my light are dimming and i think they shouldnt be

[markak134 1]

i just disconnected the 2 deka from the front connection and now they read 12.4 im going to fully charge bother dekas tomorrow take out the redtop put one of the dekas up front and see if they hold their charge

[shizzzon 461]

honestly, if one of those dekas fit up front, i'd leave the red top out, charge EACH deka separately with agm charger then put them both back in and go.

[Shogen 325]

It looks as if your alternator isn't charging your batteries well.... 12.4v is very low...

[markak134 1]

yea i think i got ripped off on the altnernator stupid ebay who knows maybe the stock one was even better

oh and we have a battery charger at my work i can use but i dont know if its for agm ive never really looked at it i know its a new one digital and everything will they be a setting on it for agm ?

this is the box it came in and the guy told me its 250 amps

Edited January 10, 2011 by markak134

[Sir-Lancelot 216]

Yes, there should be a setting for AGM and a low amp "trickle" charge

[shizzzon 461]

you do NOt want to set it to trickle to charge, hehe.

Setting a charger too low of a charge on large group size batteries wil have the opposite effect of charging...

You need to set it to a minimum of 10A if not higher.

[markak134 1]

well i didnt ready your post about having the setting to 10a or higher i charged the 2 dekas today at work it took about an hour to charge each it had a 2amp and 10 amp setting i had it on 2amp cause i thought lower would not hurt it i dont know why but they are resting at 12.8 now im going to remove the redtop tonight

Edited January 10, 2011 by markak134

[shizzzon 461]

12.8 is not high enough.

They should be at 13.0v even.

If they can't get that high, then they are already slightly damaged.

[Jay-C76 333]

Damn this is good reading material!

My secondary battery has had some issues and now I am certain as of why.

I let it sit out of my truck for a few months without maintaining a charge.

I put it on a 10 amp charge and it seems to float around 12.8 - 12.9 volts

while the primary holds at 13.0 - 13.2

I have the same issue at night when the lights are on.

After reading this, I believe I'm in need of a new secondary battery since

the power supply is only as strong as the weakest link.

[shizzzon 461]

yea. Just because the battery doesn't rest at 13.0v after it's been properly charged doesn't mean it's about to die completely.

It DOES mean that the advertised specs of the battery are going to be slightly lower than expected.

A battery will always last longer the lower the depth of discharge with a fresh new charge.

This means-

If you keep discharging your battery 30% down then charging, it won't last as long if the battery were only being discharged down 20% then recharged.

Jay, since you already know different batts are resting differently, a solenoid is the cheapest solution to keep using the batteries without any serious problem to occur if you don't wanna go out and buy a new battery.

It's not utterly important right now. Just keep them separated with a solenoid while the vehicle is off so the higher one doesn't try and charge the lower one all the time and you should be fine for a while from now.

[Jay-C76 333]

While I'm driving the voltage drops from 14.5 to 13.2 or 13.3 when she's banging loud.

I only press the volume for about 5-10 seconds and I notice the drop and a "twitch" in the headlights.

Since I've noticed this I refuse to put the volume over half.

I think I may have a solenoid sitting in a box of spare gear around here somewhere.....

After income taxes I plan on getting 2 new batteries for the rear and using the Stinger SP1700 for my boat.

I wasn't impressed by these Stinger batteries at all.

How much of a difference would there be between AGM and Wet cell deep cycles?

[shizzzon 461]

for one, I'd stick to AGM for car audio.

for two, your alternator isn't strong enough for what power you are running sadly..

13.3v is a pure sign that the alt can't handle the load, whatever load that is.

If you believe you have more than enough capable alternator power... then i'll tell you now, you 'd be surprised to see what's goin on under the hood when u find out why your droppin in the low 13s.

IT could be because the alt's belt isn't on good enough, alt itself sucks, buildup of resistance somewhere(this requires multiple check points with a DMM), or your batteries are lower than what you think making your alt charge them while running the stereo.

IF you have an ammeter, that will answer almost all scenarios above.

[Jay-C76 333]

Son of a !!! LOL

Now you really have me worried!

This issue started only about 4 or 5 months ago.

Now I'm curious as to what exactly is going on under that hood.

It's freezing cold outside but I have to investigate with my DMM (it's all I have for a meter)

Could an old cable build up resistance that would choke off the power?

[shizzzon 461]

MANY things can cause resistance.. but don't get worked up about it.

I'm real sensitive when it comes to the electrical system.

any slight shift in voltage.. i'm all over it because i know if it keeps heading south.. something bad will happen in the long run.

I wouldnt forget to do some basic maintenance\checking things but whenever it gets a little warmer, go out there and see what's goin on.

It maybe something simple.. your voltage levels are still high, just not perfect. Just lucky your batts arent reading 11.3v... and you are 200miles away from home.....

Me.. from experience.. lucky i made it back home.. XS Power got me home, hehe and helped me get 1st at the show too on dead batts... imagine that.

