Hey all,

Hoping to get some tips or suggestions from other 997 owners with aftermarket stereo units in their cars.

I purchased a Pioneer NEX8000 unit from Al & Ed's and got it installed locally (as I am in NY). After 3 months or so, started to notice that my battery kept dying, and it wasn't from non-use as the car is my daily driver. I may go two or three days max of not driving it.

At first I thought it was an alternator issue so I got it checked out and they found that the stereo was pulling a constant drain from the battery. I know the constant drain is a normal thing but the pull is ~1AMP.

I then called my stereo installer and told me that this is a common thing with P cars and told me if I use an aftermarket stereo, I need to keep a battery tender plugged in for my car. This response seemed suspect as I have not read about this issue on the forums at all.

Would love to get people's 2 cents on what I could do here. I do have an appt with the stereo installer to bring it in and see if they could fix this issue. I was just wondering if people ran into a similar issue and what steps they took to fix it (or not).

Thanks in advance!

 

I have an aftermarket stereo in my 997.1, with a couple big amps in the frunk, and have never had that problem (knocks wood) - I call horse-pucky on the installer.

One possible short term solution aside from the tender is to lock the car when you park so it will go into sleep mode.

If I'm leaving my car for more than 2 or 3 days I lock it up just as a precaution, but my car has always started right up every morning.

I think if the installer's mindset is, "that's just what p-cars do" then a quick call to Al & Ed's should yield some useful troubleshooting steps.

 

Just get your installer to put a multimeter set to current (amps) between the battery wire (yellow) and the car battery. It's there only to maintain it's internal clock and station presents.
It's current draw should be no more that 150 milliamps.
But 1000ma says either the radio is pooched or though you didn't mention whether you had one or not, an external amplifier is not turning off.

Having said that, these cars are known to be battery hungry and depending on the age of the battery, it might just be a coincidence that the battery life is coming to an end at the same time.

Oh and if the installer is saying it's normal with Pcars, get a different installer.

 

downside of locking it is if the batteries dies with it locked, you have problems.

 

Thanks for the great feedback everyone.

I actually lock my car everyday as I live in an apt complex.

Some extra info I forgot to share:

• am not using a stronger amp besides what is stock (non-Bose model)
• Just got a new battery about 2 months ago because the battery kept dying. Thought replacing it would help but recently found out the drain was due to the stereo

I've left a message with Shane at Al & Ed's. I hope they get back to me soon.

 

I would suggest dealing with the music of the engine for a week and disconnecting the stereo and see what happens.

 

Call or email Saturn at Al & Eds - he should know since they do lots of installs.

 

I think your installer did not wire the radio properly. Did they use a vehicle specific harness or try to color match the wires and splice? Sometimes the wire colors are not the same and if someone is rushing or just assumes that the colors on the factory harness should be matched with the aftermarket harness, mistakes can happen.

Sounds like it's a mixup with the remote turn on wire and/or ignition wire. Just a guess. I'm not an expert, but I've installed several car radios in different cars I've owned over the years.

 

I have installed many stereos and I stopped counting.

As stated in prior replies above, if properly installed, the drain should only be for the radio memory (radio, clock, etc.).

 

That's not normal. Could it be a dying battery?

I'm curious how this would have been measured. Did they put a series ammeter in the +12V line of the Pioneer?

Unless there was a miscommunication, that is patently false. All car audio equipment powers off with the car, if it the ignition wire is connected properly. And the phantom power draw should be negligible. Imagine how many complaints they would get if people's car batteries died after 3 days because the amp wasn't designed to power off fully.

I'd suggest making sure it's not the car battery. That's usually the culprit. Also, I seem to remember the 997.1 had a problem with the alternator cable - so the alternator was good, but the batteries never got fully charged. Otherwise, they could easily prove or disprove that the Pioneer HU is drawing 1A (12W!!) of phantom power by attaching an amp meter in series with the +12V lead, while the car is off. Honestly, I'd be surprised if this were the case, but who knows. Let us know what it turns out to be.

 

Usually the amp is the problem if it is rated high watts. Class A amps are typically 50% efficient. If it draws current when turned off or the car not running, then perhaps it is wired so the amps are on all the time. It should be wired to turn off the main unit and amps when you pull the key. Otherwise you will have this problem forever, unless you drive it most of the time, every day.