James76

Hello all,

I am posting to get some feedback here from fellow owners. You all may remember my audio system thread from when I first purchased my HHR. You can view that here.

https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/audio-video-17/project-loud-wood-lol-40705/
I think its important to note that the audio system while it is huge rarely gets played at a volume that puts any excess demand on the charging system or battery.

Anyways, back in January of this year my battery died. I attributed this to the extreme cold weather and the age (2007 sticker on the side of the battery). When I got the trim removed this is what I found

Yeah that is ice all over it.

Obviously I went and bought a new battery. Autocraft Gold from Advance auto parts. I charged the battery at 2a overnight on a charger.

Everything was fine from January 29th up until last week when the new battery died. The car sat for 1 day not being started or running and it seemed to be completely flat. It only took about 10 seconds of jump starting it (via my girlfriend's car) to bring it back to life. That seemed really strange to me. So far it has not died since then, but I have been paying attention to every voltage fluctuation and light dim like it is a nuke getting ready to go off.

Of course I am getting ready to take it on a 2000 mile road trip in 20 days so this has me a bit worried.

I did a parasitic drain test on the car today just to see what it read. With the bcm awake it read 1.23a


With the doors closed and the bcm asleep it read 0.01a or when switched to mA it read 0.19mA


I am pretty certain that is a very good reading.

The guy at Advance told me when he tested the new battery that the surface charge of 12.3v was a bit low and that his machine says their battery is good but needs charged. I had the battery out of the car on a different charger this time at 2a and let it charge again over night. Again the next day their machine says it needs to be charged. The alternator readings are from 14.6v to 14.99 (which seems a bit high?). It mostly stays in the upper range there all of the time. I know the regulator is computer controlled in this car.

I guess my question is that do you guys see anything that I am missing here? Any reason I should be scared to go on this long trip?

whopper

The parasitic drain seems reasonable to me (not that I have any direct experience with that) - depending on the state of the battery, a 2A charger may not be enough to top the battery up all the way. I would be tempted to try another new battery, or put a bigger charger on it and retest.

the high voltage reading might be due to it working hard to charge the battery (???)

If you explain to the store that it was put on a charger overnight (even though it was only 2A), they might be willing to swap it out for another one for you.

Any comments/suggestions from others????

James76

The charger I have has a 6a setting too, but it is not automatic and I am concerned that may over charge if left over night..

whopper

ahhh - you can always put it on at 6A when you first get home - then drop it back to 2A overnight.

I often have charged smaller batteries from motorcycles at 6A or so initially - but I check the temp periodically by feeling the sidewalls to see if they are getting too hot, and watch the acid, and back down the amperage if the bubbling gets to be too much.

James76

Not a bad idea. The boss just informed me I have the weekend off to tinker with it. :)

whopper

Bonus!!!! :)

badassbowtie

First thing, Does your sound system have a capacitor? You didn't list one on the list of stuff you installed. A capacitor is essential if you drive a short distance with the tunes cranked up...You may notice your lights dim out when the beat "hits" without the capacitor. I am saying that that sound system may pull more than the alternator can overcome, which is the purpose of the capacitor. If you buy one, for ever 1,000 watts for you system, you want 1 Farad capacitance. So a 2,000 watt system would call for a 2 farad capacitor.

Second thing, in a cooler climate the battery will end up with a little condensation on the side of it, and then freeze

Also I have had issues with my radar detector draining my battery overnight...a brand new battery

James76

Even at max volume which it never stays at for more than a few seconds to demo to the customers (I install audio for a living) the lights do not dim at all.

For perspective the radio goes up to volume 50 and I never listen to it at more than volume 15. Maybe 25 If I am jamming out for one song.

Thanks for the input though.

James76

Pretty certain unless I have slowly been damaging the alternator (which so far shows no signs of damage) the system has been in there for what 2 years? Why would it just now be an issue? If it makes any difference I repeated the tests with and without the amps hooked up just to rule them out. There was no measurable difference.

badassbowtie

Thats kind of weird? I had a 700 watt system for about a year in my old HHR...made the headlights dim with every hit when it was up loud enough. I'm not an audio expert by any means, I just figured knew a capacitor was important....But that doesn't explain your issue...

Maybe you got a bad battery or its not the same amps as your original battery....How about the terminals on the cables? are they corroded? Maybe you have a bad ground somewhere?

I would check the amp draw from the alternator with the car running and the system hooked up...I am not sure on our alternators max out put, but if you can try this, and find the max output, maybe your answer is there