Battery Life

[Nick The Great]

Guys-

 

I had something embarrassing happen to me a few weeks ago. I had to get jump-started. We've been going to the drive-in movie theater a lot this summer, but usually sit in the box. But 2 weekends ago, it was cold, so we sat in the cab. We got there at 6:30 and put the truck on ACC 30 minutes or so later. The movie started at 8:00 and at 9:30 I noticed my alternator light turn on.

 

Anyway, long story short, listening to the radio for 2.5hrs killed my battery. I still had head lights, radio, & all electronics at that point, but the truck wouldn't even think about cranking over. I was just lucky I had jumper cables with me and found a somewhat friendly person to help me. (He was in a 2000 Sierra, so he was probably alright )

 

Is this normal? Is there some heavier current draw than I realize? Just the factory non-bose radio can't use that much juice, can it? Or is everyone reading the topic saying, "of course you drained your battery!"

 

We're going to go Sat. again, but we'll probably be outside. I just don't want this to happen again.

[DofD]

That seems pretty short lived to me. I've had my radio on, doors open for 4 hours while shampooing interior, waxing exterior, etc, and had no problem starting afterward. You might have a bad battery with a dead cell or two.

[alaska511]

It sounds pretty short to me. Do you do a lot of short trips, stop and go? Perhaps it wasn't sufficiently charged.

 

I have had all 4 doors open, music playing (and I have a 400 watt amp and sub) while waxing and detailing for hours, and never had an issue yet.

 

Try slow charging it with a 2 (ish) amp charger before your next drive-in trip, maybe it wasn't charged sufficiently.

[Nick The Great]

Thanks guys. I didn't think it seemed quite right.

 

My trips to work are around 15 minutes each way, but it is about a 40 minutes drive to the drive-in. I don't know how long it needs to charge, but I'll maybe try the small charger.

 

[c4cruiser]

I don't think the batteries in the new trucks are very powerful or can provide power for long periods of time. Even with the key in the ACC position, there has to be some other systems powered up even though they arent used.

 

How about carrying one of those battery jumper packs? I found a nice one at Costco for $50 and it has not only jumper cables but an air compressor and a 12v power port. We have a few at our shop and one of these packs alone will start diesel trucks. You shouldn't simply connect the pack to the truck battery, but it will come in handy to start the truck if it happens again and you won't need to find a person to bring their vehicle over to do a jump-start.

 

A 40 minute drive should be enough to get the battery to a fully-charged state. It can't hurt using a small charger hooked up even overnight to get the battery back to a fully charged state.