I drive a 06 cobalt G85 SC edition. the problem started when i was at work on break. i was sittin in my car on the phone talkin to my mom for about 9-10mins. i had the key turned on, the motor was not running, but the music could play. the entire time i was talkin on the phone i had no music playing. so i could hear who i was talkin to. i hung up the phone. went to turn the volume up to my stereo. it played for 1second. then the subs died, only had music coming from the stock speakers. then the music stoped playing. headunit still on. but no sound. then the headunit lost all power. so i turned my car off, took out the main amp pow fuse. removed the headunit to make sure nothing was shorting out and that no fuses were blown. turned the vehicle back on, it didnt start right away, cranked a little but it turned over.

now i have a aftermarket pioneer headunit thats about 2years old, kenwood amp 1000watt, and 2 12" 1000watt eclispe double magnetic titanium subs. runnin 500 watts per sub, i have a capacitor but i dont have it hooked up at the moment( i know i should and need to). long sotry short,

i was wondering if we have some type of capacitor to run our electionical equipment while our motor isnt running to prevent the battery from completely draining.

i have never had any type of electrical problem, and i have had this sound system installed by myself, for about 4-5months. after i got it to start i let it idle for about 5 mins without any music playing and i have no more problems. hooked my subs back up and everything is working fine. bass is hitting same as always. im just confused what would have caused it. i didnt even get a CEL or a battery icon in the display location under my rpm tach.

anyone else have similar problems?
is it my battery dying? (4-5yrs old)
or is it my alternator?

any info or feedback will be very much appreciated! thanks

 

The direct line off the battery for the amps/subs is a HUGE non-stop parasitic loss.
Somehow installing some sort of physical on/off switch that disconnects the circuit (from ground and hot wire) would pay tremendous gains for reducing battery drain.

It would be difficult to find a suitable on/off switch for such a high current application and wire it in such that it wasn't a PITA to trigger.

That being said....

I'd say yeah, your battery is a little weak.
Id recommend getting an optima red top or yellow top or whatever. I thought they make one specifically for people with upgraded audio equipment. Basically will give you a larger, more appropriate reservoir of electromotive force to draw from when the engine isnt spinning the alternator.

Your alternator could be on its way out. You can take it out fairly simply and take it to Autozone/Advance Autoparts and they can check its condition via a standard test.

As far as a capacitor, no. Your battery is your electromotive force reservoir.

 

im looking at the 12V optima yellow top batteries, but im not sure on what to buy. any recomendations on which cold cranking amperages(CCA) and (CA) cranking i should get. dont know much about batteries
they have 2 listed.

750CCA 870CA $189.99

650CCA 810CA $209.99

 

CCA is not really the important factor.

The important factor is mAh or Ah or something like that. Its amps * hours. Its how much life the battery has before it dies. more amps, less hours, more hours, less amps.

but the higher the number the more of both.

 

this is what you want to do:

get a Red Top AND a Yellow Top. Run a battery isolator between the two.

run your starter off the Red Top(which will replace your current battery)
run your accessories off the isolated Yellow Top.

bam.

/thread

 

if you have never done that again then your fine. what happened was the battery dies completely. you amp has a voltage protection so it went off first and in some situations if the battery is just the right amount it will have enough to leave power for the display on the hu but not the internal amp. hence why u had no sound but everything "looked" normal

If this was a one time situation i would just forget about it. you battery is more fucked then it was before but once isn't necessarily enough to buy a new battery (it will die sooner then it would have but your not going to get stranded for a while). if you plan on playing music with the car off more then double battery with isolator is the best solution

 

doesn't the batteries charging capacity like....decrease by half each time that **** happens?

 

i just picked up a new deep cycle yellow top optinum. and i can already tell a huge difference. ive only had my car for about 6 months so the stock battery was prolly on its way out since i bought it. windows n sun roof move a bit faster now lol and my system deffinetly hits stronger without the strobe light effect haha. yeah i figured the battery is shot or was just about shot. the yellow top is a C hair taller so it does lift up the floor/carpet insert but excellent sound quality

 

Yellow Top's rock.

 

I put that bitch on it's side lol.

 

I would like to get an optima. what part number are people using for cobalts? Last time I checked there website doesn't have one listed specifically for the cobalt.

 

its because they dont make one thats the same size as our stock battery. like they said above the one that fits best is a little too big

 

only if mounted up and down.

if put on it's side, yea it's a bit bigger width-wise but at least your floor doesn't come up.