PatKWS6

I installed an Alpine iDA-X305s about a month ago and have had problems with the battery dieing ever since. The only changes were the new HU and the stereo wheel interface controls.

I did a search on this subject and it has turned up very little. There was a mention of adding a relay to the amp to solve the issue. But I am thinking that anyone who had changed their head unit had to have come across this issue. Anyone know?

Also, if others have come across the issue, how did they solve it?

Any insight would be great.....tired of jumping the car...

Thanks,
Pat

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

The Monsoon amp turns on and off using signal sensing. It has constant (battery) power and switches on when it detects audio signal from the head unit.

It is not a common problem for the amp to cause a current draw when the audio is off. More often it's the opposite - a defective amp won't turn on when it's supposed to. You could try removing the RADIO ACCY fuse that protects the amp circuit and see if your drain stops. Beyond that, you'll have to start testing with a multimeter.

dragonrage

Get a multimeter that supports measuring high currents (mine is a cheap one and supports 20A, though only for 30 or 60 seconds at a time as it will heat up) and pull fuses and replace them (temporarily) with the probes of the meter. One into each fuse receptacle. Check what is drawing your current. A little bit of current draw is okay for most circuits with the car off, but you should have nothing approaching even 1 amp when the car is off and retained accessory power is not active.

Maybe the radio is hooked up wrong or maybe it's messed up...

If you can't find it that way, or if you want to do this anyway, you can also have your battery tested. Perhaps it's just bad. Though if it keeps getting drained, it will go bad either way.

PatKWS6

Thanks for your help guys! I'm 99.9% sure the draw in the current is the amp since I have not had this issue until I replaced the HU.

I do not know why the amp is not turning off as the radio is definately on and working. After talking with Crutchfield, they recommend adding a relay directly to the amp and hook up the remote line from the HU. This will solve the issue.

dragonrage

If the amp is the issue then that should fix it, though I always prefer to drive a transistor with the remote turn on wire over a relay, personally...

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

Wouldn't you rather test than make assumptions? Especially when you can test if it's the amp by simply removing the fuse. I'm left to wonder how changing the head unit could suddenly cause the amp to fail so I'm nowhere near as convinced as you that the amp is the problem. It certainly is possible but the logic escapes me.