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Batteries- when is it time to upgrade?

M

MahnkenVille

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Liverpool, NY
How many things (audio, CB, etc...) can I run on my stock battery before I should think about upgrading? Will I be okay running some subs and a CB on the stock battery or will it get drained faster?

I'm running 2 10" subs at 500watts total and plan to put a CB in soon.
 
With the car on or off? With the car off, those subs will drain your battery very fast. The cb would be fine, but high wattage audio equipment takes a lot of juice. I have 6 driving lights up top, two up front, and two fog lights. With my car off, if I had everything on at once, I would be able to watch the gauge drop. I'd give it 5-7 minutes tops. That's a worn optima red top.
 
Alternator is what you have to worry about first, battery will need upgrading if you are planning on using these things with the jeep off.
 
goodburbon said:
Alternator is what you have to worry about first, battery will need upgrading if you are planning on using these things with the jeep off.
Click to expand...
X2, the more important thing is the alternator's ability to charge the battery while the system is under a load. Having an Optima yellow top will give you more reserve time but the alternator has to be capable of charging it up when the system is under load.
 
At what RPM you spend a lot of time running at has a lot to do with it also.
If you idle a lot or off at very low RPMs? A high output alt may be needed.
Also the amps draw is liner to it's output. Or keep it down and they don't pull anywhere near there max load. But you didn't get a 1000 watts of amps to keep it down right. If the CB was made in the last 20 years it's draw is very small.
Battery: If the battery is showing it's age? An upgrade/replace is smart.
Fresh and strong, I would run it till it blows.
 
Last edited:
only running one 500watt amp for both subs (way underpowered, but who cares). So far I've ran them with the engine off quite a few times and only see a little drop in the needle after maybe 10 minutes tops (I make sure to drive to recharge). Alt seems to always charge it back to normal according to the gauges. So I really shouldn't see a change then because CBs are low-draw?

And I don't blare my music because I'm not obnoxious haha.
 
CB's are low draw until transmitting, even then they are relatively low draw compared to the sub amps you're powering, and an unmodified CB is very low draw even when transmitting.
 
a friend of mine was running a similar setup, audio wise... 2 12's though, i think...

if he was bumping (he did, he IS obnoxious =) he'd see his gauge lights flicker w/ the bass.
unless you run a renix, a hi output alternator is an easy enough upgrade.
 
I would guess your 500watt amp is drawing more power being maxxed out than 2 amps putting out 1/2 their rated power... if that makes sense.

you don't have to drive to power back up, just get the idle up a bit. there is a high idle mod on here if you wanted to search for such a thing.
 
driving it as in driving or at least running the engine after running on battery-only for a little while.

I figure i'll upgrade when things start to go, with maybe a yellow-top and a high-output alternator.

thanks everyone!
 
Anything over stock you need to upgrade battery/cable and possibly alt as well!!
 
It's time to replace when you have loose terminals and the battery leaves you stranded twice, once in a hurricane. Maybe that's just me.

Didn't know batteries could have loose terminals until my friend told me to wiggle them and the jeep started right up. Got an Optima Yellow top that next week.
 
MahnkenVille said:
Do most CBs run off of the actual battery (red wire to + terminal)? Or do most run off cigarette lighter/12v outlet power?
Click to expand...

Depends on how you decide to power it. I fitted mine with a plug to go to the cigarette lighter, but when I was serious about my CBs I would always go to the battery for cleaner power. Going to the battery helps avoid the buzzing you get when the aux fan kicks on and any ignition buzz you might pick up.
 
When connecting to the batt, what's the best way to connect it? I'd rather not solder if I don't have to. Do they make a wire that can just attatch to the terminal?
 
A separate power distribution box helps, with it's own connection to the battery. It keeps the extra terminal connections down to one, and separates the add-ons from the rest of the circuits. You can get a 6 fuze box and power it with a 6 guage lawn tractor cable, which will keep the wiring cleaned up and get circuit breakers into it.

Check the parts house electrical display. The subwoofers should go to a multi cable stud type power take off. RV and stereo houses have them.
 
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