Can Amp Kill Car Battery?

Every car owner wants the best for their cars. Right from its optimal functioning of the electrical system to the overall driving experience. Is this possible to be achieved? And to the electrical car performance, can amp kill car battery?

Having an amp that consumes a lot of power will likely cause high power drainage from your battery. Every amp will drain your car battery only when connected to it. Car batteries help to power car accessories, including the amplifies. The amp can still drain the battery even after turning off your car. However, the amp doesn’t drain more power than required unless you use a powerful audio system, work for an extended time, or function on auto-power.

You probably want to increase your knowledge on what causes battery drainage and the possible ways to prevent it from happening. This article will help you discover everything.

Reasons for Amplifier Draining Battery

Powerful Audio System

This reason is quite obvious. Using a powerful audio system will take extra voltage from the car battery, hence depleting it. Factory-installed stereo systems and amplifiers tend to match the power of your car battery. However, installing an additional amp or retrofitting the old amp may imbalance the car battery and the amplifier. The amplifier amperage should never exceed what the alternator can provide at a particular time.

Whenever you use audio systems under high amp demand, it will deplete the car battery and reduce its lifespan. You should always calculate the total RMS of the amp by 13.8v to prevent buying an amp that may strain the battery.

Extended Amp Usage With Power-off Engine

You’ll be draining your car battery too fast whenever you use it with no engine running. The alternator cannot be able to charge the battery with engine-off.

Auto-Power

Modern cars, mainly the automatic ones, combine the auto power and key ignition, which does not require an ignition switch. It powers your car through remote control or sensor; this suggests that it won’t switch the amp on to perform any different action which triggers the car.

Battery Drainage Consequences

A high-power drainage amp can affect other car features and accessories’ functions. Find the consequences caused by car battery drainage below.

Your Car Starts to Crank

Cranking is the most common battery symptom; it can be shown by your engine not working. The car cranks whenever you turn the ignition switch on. Keeping the battery charge optimal will save you from emerging battery issues. However, having a dead battery in your car can cause security issues. When your car battery dies in places with a high crime rate, you can get exposed to criminals.

Having Car Not Starting for Some Days

When you experience the engine not starting, the possible cause can be your car battery. The car doesn’t crank. There won’t be powering up of the electrical elements. A good example is the headlights not lighting up. Under such a case, you should either charge your car battery or replace it. However, it should be best when you recharge rather than spending a lot of money on engine repair. You should monitor the amperage demand of the amp to ensure it does not drain the car battery.

Constantly Car Jump

Car jump is a common practice for many around the globe. The common cause of car jump is because of a dead battery. However, according to research made, car jump affects the lifespan of your car battery.

Also, high electric demand amp installation drains car batteries faster. Hence, causing mandatory car jump. You should note that three times or more car jump per week destroys a car battery. You should reduce battery load to enhance durability.

Reduced Functionality

Drained car batteries reduce the accessory’s functionalities. It can cause the shutting down of the car’s accessories without any warning, hence reducing the driving experience.

Dimming of Light When Using the Accelerator

The headlights produce dim light for a dying battery when you step on the accelerator. Accelerators stress the car battery and the dimming headlights manifest battery voltage reduction. An excellent working car battery fully charging means good lighting when driving in the dark and signifies the best driving experience during the night. Replace your amp whenever you see it malfunctioning.

How to Prevent Draining of Car Batteries by Amplifiers

Replace Old Alternator

An average alternator can produce between 80 to 120A; this energy is enough for powering high RMS amplifiers. Whenever the alternator cannot meet the demand of the new alternator, buying a new one is the best option. Doing so will help reduce battery load and provide the new alternator to keep charging your car battery while your car is in motion. Replacing an old alternator in your car is crucial whenever you have more alternators.

Alternators play an important role but have some drawbacks. See the table below:

Positives	Negatives
Cheap	They overheat under high current
Low maintenance	They need transformer (additional cost)
Robust
More compact

Installing Secondary Battery

To keep the primary battery of your car under minimal utilization, you should consider installing the secondary battery and a battery alternator if you need to use a high emp. The secondary battery gets charged by the primary battery while at the same time powering your car. However, if you should install a secondary battery, do so in vehicles with more than one amplifier.

Buy New Battery

The aftermath of a car amplifier weakens your car battery. However, a strong battery with at least 13.8v can perform an excellent job powering your amp. Therefore, it is best if you consider buying a new aftermath amp.

When purchasing a new battery, you should consider the important symbols indicating its authenticity. The best two indicators include cold-cranking amps (CCA) and Ampere Hours (Ah). The symbol Ah shows how long your battery can supply 12v power to your car.

You should look for high Ampere Hour batteries to enjoy music with the engine off in your car. However, the CCA symbol indicates several amperes that your car battery can deliver before it fails below 7.2v in 30 seconds.

Conclusion

Amps can kill car batteries depending on how they drain your car battery. You’ll experience high power drainage in case of using an amp that consumes a lot of power. However, the amp will only drain your car battery whenever it is connected. Car batteries help in powering car accessories with the amplifier included. Besides, the car amp will still drain your car battery even after the engine is off. You should know that the amp does not drain more power than it requires unless you use a powerful audio system for a long time.