I bought my 06 Tsx in Aug of 06.
I got my stereo installed (alpine 4.100 pdx and 1.1000 pdx) around six months later.
About a year later my battery died, so after hearing how crappy our stock is i replaced it with an optima yellow top.
Now it is roughly a year later and I am having the same problems.

It started when i went to lunch and as i was driving i got a phone call, i decided to pull over and talk while i finished my lunch. I sat in the car for 15-20minutes with the radio on while i ate my sandwich and talked to my buddy.
Then my car wouldnt start. Got a jump, started right up.
3 days and roughly 10 starts later it died again. It seems to be random, everytime i get in the car i feel like i am flipping a coin...any ideas?

I don't suspect the alternator as it is "random". Also my commute is roughly 60miles and twice it has not started after the last trip was my commute.

I left the circuit breaker open on my radio for a few days (no music sucks ) beacuse my suspicion is that the amps are draining power when the car is off. It started, but almost felt like it wouldn't...

Any suggestions? Did i maybe get a "bad" optima? Weak alternator? Too much draw from amps?

It just seems weird that it works fine for ~1yr+ then this happens...

any help much appreciated, thanks

 

Having had a really nice system in a previous car, I can say that it was likely the 15-20 minute stop at the side of the road that drained your battery. I can't remember, but are the yellow top Optimas the DEEP CYCLE ones, or the standard car battery ones? If the standard one, they will give you nothing over a typical car battery - you paid for the name.

That being said, many members here and other people I know are refusing to run Optima batteries as they feel the quality has gone way downhill in recent years. Maybe yours just crapped out?

Check the votage at the battery terminals with the car off (12.5 volts or so) and on (14.4 volts or so). Maybe bring the car in to have the charging system load-tested for about $40ish. It should tell you if its the battery, alternator, both, or neither (thus, the system).

Those amps pull a lot of amperage from a battery, and without the car on to have the alternator feed the battery and the amps, most batteries could only last a short while before being drained below their threshold, meaning hard/no starts, and possible damage to battery.

 

YT Optimas have continually had issues, which is why I went with the RT-35. Still going strong, though I admit, I have the OEM system. So I'd say you have a power leak from one of the amps.

 

no problems with the OEM battery on my almost 3 year old 06 tsx with 94,000+miles.

 

Just got back from sears....my <1yr old optima had failed....now using a sears die hard with an 8yr warranty (3yrs replacement + 5yrs prorated)

 

dont really know what you meant by leaving the circuit breaker off.
is it the same as disconnecting the whole stereo?

if not, try installing the OEM back and see if the problem still continue..?

 

sorry guess i didnt explain. Instead of a fused power distribution block i have one with a "circuit breaker".

Basically its the same as pulling the fuse. The difference between it and disconnecting "whole stereo" is that the stereo, nav, etc all still turns on and "works" but the speakers are getting no power.

Problem was a bad cell in my <8month old optima.....

 

Optima batteries aren't little slivers of the gods, they fail just as much as any other battery. Sucks that you got a bad one. It always leaves a bad taste in your mouth when something like that happens.