevys they have had problems the ABS going out and when it starts to go out it can kill the battery Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse 05ss Posted January 21, 2010 Report Share Posted January 21, 2010 (edited) I just recently watched a show on truck U and they say with the chevys they have had problems the ABS going out and when it starts to go out it can kill the battery (sorry got 2 posts) Edited January 21, 2010 by Jesse25 (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterp Posted January 21, 2010 Report Share Posted January 21, 2010 Another chief offender is the factory radio (head unit) - I have known one that drew power when it was supposed to be off, and another (8 UR HMI) robotic changer would out-of-the-blue start cycling through the CD magazine for no apparent reason in the middle of the night and run the battery down. About the only way to trace this is to catch the vehicle in the act, have a VOM measuring current draw from the battery and pull fuses until the draw goes away. Remember that the BCM is always drawing a little micro-current from the battery by design, it never goes to sleep as it must monitor keyless entry, etc. Mr. P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cramer Posted January 23, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2010 Another chief offender is the factory radio (head unit) - I have known one that drew power when it was supposed to be off, and another (8 UR HMI) robotic changer would out-of-the-blue start cycling through the CD magazine for no apparent reason in the middle of the night and run the battery down. About the only way to trace this is to catch the vehicle in the act, have a VOM measuring current draw from the battery and pull fuses until the draw goes away. Remember that the BCM is always drawing a little micro-current from the battery by design, it never goes to sleep as it must monitor keyless entry, etc. Mr. P. That might be my issue. I heard it do that when the battery was almost dead and I had it off. I thought that it was doing that cause my battery was dead. Also today I turned off my truck with the CD player playing and when I started it up it was playing the radio. I will have to look into that more. Thanks Mr.P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwest94 Posted January 24, 2010 Report Share Posted January 24, 2010 That might be my issue. I heard it do that when the battery was almost dead and I had it off. I thought that it was doing that cause my battery was dead. Also today I turned off my truck with the CD player playing and when I started it up it was playing the radio. I will have to look into that more. Thanks Mr.P. My battery is currently dead (replaced 8 months ago). I'm sure mine is from it sitting out in the freezing cold not being touched in 3 months. I have a little solar power charger thing that I use to keep it charged, but forgot to plug it in and remembered after it was to late. Whenever mine is about dead or when I'm jump starting it, the cd player will cycle through all the disks, so I think its normal for you to hear that whenever the battery is almost dead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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