[shizzzon 461]

well i didnt ready your post about having the setting to 10a or higher i charged the 2 dekas today at work it took about an hour to charge each it had a 2amp and 10 amp setting i had it on 2amp cause i thought lower would not hurt it i dont know why but they are resting at 12.8 now im going to remove the redtop tonight

I been meaning to respond to this statement.

I do not know what kind or model charger you were using but that doesn't sound right...

I currently have 2 XS power batts i'm not using so once a month i throw them on the charger separately to keep them maintained.

I remember one time, my D3100, which is just a hair bigger than the Deka 9A31, was reading 12.7v.

I set it to 15A charge. I took the ammeter and noticed it was actually only gettin ~6.7A since the computer was throttling it's charge rate.

IT took OVER 2hours just to get the battery back up to 13.1v again.

So how you were able to charge from 12.3 or 12.4v at 2A for 1 hour sounds like either you are using the wrong charger or the charger isn't working right.

After my charger gets to 100%, it still takes about 30min afterwards to throttle the current back to a trickle and maintain charge voltage at 14.7v.

Afterwords, it drops voltage to 13.6v which is float.

[markak134 1]

i put the deka under the hood

i just started my car 1 time and now that battery is dead did that charger mess up the battery or what

its just some crap charger the meter doesnt even work on it i was just ussing a dmm to measure that battery and i thought it was charged

Edited January 11, 2011 by markak134

[markak134 1]

shizzon do you know what happend here did that charger have a reverse affect because it was 2amp and also nothing said agm on it but i used it any way so it read 12.8 with my dmm stayed that way for like 5 hours i put the deka under that hood started once turned it off started it again car wouldnt start dmm the battery it read 11v took it out put my redtop back in (didnt put the redtop on a charger just the 2 dekas at work today) set the deka aside didnt hook it back up car starts fine with the redtop then i dmm the deka again and its at 12.5 wat is going on

are my dekas ruined or do i need to buy a proper charger for them to work'

when i first took the charger off i only charged them for an hour and a half on 2amp and they read like 13 somthing them quickly fell to the 12.8 is that charger mest up or wat ive never had problems with my batteries dieing until i put them on that charger

Edited January 11, 2011 by markak134

[shizzzon 461]

no other charger can charge agm batteries except an agm battery charger.

I can't say if the battery is actually damaged unless you put it on a proper agm charger and let it charger til it's done.

If a fault is found.. well, that's your answer.

As of right now, any test will say the battery is damaged because it's virtually dead so it needs to try and be charged properly first.

Sears sells AGM battery chargers made under Duralast name i believe.

[markak134 1]

ill be buying an agm charger this weekend

this doesnt make sence how they cant start my car maybe they are garbage

what if i fully charge it on a agm charger put it in my car and start it and it goes dead again is that possible these are factory clean ups too

Edited January 11, 2011 by markak134

[shizzzon 461]

what?

Deka intimidators are NOT UPS batteries. They are car audio AGM batteries.

If you get an agm charger and u put the battery on it and it charges but wont start the car.. that wouldnt make sense...

A group 31 battery is powerful.

If the battery were bad, the charger would send a fault basically telling you the battery is bad.

If the charger charges the batt 100%, then the batt will start the vehicle.

I would not see your "what if" scenario possible.

[markak134 1]

but why did that charger i used at my work just make it die lol

[markak134 1]

i got the die hard battery it measured them at 12.5v and wen it started charging it at 15a started at 77% one is fully charged ill go measure the volts its sitting at later this doesnt make sence why it couldnt start my car because it wasnt that dead it took under and hour to get it to 100% charge

After my charger gets to 100%, it still takes about 30min afterwards to throttle the current back to a trickle and maintain charge voltage at 14.7v.

what do u mean throttle it sit in your car and rev it up ?

the deka is resting at 12.96

im definatly going to have to buy a good anlternator some time to keep my batteries in good condition

Edited January 13, 2011 by markak134

[shizzzon 461]

no i mean when the charger is charging them, if u are out there right when it hits 100%, it will stay on 100% for around 30min before it kills the charging current going to the battery.

Just wanted to let you know to WAIT for it to stop charging before u go, hey 100%, it's done and unplug it, hehe.

[DC Power Rob 4]

yea i think i got ripped off on the altnernator stupid ebay who knows maybe the stock one was even better

oh and we have a battery charger at my work i can use but i dont know if its for agm ive never really looked at it i know its a new one digital and everything will they be a setting on it for agm ?

this is the box it came in and the guy told me its 250 amps

This is why you don't buy alternators from eBay... That stuff is Chinese garbage no matter who's selling it.. There are at least 15 companies who all buy the same shit, from the same people, the same garbage windings and put their own name on it and call it high output.. All this ends up for most consumers is save a buck on the alt because they think 250 amps is 250 amps and it's cheaper, and all you do is cause yourself a bunch of headache and BS...