Dual Post Battery, HO Alternator.. Questions..

[YoungMounty]

Just a little input, I have a yellow top with the current accessories connected: winch, massive sound system, KC lights, hid headlights, and a double DIN cd player with the stock 1997 mountaineer amp. I have had parasitic drain problems in the past which I narrowed down to my system, but I got it figured out with no problems now whatsoever. My application is using a yellow top though but just thought I would throw this input into the equation.

The parasitic drain seems like your problem as I had similar issues. You should check every possible route as Optima Bill has suggested and that should (not 100% though) fix your problem.

 

[JCase]

Grounds?

 

[YoungMounty]

Grounds are all stock.

 

[JCase]

Your electrical demand is x3 more than stock, but the upgrades to the OEM grounds are the same?

 

[YoungMounty]

As of right now yes and as of the past year the grounds have been stock. I've had the Optima for 2-3 months with stock grounds. I know that's bad but the Big 3 upgrade is in the works.

 

[JCase]

Your not wrong or right in what you've done YM.

Just bringing to your attention there is more to upgrading than the individual parts themselves, look at the overall picture.

 

[YoungMounty]

Oh yeah man, I definitely know that. It's just money and time that I don't necessarily have with me just starting college. It's in the works for sure along with some other upgrades that are instrumental in the whole picture. Should be done within the next month or two.

 

[SwaintaN]

yeah im gonna update the grounds here soon as i do this, i just gotta get past today (youngest bday) and i can start on the electrical problem.. i will be redo the grounds, how do you get to the ground on the back of the block?

 

[SwaintaN]

sooo step one of MANY is done.. i got the explorer jumped, pulled over to garage and battery on charge... so now i just gotta dig out the volt reader.. which in honesty I HAVE NO CLUE HOW TO USE.... i know my engine bay volt meter when it started saod 5.5 volts when jumped and running spiked to 15.9 volt steadied out to 14.5 for 5 mins before i shut it off to come in and do birthday stuff

 

[SwaintaN]

F.I.I.K.....

So i went through every fuse to just to make sure they were good and getting power.. all good.. motor bay and inside fuses.. each one is good in working condition..

Couldnt not find my meter reader so Im gonna havta go out this week and get another one..

what really blows my mind is how NONE of the dash lights work and the push button dont work either but yet all the fuses are good?!?!?!?!

 

[SwaintaN]

ok first off YAY started to clean the garage to get mind off of the ex and found the multimeter reader.. haha.. now just gotta figure it out..

secondly under hood where the fuse panel is, it says panel 40a and there was another that was 40a when i swapped them my dash lit up!!! so can fuses be bad even though not blown???

thirdly i think the drain is the cd player... when i got in it was off again and lost the saved channels again.. and it kept flickering the lights on it... so might be time to yank that...

fourth then just leaves the 4x4 push button problem on why its not getting power..

 

[Optima Bill]

SwaintaN,
Wow, a lot of stuff here in the last three posts.
You really need to get the battery completely charged. There is only about two hours between post 48 and 49 so hardly time for a good, complete charge and time to do all the checking you did. I still say leave the battery unhooked for 24 hours once it is charged to be sure it is ok.
On the voltmeter, you should have a DC setting and a + or red lead and – or black lead. Plus to plus , black to ground and read the voltage. If the meter has been sitting for a while, it may need batteries itself to work. See what the voltage is at the battery before charge, while truck is running and when charge is complete. Then check again in 24 hours to be sure it is holding a charge.
Yeah, unhook the radio, probably two different hot wires on it, be sure to unhook both and see if that stops the drain. The 4WD switch probably has its own fuse or relay, check both, as long as the wiring is hooked up, that should uncover one or the other being bad. One other thing on it though, be sure every thing is hooked up at tranny/transfer case, sometimes that connection gets unplugged and you would get the same results.
Hopefully this helps,
Bill Howell
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.

 

[SwaintaN]

lol not enough time? i work fast.. and i have the fuse checker where you just touch the top of the fuse to see if its blown or not, that is what i did, no blown fuses.

all connections are made, tight and secure, that was first thing checked was all connections that were/are accessible. those are tight

thats all i did? how was there not enough time? theres only about 22 fuses + relays...

comes to the radio only reason i know it did that is because i was sitting in the truck after dark to make sure all dash lights came on after fuse swap and when the truck would move from motor rev or me touching the radio it flickered the display

the battery is going charge to night on trickle charge so i can work on it tomorrow a little more... the mmr has good batteries in it since yes it did sit, mine just takes standard double a's.

its just cool to know i eliminated that there is not ANY blown fuses at all.. thats awesome.. and that visually might have gotten it down to the CD player... Me and wife were talking, the electrical problem started shortly after my ex was broken into.. they tried to do a straight yank on the cd player and i just pushed it back in, never thought of checking the wires until now!

