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  #1  
Old 06-02-2003, 01:50 PM
FifthElement
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Dead battery and Dead alternator

The battery is drained because the alternator isn't working, so the battery is not being charged. This is what I've been told after the battery place here did a check on the alternator.

I had a new battery put in yesterday, and by today it is once again dead. The car was not run the entire night. Anyone know how long a normal car battery should last without a charge?

While I would love to think the Sirius system I put in two weeks ago has nothing to do with it, I'm very suspicious.

The unit does turn off when the key is turned off. The controller shuts down when I turn the power off on the car, so I'm assuming the receiver shuts down as well since they're on the same power. That's why i'm kinda stumped here. How can it be a drain on the battery if it's not on, ya know.

I unplugged the power from the receiver yesterday, just in case, before the new battery was put in, but the wires in the dash are still connected. Would those wires still be a drain on the battery even though the power is unplugged on the receiver itself and the car had only been turned on once since the new battery was put in?

The tow truck lady said it looked like I should have two ground wires going. I currently have the Sirius ground spliced into my dashstereo's ground. But i'm not sure what good an extra ground would do.

The alternator does have 109,000 miles on it...so I'd like to think it's just time for it to go. But the timing is very interesting.

The car is now sitting in the service center's lot, so I'm hoping they can figure something out.
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  #2  
Old 06-02-2003, 01:57 PM
FifthElement
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haha well it looks like i'm going to be talking to myself with this thread.

I just found out that new batteries are only 20% charged to begin with, if that sounds accurate to anyone. I guess that explains the second dead battery.
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  #3  
Old 06-02-2003, 02:41 PM
lee lee is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by FifthElement
haha well it looks like i'm going to be talking to myself with this thread.

I just found out that new batteries are only 20% charged to begin with, if that sounds accurate to anyone. I guess that explains the second dead battery.
Only worry if you start to complain about one-half of the conversation.

Agree the batteries typically sold DIY do not come fully charged. Don't know about sat radio, but the car itself is drawing something that keeps the memory in the clock, computers, etc.
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  #4  
Old 06-02-2003, 03:42 PM
FifthElement
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Hey there! Welcome to the conversation!

It's a little irritating that the place was able to tell me that my alternator was bad originally, but they were not willing to tell me that I had better get the battery they had just sold me charged if I plan on driving anywhere in the near future before getting a new alternator.

Just got off the phone with the subaru service center and they do confirm that the problem is the alternator and it has nothing to do with the new wiring I recently did.

Glad she'll be working by tomorrow. I was just reading over a post on the board where a fellow svxer was complaining about how costly the vehicle is and how it seems that something breaks every other week. I was feeling very lucky since it had been a good four months since my last >$100 fix. Looks like I should have knocked on wood!





Quote:
Originally posted by lee


Only worry if you start to complain about one-half of the conversation.

Agree the batteries typically sold DIY do not come fully charged. Don't know about sat radio, but the car itself is drawing something that keeps the memory in the clock, computers, etc.
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  #5  
Old 06-02-2003, 10:56 PM
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ensteele ensteele is offline
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If the car sits for a week or so on a fully charged battery, it will go dead from the alarm system. It needs to be run once in a while to stay charged up. By getting a new battery that was not fully charged, it only had a small amount of power to draw from. All should work ok with the new alternator and battery. Well, we hope so anyway.
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