car radio on for 2 hours = dead battery (F150, auto, best)

[trixie11]

How long should a good battery last with nothing but just the radio on? Here's the deal. I have been stuck with terrible AAA car batteries for the last few years and despite their claim that they are the top of the line, best car battery you can get - I have found the to be the absolute worst. The first few batteries I ever had were a Sears Die Hard and then several Walmart cheap-o bottom-of-the-line $50 - and they all lasted between 5 and 8 years each. Then because of some electrical work that an AAA repair shop was doing - as part of that whole nightmare - I was told that they wanted to put in a new battery "just in case" that had something to do with the problem - even though I told them I didn't need one. Well that started me down the road of constantly having these expensive batteries keep dying in the same car doing the same things as the much longer-lived cheaper batteries. They are supposed to last 6 years. That is comical. They have ALL died at about the 18 month mark. So I keep having them replaced because they are all always still under warranty. The latest thing happened yesterday. Doing what I always do - sit in my car eating lunch for 2 hours with the radio on. Same thing for years. Go to turn the key - dead battery. Been through this same routine with calling AAA about 4 or 5 times now - guy comes - jumps the battery, I tell him I know that the battery is dead or not going to keep holding a charge so better to replace it right now - otherwise it will just die again and I will just have to call them again in the next few days or weeks. He tests the battery tells me it is fine and everything shows up as in good shape. "You don't need a new battery". OK,

So my question is - isn't the fact that nothing - no other variables - changed yesterday compared to thousands of days before that - and yet the battery died after 2 hours of having the radio on - shouldn't that tell me and AAA and everyone else that the battery is, in fact on its last legs and about to die permanently (and should be replaced) - despite what the AAA guy said last night?

How long should I be able to listen to the radio without killing my battery? I guess now I will just start the car and let it run for 10 minutes every 90 minutes or so after the radio has been on. Lame. I don't get it.

[City Guy997S]

depends on your "stereo system" Watch at 13 second mark


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOJx8IRaAVQ

[turf3]

Well, when you turn the key (or press the button) to have ”just the stereo” you're turning on a whole host of functions all of which draw current.

All that said, why don't you:

1) buy a set of jumper cables so you don't have to call AAA constantly
2) buy a battery charger so you can recharge in the driveway as needed
3) Buy a new battery of high quality and stop buying them from AAA

????

[trixie11]

The opposite of this. The stock radio in a 20 year old chevy. Listening to 2 hours of news programming on NPR at low volume. Same thing as every day for years and years. And one of the 4 speakers doesn't work.

[tickyul]

You can gradually draw-down your battery. If you are doing this for several days a week, and you do not run the engine long enough to fully reverse the discharge-process, your battery, even if not bad, will run out of juice a lot faster.

[Hemlock140]

On both our 2017 F150 and our 2020 Outback, 10 minutes with the radio on and it will display a message about saving the battery, and turn off. The 20 year old car, about a 2000 has much less demand on the electricity. Even the 2007 Ranger I used to have would go a good two hours with the radio on, no problem.
The original battery in it was still going strong when I traded it in at 10 years old. With Sears now gone, the Diehard is still available at many auto parts stores, otherwise, I would go with an Optima.

[trixie11]

Originally Posted by tickyul

You can gradually draw-down your battery. If you are doing this for several days a week, and you do not run the engine long enough to fully reverse the discharge-process, your battery, even if not bad, will run out of juice a lot faster.

As I stated, nothing else has changed. Every day for years and years is exactly the same routine. 50 miles of driving every day. The engine runs for at least 30 minutes between each point I stop and turn on the radio. I am not seeing anything in the replies that makes me think I am wrong about this battery dying and the AAA guy being wrong.

[grampaTom]

OP. How often do you clean (or have someone else clean) your battery connections?
How often are the water levels checked?

You can buy a good hydrometer for under $15 and check the battery status every couple of months.

Some batteries are better than others and I guess the ones you are getting from AAA aren't all that great.

[trixie11]

"You are buying low quality batteries and sitting in the car using current 2 hours a day, your batteries are not lasting and you're discharging them by this behavior. I tell you that you need to buy better batteries "

The exact opposite of this, actually. The cheap batteries worked great and lasted years (as I stated in my initial post, if people would bother reading it), and the new AAA expensive, top of the line, "best battery you can buy" are the ones that keep dying. Again, all relevant information was in my initial post. Mod cut.

[BostonMike7]

Have you tested for parasitic draw on your vehicle? Do you know how many milliamps you pull with everything off?

You may have a small parasitic draw somewhere and the radio being on for 2 hours just puts it over the edge. That's the only way I can imagine a regular, no frills radio depleting a battery. I've gone 2+ hours with my radio on without issue when I was working on the car and wanted something to listen to. It would always crank right up afterwards. Only times I've had issue is when the battery is on it's way out.