alarm draining battery???

[lithium 358]

i had a hornet security system installed in my car, baught and installed at circuit city... its been in almost a year now.

last weekend my car sat for 2 days while i was visiting my gf. alarm was armed, no light were left on. battery was deadafter 2 days. i thought it was the cold so i took it to walmart, they tested everything and said it could be going bad or something is draining from the battery. my dad bought a new battery and all was fine. like i said i thought it was the cold weather giving it a hard time. so anyways last night i accidentally armed the alarm (not knowing if it was the draining the battery or if previous battery was just dying on its own) and my battery was dead. (armed saturday night and battery was dead Monday morning)...

im calling out the alarm on this one. i didn't install myself. didn't really want to mess with it. im still relatively new to this kind of thing.

ive called circuit city and ill be taking it up there to have them look at it. (for free)

any advice?

additional info:

-car- 2000 olds intrigue

-audio- cheap ass chitty sony deck

-front stage- kx250.2 and pg components

-sub stage- AA arsenal and kenwood excelon amp

-cap- 1.2 farad tsunami

-wiring- kicker 4gauge

[NB50 206]

How old is the battery??

[johnecon2001 82]

Before you take it up there.. Are you sure it's not your stereo staying on? Perhaps disconnect all that first and then arm it again. See what happens.

An alarm draws very little power when on, so I doubt it'll be the one draining your battery.

[lithium 358]

the first battery was is in it when i bought the car about 2 years ago.

brand new battery was installed.

only happened when i arm the alarm.

the only thing ive done to the stereo is remount them on the new rack. its all hooked up just fine. stereo is not staying on. amps do not stay on.

here is a post by 4runner that was on my double post...

"ok, well in my experience of installing alarms...they do have constant power on them...but they shouldnt pull hardly anything with the alarm armed or not ? If you think its the alarm then it is most assured gone bad. But dont put the blame on the alarm just yet...think back to see if you had anything else done to your car...alternator, amplifier, radio, etc........Problem could be elsewhere....."

walmart did there test and alt and starter are fine.

any thing i should check specificly?

[johnecon2001 82]

If it is the alarm, something is indeed wrong with it. I would still check to see if anything else is staying on though.

[lithium 358]

its the only thing i haven't done myself. i hope with circuit city taking a chit wont screw me over here haha.

ill look everything over again.

[KU40 173]

sounds like the alarm has gone bad. If you have a warranty, take it back to Circuit City (better hurry before they go bankrupt and close!).

[lithium 358]

ya this is all too convenient if they close before i can get in. if they go bankrupt i heard they dont have to honor warranties. funny thing is, the CC where i got it done just relocated...

im pretty sure that its apart of there install they have to atleast remove it for free. they said they would take a look for free as well. ill set something up asap.

Edited November 25, 2008 by lithium

[KU40 173]

Well if it has just started a year after installing it, it's not likely an installation issue. It's more likely an equipment malfunction.

[akjay907 0]

I agree. My alarm was set when I left for 2 weeks and my system was fine, started right up.

[todd.brust 29]

Definitely not the alarm, unless something internally fudgeed up and just started draining loads of current which i find hard to believe.

There could be hundreds of shorts throughout a car so it could be hard to pinpoint a location.

I was going to say bad alternator but as you stated, it was already checked.

[lithium 358]

alright update time-

new brain put in at circuitcity under warranty.

sunday night i tried it with alarm armed and monday morning the battery had just barely enough juice to start.

monday night i left the alarm off and had the same result tuesday morning.

tuesday night i check my power wires in at the cap and saw they where alittle loose because i had to much solder on one so i fixed it and everything was tight. but again this morning i had just barely enough juice to get her going.

tonight im trying with alarm armed but this time i removed the inline fuse and unplugged the turn on from the hu...

anything else worth looking into.

i noticed my glove box light is out... should i look into that??? haha im really at a loss...

[johnecon2001 82]

Why do you have a capacitor?

[lithium 358]

rofl. i was a still a noob 6 months ago. the only reason i still have it in is because it was a gift from my parents. if i take it out they would be upset you know.

unless its the problem then ill rip that bitch out!

[lithium 358]

Why do you have a capacitor?

thanks for the new sig haha

[johnecon2001 82]

Does the cap have a voltage meter on it? Is that staying on by chance?

[lithium 358]

alright so last night i tried system unhooked and alarm unarmed. car started fine.

tonight im trying system unhooked and alarm armed.

if its dead then its the alarm. if its not dead then its the system, in which case i will get a distro block and remove the cap.

Does the cap have a voltage meter on it? Is that staying on by chance?

it has a meter but is not staying on. but i have not checked to see if it was coming back on later....

[KU40 173]

hmm, my guess is the cap. it may have developed a slow short internally or something.

[lithium 358]

im hoping its the cap....

Edited December 4, 2008 by lithium

[lithium 358]

update:

last night i did no system but alarm armed. battery was fine. tonight im goin to walmart after work to get power distro... i hate the cheap ass ones they sell but im not going to wait and im deff. not going to circuitcity or bb and break a 50 on their chit. but i think i can hid it so u cant see it...

[lithium 358]

went to walmart and got the distro. took the cap out and wired the amps back up.

will see in the morning if it worked...

[lithium 358]

i did system and alarm but with out cap and it was dead this morning.... im going to do system but no alarm tonight

this is getting annoying..... ive turned up another possibility on another forum. possibly a corroded alt to batt wire. i wish i could have done the big three...

[audiophyle_247 2]

Do you have a light under the hood? I have seen bad trunk lights & hood lights cause many headaches as they would stay on randomly and leave a dead battery every now & then.

Unhook the batt neg terminal, connect a DMM to it & then to the batt neg. (neg cable -> DMM -> Battery)

Set it to read amps and read how much current is being drawn. That will tell you how bad the drain is, and at that point you can begin pulling fuses to find which one eliminates the drain on the battery (start with amp fuses). If you unhook something & the drain goes away, THAT is whats causing the problem. There will always be a very small draw (alarm, clock memory, car ECU, etc..) but we are talking tiny.

I have also seen alts have internal shorts that drain a battery when off but will still "pass" a charging system test. Disconnect the alt from the batt while doing the draw test, before or after you are pulling fuses out.

Problem is, with any of those issues the batt would die all the time.

With the system unhooked you said the battery was fine with the alarm armed or unarmed, pretty much rules out the alarm right there man. I would quit worrying about the alarm's armed status affecting anything, clearly it is not. With the system unhooked, how long have you let it sit? Sounds like that is the problem to me. If it made it a couple nights with the system unhooked and batt was fine, you need to start testing each part of your system and unhooking those things 1 at a time. Saying you did everything but the alarm pretty much makes everything but the alarm suspect.

[lithium 358]

turned out the battery i bought had a dead cell. explains why it didnt hold a charge at all.

[johnecon2001 82]

turned out the battery i bought had a dead cell. explains why it didnt hold a charge at all.

ah HAH.

Cool that you finally figured it out.