cars with systems

[pewyee]

I usually listen to music when the engine isnt running, but this was with my old cars with no systems in it. I just bought a car and it came with woofers and an amp, is it safe to listen to music with the engine off? do i need to get a better battery (optima?)

 

[SykVSyx]

If it's the stock system you're fine. If it's an aftermarket setup and you plan on listening to it for hours, then you may want to consider a better battery. A better battery can't hurt regardless, so perhaps a red top should be considered.

If you aren't a "wake the neighbours" type of person, I wouldn't worry too much about doing the alt./batt/cap upgrade.

 

[hancockd]

You should be okay for a short amount of time, but I wouldn't recommend doing it for extended periods of time, because it will run the battery down.

 

[Wildman]

if you do want to check out new batteries, i'd suggest going to autozone. The duralast batteries are a lot better than what you'd get for the same price anywhere else and have a great warranty to go along with them.

All that said, the advantage of a deep cycle battery like a yellow top is that it is made to stand up to big drains on the battery (read: dead). they can be drained & recharged over and over without getting stuck and not being able to be recharged all the way back up to where they should be like normal batteries. The thing that is going to provide you with more listening time is going to be the number of cells in the battery.

You need to determine how much juice the aftermarket stuff draws. There's going to be a big difference in how your battery lasts from a 150 watt amp drawing 20 amps or whatever and an amp doing 750 watts drawing 80 amps. Personally when I am listening to the radio with my car off I just turn the remote on the amp all the way down, or go into my head unit menu and turn the preouts off (amp with no remote signal = turned off amp). If your main coaxials / comps are driven by an amp though it won't be that simple for you unfortunately.

 

[finch13]

^ x2. I usually turn the bass waaaay down if my car if off because its just loud and annoying anyways. Sometimes when I'm working on my car I'll turn the bass down and listen to music for a good hour or two and it cranks just fine afterwards... I have a Duralast in this car and had one in my 5g and for the price, theyre not bad at all.

 

[pewyee]

I'm newb with systems, never had one. How do you turn the bass down? Do you do it through the EQ settings on the deck?

 

[finch13]

On my Alpine, I just hit the knob and it brings up a quick menu for subs, fade, balance, etc. But I have an upper end model, i dunno what youve got.

 

[Wildman]

I'm newb with systems, never had one. How do you turn the bass down? Do you do it through the EQ settings on the deck?

really depends on the deck. what kind of deck do you have? maybe you'll get lucky and one of us has owned a similiar model at some point and could help you figure out where to do it lol

 

[SykVSyx]

Ok, so, the Teg(congrats again, even though it's a downgrade :lawl), did it come with an aftermarket deck, if so, what kind/model?

 

[ditbu13oi]

I usually listen to music when the engine isnt running, but this was with my old cars with no systems in it. I just bought a car and it came with woofers and an amp, is it safe to listen to music with the engine off? do i need to get a better battery (optima?)

Go for the red top optima! I have one in my car right now. Got in on craigslist for $100. Retail for these suckers are $170+tax. Its better to be safe than sorry. Plus these batteries have a 5 year warranty.