RBABE

iTrader: (1)

I have searched through the 28 pages of threads and found several threads relating to my questions but also found several answers to my questions that are conflicting. So, I thought I would put down my specific questions in hopes of receiving a specific answer.

I have an 01' Civic EX with OEM foglights, LED windshield washer nozzle lights, Xenon headlights, OEM rear wing spoiler w/LED lights, Pioneer 8400 HU, 2-12" JL audio subs, 500X RF amp, 200M RF amp, and Avital 2200 alarm.

My problem-My car will not start on a daily basis. And, my sound system will cut out when I come to a complete stop after driving with A/C blasting, lights on, and system booming.

I have taken my car to the dealership and I'm told that all is fine with battery and alternator.

Now, what do I do to solve this problem? Do I get a new battery or alternator or both? And, which one(s)?

I greatly thank you for any help on this for I'm beside myself every day when my car won't start! Again, I know this has been covered many times but I found many different solutions to this problem and I want to know the correct one. Some people say to get an Optima yellow top and that will do it and others say get this other type of battery and that will do it. Then there is some who say our alternators are too weak to be running what we run and since our alternators carry these electrical demands, we need to get a new alternator. And, last I knew, no one made a better alternator for our cars.

AGAIN, THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!!!

doubledeuce2k2

iTrader: (20)

the yellow top battery is the deep cycle battery. its purpose is for situations where there is a large current drain on the battery (yours). bigger alternators are out there and basically this will let your car recharge faster.

think of your battery as a bathtub of water and your lights/amps/AC as the drains. when they are all open, your tub is going to drain prettyy quickly. the 2 ways to solve this problem are fill the tub quicker (alternator) or close the drains (turn off the AC and lower the volume a few minutes before you shut down the car). the first costs money, the latter is free

RBABE

iTrader: (1)

DoubleDeuce2k2! Very informative! So, a yellow top would definitely help this situation but may not solve the situation? And, turning off A/C and the volume down on my system a few minutes before parking would curb this situation? Now, any recommendations on a specific alternator for our cars that is not as weak as our OEM one? Again, thank you for the help!

CelCUs

iTrader: (9)

There's this thread on this same page . . . http://www.7thgencivic.com/forums/sh...hreadid=102415

A yellow top would help dramatically because they charge faster and hold a lot more juice in them to power your stuff. And if you're still worried about the yellow top going out you can just turn off your subs for a trip and let it charge again. The yellow top can be depleted way below halfway and still charge to it's full potential, but not your stock battery. once your stock battery drops below halfway it will never perform the same way. You also might want to upgrade the wiring to your alternator and grounds for the car.

RBABE

iTrader: (1)

Yeah,' I caught that thread but I'll check it again to see if I missed something! Thanks for the additional info.!

WhiteRabbit

is it a severe problem? if the fuse between the alternator and battery is cut, the car is somewhat cutoff, and very interesting things can happen.

somehow i dont think its the problem, but you might wanna doublecheck the fuse under the hood, its an 80 amp fuse. probbaly fine, but you never know.....

RBABE

iTrader: (1)

It happens daily atleast and sometimes it happens twice daily, I think that is severe! I'll check the fuse, thanks for the tip!

LudlamTheory

little discrepancy about the yellow top battery. the yellow top battery is NOT designed for higher power needs, "Deep cycling" a battery is defined as discharging it SIGNIFICANTLY. when any regular battery becomes discharged, it loses its full potential to recharge. A deep cycle battery allows deep cycling. Best use for a deep cycle battery is as a backup battery with a solenoid isolating it from the stock battery so you can play your system with the car off and have NO problems restarting your car (because your main starter battery isnt touched by the system when the car is off). Personally I would check all your stuff, and then maybe upgrade your battery and ground wires, then, I would invest in a red top or just simply a larger battery because the downside of a deep cycle battery is that it does not provide charge at the same speed as a regular battery.

RBABE

iTrader: (1)

Do you know which group # fits our cars for the red top and is it a perfect fit or do mods need to be done to fit it in our cars?

Okay-I need to check all my stuff including the battery/alternator fuse, upgrade ground wiring, and buy a yellow or red top? That sound about right to everyone?

Anything else I need to know or Am missing?

Again and again, thanks for all the help from everyone!

NorrinRadd

Yikes your issue is worse than mine, but it looks like you are running more power than I am. Anyways, sorry to hear you have problems too, but when you start your car does your engine turn at all (weakly) or not at all (just a click from the starter, not the engine)? If it does, then going with a red/yellow top (assuming your wiring and fuses are all good) will probably help a little. It won't solve it, since unless you never turn your system on you will still be borrowing volts from the alternator to run things, thus draining the battery. I think from your setup, since you may have much bigger amp(s) than my mere 150watt you could benefit from an additional battery and bigger alternator. Your right though, I haven't seen any more powerful alternators for our cars. Also, I heard that getting one might mess our car up due to how sensitive our ECU is. Maybe someone on the board can clear that up and also provide a link to an available alternator. Good luck on getting your issue fixed, I'm still working on mine. Mine may just be a heat issue since AZ is hot. I'll let you know if I find the root cause of my issue, since it may help you out.

RBABE

iTrader: (1)

and I give you my empathy back for your problems. I think I have gotten both the click and the trying to start weakly if that makes any sense. Mostly, I get the weakly trying to start though. Thanks for the advice! I know this blasting heat in AZ has something to do with it. I have never heard of a more powerful alternator possibly causing more harm because of our ECU, I guess that is something I should consider as well? Thanks for the luck and I wish you the same. I will also let you know if I figure out the root of my problem.

