dead battery

hey guys, this is my first post although ive read this forum for quite some time. Great by the way. I have an 07 h2 sut and two 08 h3s. Pretty fotunate i know. my 08 h3 with 2000 miles had a dead battery this morning. Garaged. Hadnt been started for 5 days. The only aftermarket electronic is an amp and subwoofer. Theyve been on since new. It took a charge and has been ok today. taking it in to have battery tested tomorrow. Any thoughts if battery ok ? No cell phones charging etc. Im worried to lets my kids drive if they cant find anything. Again thanks in advance, ralph.

it could be your amp. i had this same problem in my audi. I had upgraded the amp and had my wires crossed for power. the amp never turned off.
 
the way i found out it was my amp. I closed doors and locked myself inside the car and armed it. i notice a hissing sound coming out of the speakers. i knew that the amp wasnt turned off. see if this is the same with your amp. or, you can simple see if the power light on the amp turns off. in my case, my amp was hidden and couldnt easily see the amp light.

It isn't unusual for the aftermarket electronics to be improperly installed. The DVD player on my H2 was improperly wired and constantly drew power. i didn't know it until I left my truck parked for awhile. Battery was dead. On a 2 that looks the shifter and key in the ignition when you turn the ignition to start the truck. there is a disconnect under the shifter handle but what a pain in the a$$. Depends on how dead the battery got but it should be ok. As long as you are taking it to the dealer I assume you will have them check for a power drain while they have it.  

If you do a quick search on here for something like "battery", you'll see quiet a few of us that had or are having battery issues. Search for "hybrid" and you should see that I have had to keep mine on a trickle charger due to long periods of sitting. My OEM ACDelco in my 2006 was dead at 76 miles. I replaced it with an Optima. I am not saying to replace it with an Optima, but it was easier for me to get than the ACDelco and it fit.

Let us know how things work out for you.

Which on of the optimas do you have mbiker?  Red?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Doc Olds

Which on of the optimas do you have mbiker? Red?

I have the Optima Red Top Series 25 (or S 3,7 as it is called here). For me here, it cost just over $200 with shipping.

The Series 25 sat very nicely in the base of the H3's 9-inch long battery box. I had to grind a little channel in the retaining puck. The channel was about the depth and width of the nut that holds it down. This allowed me to tighten the strap down nice and secure. I tried to reuse the battery box lid, but the Series 25 sits just a hair lower, and the holes in the cover were not a perfect match for the posts. I could have enlarged the holes in the lid, but I decided I liked the look. I, therefore, removed the breather tube as well (held on by a single xmas tree fastener).

The PhotoBucket site is currently down for their daily maintenance; otherwise, I could include some happy snaps.

you got pics moutainbiker. I'm thinking of getting a red/yellow top as well. With all the lights, winch and what not, i dont think my stock battery will last.

quote:

ORIGINAL: MarkM

you got pics moutainbiker. I'm thinking of getting a red/yellow top as well. With all the lights, winch and what not, i dont think my stock battery will last.

Yeah but PhotoBucket is currently down for daily maintenance. I'll try to remember to include some tonight. Mine Red Top was bought here in Europe. It is a 3,7 which should equate to the US Series 25. I know others have used the larger 78s. For that one, I believe you have to trim the little plastic reinforcements tabs in the base of the battery tray (with a Dremel or similar). It too won't nicely allow the use of the lid. I had to mod my puck slightly. The shop had a spinning wheel grinder, so I made a little channel in it. This is because the Series 25 is a hair smaller than the OEM ACDelco. The guys with the 78s didn't have to do this with theirs. I still think I have battery issues, but mine is plugged into the trickle charger now all the time, so I am not noticing it. Either I still have a problem with the H3 (that I cannot debug), I killed my Optima initially, or it really can only sit idle in my H3 for 2 weeks. If I had to do again, I am not sure if I'd get the 25 or the larger 78. I like the way the 25 fit into the tray thou.

cool, thanks. looking forward to seeing the pics

quote:

ORIGINAL: MarkM

cool, thanks. looking forward to seeing the pics

Back from dealer. Ran a "battery" of tests at Hummer of Columbus. They are some of the best techs ive ever dealt with. Anyway, nothing concrete came up. They went ahead and replaced the battery. They also think that the factory batteries are subpar and have limited reserve. They also like the optimas. We'll see how it goes.

quote:

ORIGINAL: ralpiefar

Back from dealer. Ran a "battery" of tests at Hummer of Columbus. They are some of the best techs ive ever dealt with. Anyway, nothing concrete came up. They went ahead and replaced the battery. They also think that the factory batteries are subpar and have limited reserve. They also like the optimas. We'll see how it goes.

Sounds good. I assume they replaced it with another subpar ACDelco. Is that correct?

Nice pun ralpie. Hopefully that takes care of it but I would test the battery periodically just to make sure it is holding a charge and not having the same issue.

You may want to check the draw on the battery while parked. 
 
With the ignition off and the doors closed (don't remember if there is an under hood light, but if there is remove the bulb), remove the + cable from the battery and use a meter and check for amperage. it should be minimal.  Anything over .5 A will drain a good battery in a week.  If it is over .5A remove fuses one at a time starting with the stereo amp and watch for the amps to drop.
 
Another possible cause could be corrosion of the battery cables (check both ends).
 
If you have a problem with voltage draw, an Optima will most likely make the problem worse.  Optimas can sit forever and hold a charge, If it does drain they can be hard to get recharged and often need to be trickle charged for a while before the will take a charge at 14V.
 
If it regularly spends extended time parked, use a trickle charger or a battery disconnect switch.

Could be a defective battery.  Mine died after a couple of months.  Took it to the dealer and they replaced it under warranty.  You might want to hide your amp connections because they will see them and try to say the amp caused it. 

thanks for the pics mountainbiker.