Stereo glitching; 3 motorcraft batteries dead after 8mo
06-12-2018, 03:44 PM
#1
Stereo glitching; 3 motorcraft batteries dead after 8mo
I’ve been wanting to post this for a long time. I’ll have to post it in bullet points because I can be VERY long winded.
• has stereo put in
• kicker amps KX800.1, KX400.4
• Kicker Comp RT 12’s, Infinity Kappa component/tweets
• shop installed both amps on one 4 gauge wire. Kicker told me at the mfg plant that each amp should have 0 gauge wire and their amps require a lot of power.
• Stock deck
• 3 motorcraft batteries. All completely dead within a year.
• has to call roadside assistance because most of the time (every 3-5mo) it will die but after that runs fine until the official death arrives
• when subs are turned up with a new battery, no problems. After a few months, it starts clipping when turned up
• when turned up in a few months the bass will play but clip out all doors, etc with no sound playing for 1-3sec long.
• installation shop stated that the wiring is fine and I need an additional Kinetix battery for the amps to draw from.
• does this sound like an alternator issue, a factory deck issue, or an additional battery issue.
Thanks in advance.
• has stereo put in
• kicker amps KX800.1, KX400.4
• Kicker Comp RT 12’s, Infinity Kappa component/tweets
• shop installed both amps on one 4 gauge wire. Kicker told me at the mfg plant that each amp should have 0 gauge wire and their amps require a lot of power.
• Stock deck
• 3 motorcraft batteries. All completely dead within a year.
• has to call roadside assistance because most of the time (every 3-5mo) it will die but after that runs fine until the official death arrives
• when subs are turned up with a new battery, no problems. After a few months, it starts clipping when turned up
• when turned up in a few months the bass will play but clip out all doors, etc with no sound playing for 1-3sec long.
• installation shop stated that the wiring is fine and I need an additional Kinetix battery for the amps to draw from.
• does this sound like an alternator issue, a factory deck issue, or an additional battery issue.
Thanks in advance.
06-12-2018, 03:58 PM
#2
Sounds like a lot of issues honestly haha. I've run true 4 gauge welders wire for power with 1200 watts RMS and never had issues. They were fed from a distribution block that had 0 gauge wire connected to the battery. Sounds like you either blast your system stupid loud a lot and often with the truck turned off or you have a current draw somewhere which is killing your battery. The alternator should be fine providing enough power to the system if on a newer truck. I don't have knowledge about older trucks so I can't say if you have low alternator power issues. As for the clipping issues, I'm not sure. Sounds like a strange problem to have. Take the truck to the dealer to check your alternator. If bad replace it. If you notice a spark when connecting your battery power wire then you have a constant draw in the system. This is bad. Find the issue and your battery drain should go away. Last tip, find a new shop.
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bb123 (07-04-2018)
06-12-2018, 08:26 PM
#3
Senior Member
I ran a 2500watt system on a much smaller alternator than our truck has and my batteries lasted like normal batteries. No need for an additional battery on 1200watts. Each amplifier does not need 0gauge. Check out this chart.
The clipping would suggest that your gains are set too high, and the no sound playing for 1-3secs is your amplifiers going into "protect mode". OR, you are blasting your system at insane levels drawing more current than your alternator can provide, or your battery can provide, also causing your amplifier to go into protect mode.
The clipping would suggest that your gains are set too high, and the no sound playing for 1-3secs is your amplifiers going into "protect mode". OR, you are blasting your system at insane levels drawing more current than your alternator can provide, or your battery can provide, also causing your amplifier to go into protect mode.
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bb123 (07-04-2018)
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07-04-2018, 04:37 PM
#5
Ok, it happened again guys. Brand new battery; truck completely dead. This is getting ridiculous. Yesterday, just fine. Today, 100% dead and won't even flicker with lights almost as if the batter isn't even in the truck. Next, I have never run my stereo with the truck off. In fact, I don't listen to my stereo but maybe 3 days a week for 1hr. The reason is bc my son (3yrs old) is in my truck most of the time or I am listening to talk radio.
This appears to be a Ford issue. I have been searching and the 2013 F150 has been having major issues with the batteries just dying at random. I keep reading and this seems like it may be part of the problem.
One person said:
Link ( https://www.carcomplaints.com/Ford/F...ery_dead.shtml )
This appears to be a Ford issue. I have been searching and the 2013 F150 has been having major issues with the batteries just dying at random. I keep reading and this seems like it may be part of the problem.
One person said:
Link ( https://www.carcomplaints.com/Ford/F...ery_dead.shtml )
Came out to garage to a pickup that would not start three times in about a two week period. Charged the battery all tree times and the pickup started easy for a couple days. Finally got tired of that and took to my mechanic who replaced the battery and said the charging system was fine. This was just last week. I got up last Saturday and drove to town about 5 miles. I was away from the truck about 3 hrs and came out and the truck would not start. I got a jump and dropped the truck back at the repair shop. Now they are calling me saying they can't seem to find anything that is causing the dead battery???
Update from Feb 14, 2017 Took pickup back to shop at their request. Shop had truck for a couple days trying to track down the issue. Final results were that the Park/Neutral switch was bad. When putting the truck in park, the transmission was not turning off all the way and was drawing electricity. The shop found the problem and checked with identifix to confirm. They found identical issue that fit my problem to the T. Shop had to replace the entire shifter mechanism in the center console. The fix was about $500. (Plus a new battery I probably didn't need to begin with) Interestingly, the Ford shop in Boise Idaho had 4 of these in stock
....Appears this may be an issue bigger than the company would like to admit.
- overacre, Kimberly, ID, USAUpdate from Feb 14, 2017 Took pickup back to shop at their request. Shop had truck for a couple days trying to track down the issue. Final results were that the Park/Neutral switch was bad. When putting the truck in park, the transmission was not turning off all the way and was drawing electricity. The shop found the problem and checked with identifix to confirm. They found identical issue that fit my problem to the T. Shop had to replace the entire shifter mechanism in the center console. The fix was about $500. (Plus a new battery I probably didn't need to begin with) Interestingly, the Ford shop in Boise Idaho had 4 of these in stock
....Appears this may be an issue bigger than the company would like to admit.
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supercanadian (07-07-2018)