NorrinRadd

Anyways, since you start weakly (engine turns slowly) most of the time, then your issue is definitely related to too much power. I've tested the load on my alternator with everything on in my car (light inside and outside, alarm blaring, PS2 and LCD on, bass kicking, AC full blast, etc. - keep in my mind this is about 500watts max additional power over stock) and my volts never went below 12.05 (usually between 12.3 and 13.4). Our batteries are 12 volts and our alternators push up 14.3 I think, so if you have too much power your components start borrowing power/volts from the alternator and if it goes below 12 your battery never gets recharged. I'd definitely recommend taking your car to Checker or Autozone for a free alternator load check to confirm it with all your stuff on to see if your below 12 volts. Additionally, from what I've found (assuming all wiring is good), high power components added to our cars is the culprit for draining battery power. If you have over 500watts of stereo equipment you may want to invest in a stronger battery to power them. I wouldn't recommend using caps, since they typically only last 30 seconds then start drawing power from you battery even more so. So a stronger battery or another one on top of your existing one and a stronger alternator (if you can find one) should solve it. Again good luck... man it's hot today

RBABE

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the additional info.! I'm gonna put a stronger battery and maybe a stronger alternator if there is one and it doesn't mess with our cars! I'm gonna check my battery/alternator fuse and upgrade ground wiring and hopefull I will be set! And, I just might stop by an Autozone and do a load check on my alternator. That is good advice, thanks! So, your thinking yours is a wiring problem since your alternator and battery are fine? It is hot today, we are at 106 degrees F and could get hotter. Because, we definitely get hotter than 106 degrees F. Where do you live?

NorrinRadd

You're welcome, oh and if you can't find an Optima or its too expensive Pep Boys has a ProStart premium 51 series battery w/ higher cranking amps than our stock battery. The part number is #51-500 and it has 500 cca and 625 ca w/ a 85 minute recharge time, plus it sells for only $60. The power is similar to the Optima, obviously not as clean or as long lasting, but if $130 for an Optima is too much this is a great alternative.

Nope, my issues seems to not be power at all, since my wiring/fuses/etc. are all good and my battery/alternator is in excellent condition. Looks to be that our starters sometimes just click and no engine turn, since the immobilizer sometimes take awhile to kick in (found this on another thread). As for my door locks, I think the heat is just getting to the solenoids causing them to stick sometimes. I'll just need to monitor things for awhile, as long as things don't get worse I should be fine for now, especially when it gets cooler.

I live in Chandler.

RBABE

iTrader: (1)

Again, excellent tip, thanks! Glad to see you have resolved your issues for now at least! BTW-Excellent investigating on your part for me and yourself!

You live in Chandler, AZ? Have you checked out our AZ forum? We are starting to get things together to hang out in Chandler. Have I met you before at a Phoenix meet? My name is Jodie, what is yours please?

TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED WITH ALL THE ADVICE-A VERY BIG THANK YOU YET ONCE AGAIN!!!

NorrinRadd

No problem, just glad I could help you out a little.

Yup

Nope, didn't know there was one. I usually just look at the regular forums or do searches.

Nope, haven't been to any meets. I'm usually too busy w/ work (lots of travelling).

Jason, nice to meet you

WhiteRabbit

hey, i know its late, but i had an epiphany earlier this afternoon, do you run a capacitor?

OsOBooSTeD

iTrader: (5)

hey i had the same problem... my car would just shut off.... I replaced the alternator and it still did... I had the car checked by honda too... they said the batt and the alt were fine... TURNS out the battery was SHOT and it wasnt recharging as fast as it should , and when honda checked it .. it was charged... but they cant tell how fast its recharging... I just recently replaced my battery like a week ago... No problems since! Oh yeah and do what white rabbit said.. get a cap. they help .... 1 farad per 1000 watts.

WhiteRabbit

actually, i was gonna say they dont help. i have discovered in my own car that they are a drain on teh battery, jsut absolutely constantly, that my electrical system performs wonderfully without the capacitor, but it always seems liek teh voltage never bumps up to 14 when i have it in there.

if he had a cap i was actually gonna reccommend he pull it out and see if that helps!

NorrinRadd

Yup, WhiteRabbit you are correct. That's what I told RBABE in an earlier post. I tried using my friend's Rockford cap (500watt) and it seemed to work for 30 seconds then just drained the battery even more so than without it. With my stock setup (500watts) before the cap my volts w/ out the AC stayed around 14.1 w/ lots of bass and 14.2-3 w/ none, but with the AC it dropped to 13.3. If I had every damn thing I could turn on (stereo w/ sub, ext&int lights, AC, PS2, cell charger, alarm blaring hazard lights going off, heater, defroster, wipers, brake lights, reverse lights, EVERYTHING) on I never went below 12 volts, lowest was 12.05, but usually 12.3. Of course when I used the cap I went below 12 all the time and only just with the radio, subs, and AC on. I thought they'd help, but they just made things worse so gave it back to my friend who was dumbfounded. My problems seem to be controllable and minimal so far (starter might just be immobilizer just getting confused, and door lock solenoids just sticking at times due to heat).

RBABE

iTrader: (1)

Yeah', I didn't have caps before and know now not to get them! Thanks though!