Battery keeps dying

Hey, what should i do about my battery situation?

purchased new battery (Costco Interstate 24F) March 2023 about 8 months ago
my commute is 2 miles to work (7 min drive one way)
If i dont drive it daily, it now dies and i have to use my jumper pack, thank god for Noco!

Electronics that drain battery: Both installed 4 years ago
1. Boss 1100 watt amp which i on when the car is running (should or can i add an On/Off switch?)
2. I have an always on VanTrue dashcamera. meaning if there is motion it will record when its parked.

OEM battery it was fine 2018 till March 2023.

I feel like i could go OEM and hope its fine or since my drive is 4 miles total plus the above electronics, just get use to this happening often?

is there an on and off amp switch i can install near driver seat?
I have been unplugging the camera often and that seems to have worked somewhat.
I have a Noco battery charger as well when the battery really needs the charge which ive only used once so far and will likely use it this weekend

 

Battery Tender type charger is a good idea since you have such a short drive. You do not have your location listed, so we don't know climate.
Either way; the real fix is measuring parasitic draw and eliminate large amounts, or you will forever have this problem, and the BT is a ban aid making up for it.

 

Try disconnecting both the amp and dash cam for a few days and see if the battery starts to cooperate

 

Two thoughts-

One, get a bicycle.
A two mile commute is hell on vehicles. You aren't getting it up to operating temperature and you aren't putting enough juice back into the battery that the starter uses up. Drive the long way home, try to find a path that gives you a good 15-20 minutes.

Two, use a multimeter to measure your amp drain. A good amp should draw an immeasurable nothing until it sees a signal from the trigger wire. Double check to make triple sure that your trigger wire is off when the truck is off.

 

I lost a Costco battery in 2 months … now on a replacement for 7 months with no issues. I think the quality may just be shit

 

You can add a switch at the battery. Blue Seas make a nice high current switch. The picture is for a winch but a total disconnect is a similar installation.

 

If it keeps dying, you may be killing it/limping it along on its last legs. Deep dischsrges combined with poor recharging cycles are hell on lead acid batteries. Take the time to do a couple days in a row of long drives (30+ minutes), then find an old school load tester and see if it is capable of holding voltage under load. It could be a dud battery. It could be a good battery thats been damaged and needs replaced.

The constant drain of auxiliary circuits and poor recharging are the most likely culprits, given your description of your commute and add ons.

 

- much appreciated, Portland Oregon cheers

yes ill try DCing the amp for a week

ill look into something like that... basically just to kill any draw to the amp. cheers

 

- I have two bikes (got an Ebike) and oh i have walked a few times. haha. i ride two days per week or i try to.

yah ill try to mitigate the draw from the amp and see if that helps.

much appreciated everyone!

 

Sounds odd but get the battery tested, it's not out of the question you got a bad one.

Not sure how long you have had the amp and cams but I don't think I'd suspect those if they aren't very recent additions. I have 2 amps and a 2 channel camera setup. Mine gets driven most every day but minimally so, like yourself, and I have no issues with hard starts or drain.

 

drive longer distances more often.
that short drive is draining more juice than the alternator can replenish.

 

@ABA180 hey yah i was thinking maybe i got a bad battery from Costco. Ill take an amp meter and make sure the amp is off when truck is off
ill also check the amp of the battery that its above 12.4 + and test the draw as the second video suggestions
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/kdH4P7szDwo
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Otsmlvxirok

 

In theory it "should" be a good battery, but I've heard of it before. The fact you didn't mention the stereo and cams as recent additions leads me to believe they've been there quite some time. Start with the easy stuff..

Definitely test the battery under load as well. Most parts shops will do it free.

 

defiantly get the battery load tested, their life seems to range from 1 day all the way to 7 years, and anything in between.

 

indeed, i updated my post. both cam and amp have been there for a long while on the old battery, thanks much gents

 

Just as a caution. My newish agm battery died the other week and I put the noco battery starter on to jump it. It did start up no problem but immediately followed by stability control malfunction, radar and headlight malfunction warning messages. The steering angle sensor fried and once replaced everything was fine again and messages disappeared.

my point is it either happened because my battery drained (imo less likely) or by me jumping with the portable noco. It cost me 350$ and because I can’t rule out the noco I’ve removed from the truck and put jumpers back in. Not ideal because I will need a donor vehicle but don’t want to spend that amount of money again on added electrical failures