When my 12 TL-tech is parked with the motor off, I sometimes play the ELS system loudly so it can be heard outside the car. I'm tailgating with a bunch of friends, and my car is chosen to play the tunes because it is by far the loudest. Doing this recently drained the battery so much that the car would not start and the power door locks would not even function. I had been playing the tunes for about 90 minutes. The only warning I got that the battery was dying was the music started to get distorted.

I got the car jumped, and all is well now. If I continue to drain the battery like this, will it harm the battery?

If I play the music for 1 hour with the motor off, about how long would I need to idle the car to recharge the battery fully?

If I run the motor for 1 hour at idle, any idea how much gas I would burn? Is it bad for the car to idle it for extended periods?

 

The OEM battery is CRAP!
Die hard platinum is where its at!!!

your questions about How long is a shot in the dark.
there isnt a meter on it telling you how long you have.

 

well your first mistake was having the car off while you play music at a volume that your ears can take for 90 mins..

you should NEVER do that.. the TL has too much electronics turn on when its on ACC mode to hear music.. i mean 30-40 mins is OK but 90 mins with consistant music listening at high volume is no bueno.. remember speaker runs on electricity.. the higher the volume, the faster it drains. I do agree that the oem battery sucks, a aftermarket battery would last longer, but is it worth the $80 - $120?

it is just better to let the car idle, you wont drain much gas, probably 5 bucks worth.. id take that over buying a new battery/jumping/dead car any day..

 

dude idk what kinda system is the ELS... but it might be better than what i have in my 2010 tech.. either way, how much better can it be that you wanted to play it for 90mins? i think you push your limits.. you really asked too much of the car and its components at this point.. your lucky your didnt bust your speakers.. im just saying....

 

Idling is only able to charge up the battery at a slow rate, due to the low rpm driving the alternator.

The fastest way to charge up a battery is to drive the car around at highway speed for a length of time, and the length is solely depended on how empty/full is the battery, the current output of the alternator, and how fast the alternator is spinning when charging the battery.

 

-___________-...... your TL Tech has ELS system.. all 4th gen Tech's have ELS system..

you are forever banned as a 4g owner!

 

man idk.. lol.. i honestly been looking into install a system so never took notice of what i had.. i know its pretty decent in sound quality thou.. not to be playing for 90mins thou

 

the car does need more bass... maybe a sub would make it sound much better.. ive been thinking of adding one

 

I had the same issue.
When I first got my car (2010 TL, not tech or navi) I sat having lunch playing CDs for maybe 1/2 hour with engine off. When I tried to start car it was dead! Jumped the battery, started right up, no problem since, but I won't do that again. Crazy.

 

I did this too when I first got my TL. I was sitting in the garage with a friend loading CDs into the HDD and after 30 min the guages all went crazy and the stereo got distorted and all the alerts started popping up. I had to jump it, which stunk because we had to roll it out of the garage first.

The next time I loaded CD's I kept the car idling, and after about 40 minutes the car died while running. I jumped it, and drove around for about 40 minutes to re-charge it and the next day it wouldn't start again. I jumped it and brought it to the dealer and they said a few cells in the battery went bad, they said it was because I was using the stereo with the car off (I still think they made this bit up). The also said the stereo uses more power than the alternator generates while idle, so it will kill the battery with the engine running if I am not driving (Not sure I believe that, but could be true). Fortunately, they replaced the battery for free under the warantey.

If you are going to idle for a long time and use the car, just get a generator with a 12V out and hook it up the the battery. I see people do this all the time at tailgates. Also, I don't think the stereo sounds very good outside of the car and I would worry it would damage my speakers. Most people I know bring outdoor sound systems and hook them up to generators.

 

These cars are obviously not designed to run the accessories on battery power only. Nwhen I recently got my NAV system update DVD, the instructions said to apply the pdatecwith the engine running.

 

Sounds like some of you need some portable music.
When I was young we never played music from the car. Car stereo were not that good in the 1980's.

This is what we used \/

 

Takes up to 2 hours to update the NAV and they want us to idle it that long

 

It just keeps updating as you drive around, there is no reason to just idle the car while its updating, when you turn the car off, it picks up where it left off when you turn it on.

There were two options:
Fast update. Does it all at once and you can't use the radio, but I think it said it would take 90 minutes total.

Background update. You cant use the radio for 30 minutes, then it takes 3-4 hours in the background and you can use the radio during that time.

I did the background update and it took a few days, but it eventually completed.