 

[Optima Bill]

Looks like you are gaining on it. One thing I did not point out earlier here and should incase someone else reads this down the road. Voltage is tested in parallel, as in testing the battery or fuses like you described. However, amperage is tested in series. You would have to remove the fuse, and stick the probes on either prong in the fuse box, set your meter to amperage to check and see if there was any amperage going through that fuse circuit. I hope that makes sense.
Bill Howell
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.

 

[willindsay]

lol not enough time? i work fast.. and i have the fuse checker where you just touch the top of the fuse to see if its blown or not, that is what i did, no blown fuses.

all connections are made, tight and secure, that was first thing checked was all connections that were/are accessible. those are tight

thats all i did? how was there not enough time? theres only about 22 fuses + relays...

comes to the radio only reason i know it did that is because i was sitting in the truck after dark to make sure all dash lights came on after fuse swap and when the truck would move from motor rev or me touching the radio it flickered the display

the battery is going charge to night on trickle charge so i can work on it tomorrow a little more... the mmr has good batteries in it since yes it did sit, mine just takes standard double a's.

its just cool to know i eliminated that there is not ANY blown fuses at all.. thats awesome.. and that visually might have gotten it down to the CD player... Me and wife were talking, the electrical problem started shortly after my ex was broken into.. they tried to do a straight yank on the cd player and i just pushed it back in, never thought of checking the wires until now!

I would definately check the CD player if it's aftermarket.

My girlfriends car has an aftermarket one in it that she had some shop put in long before I met her. Well she kept havin a dead battery after the car sitting a few days. Well it turns out that whoever installed the radio must have wired it wrong or something because the radio will stop playing when the car is turned off but it will still drain power.
To get around this we figured out that by simply turning the radio off before the car would solve the problem. One day I might yank it out and check the wires but I know nothing about Hyindai's so it's low on my priority list.

 

[SwaintaN]

well i know BEFORE ME... they guy had replaced wires jerry rig style at the fuse box. so its not running a stock fuse just a inline fuse.. i had the cd player for a while before the problem, i think when they yanked it to try and steal it, that happened. im gonna yank it this week after i do the other testing to figure out the problem.. it stopped playing dvds a long time ago so might be time for a new one anyways.

 

[JCase]

I would definately check the CD player if it's aftermarket.

My girlfriends car has an aftermarket one in it that she had some shop put in long before I met her. Well she kept havin a dead battery after the car sitting a few days. Well it turns out that whoever installed the radio must have wired it wrong or something because the radio will stop playing when the car is turned off but it will still drain power.
To get around this we figured out that by simply turning the radio off before the car would solve the problem. One day I might yank it out and check the wires but I know nothing about Hyindai's so it's low on my priority list.

GROUND, Ground, ground, ground, GROUND!

But then again, maybe it's something else...

 

[SwaintaN]

update!!

OK back

So finally get the chance to go work on it.. and of course the main vehicle needs work.. so the battery goes on trickle charge for 1 day, FULL day... i go to finally work on the van and i hear the battery making a noise.. get closer and its the battery making a boiling noise on the top positive mount.

Does that mean battery is shot?

Also another prob that has now occurred.. Even when the ex was being charged/jumped the ex would start.. however now i get the famous CLICK when trying to start.. even banging on the starter it does not start...

so starter shot to? could it have been the starter this whole time draining the battery and screwing everything up?

no other work has been done yet. im getting ready to add a 0 gauge ground to the frame to see if a newer negative will help as well.

 

[OptimaJim]

So SwaintaN, to answer your question about your battery, it is probably hissing or making some kind of boiling noise because it is venting. Although you didn't mention what kind of battery you have now specifically, I presume it is some kind of maintenance-free battery. When batteries vent while on a battery charger, it is usually because they are overcharged. Once that electrolyte leaves the battery, there is no replacing it. That doesn't necessarily mean the battery is bad, but it does mean the lifespan of the battery has probably decreased to some degree.

If your battery charger is not properly-regulated, it will keep delivering current to the battery even after it is fully-charged. Since you mentioned jump-starting your Ex, I should also caution you that jumper cables are the electrical equivalent of a one-gallon gas can. They can get you started and to your next destination, but you should really fully-charge any battery that needs a jump with a battery charger as soon as possible, just like your next stop after putting one gallon of gas in your empty gas tank would likely be a gas station.

I read through the whole thread, but didn't see any mention of your typical driving habits. If you are jump-starting your truck and only driving for about 10-15 minutes or less, your charging system probably doesn't have a chance to fully-charge your battery. Most alternators are designed to maintain voltage, not recharge deeply-discharged batteries. Asking that task, even of a high-output alternator, can lead to a cycle of dead batteries and jump-starts, until either the battery or alternator fails.

It looks like it has been at least two months since you started this thread and from what you've posted, it sounds like you've been dealing with these issues even longer. At some point, it may be worth evaluating what your time is worth to you and if you might not be better off spending a few bucks to have someone else sort these problems out for you.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.fb.com/optimabatteries

 

[willindsay]

Not sure if it's been mention before but the 1st gens have problem with the battery cables corroding from the inside out. This might be where your problem is.

Sry if it's been mentioned before I scanned through and didn't see anything.