Ford Fiesta 2011 WONT START

[FROMDUB]

Hi guys. Yesterday i ran out with another issue with my fiesta. IT WONT START!?!?!. I was wondering maybe my recently installed amplifier and subwofer killed the battery? But i doubt, coz i turn it on while driving the car or the engine is running. And the next morning when i want to turn on the engine. I got nothing. All the lights in the dash are on brightly and the park lights are clearly open. But when i turn the key all i got is a slow clicking sound and the car wont start. So i pulled out the battery and took it to the shop for charging. And they said the battery case was a bit bloated. But the battery is still fine but as soon as they remove it from charging, the voltage immediately dropped. So ive come with a conclusion that i need to replace the battery. But i want to know from you guys. Based on your experience. Is my battery dead because of my car audio. Coz the bass on my audio is really kicking good and i loved it But maybe it ate a lot of juice out of my battery and killed it? Also i checked all the fuses from the engine bay and in the dash its all ok. So what i got left is the battery to be replaced. Is it really the battery? That wont start the car even all the lights in the dash are on? Thanks in advance.

 

[scotman]

If you have an amplifier, it is a huge power consumer. You might want to consider adding a second battery to add capacity to your system. It will give your alternator some relief. You should also recheck all the connections to ensure nothing is grounding out unintentionally. You might also want to check the underhood fusebox for corrosion of the connections. If you live very near the ocean, salinated air may be eating it up there.
I believe that you will eventually smoke the alternator if you dont add a deep cycle battery in a post to post arrangement. You are asking a minimal electrical system to do a high demand job.

 

[FROMDUB]

Thanks Scotman.. definitely i will add another battery just for the amp. Coz the Main Starter Battery now is Dead i mean theres no lights at all in the dash... Now all i need is a proper diagram on how to connect properly 2 batteries in my fiesta. I heard that i also need to add a battery isolator? to charge properly the 2 batteries? Or ill just add a connection and hook up 2 batteries in the alternator? Thanks again

 

[scotman]

Thanks Scotman.. definitely i will add another battery just for the amp. Coz the Main Starter Battery now is Dead i mean theres no lights at all in the dash... Now all i need is a proper diagram on how to connect properly 2 batteries in my fiesta. I heard that i also need to add a battery isolator? to charge properly the 2 batteries? Or ill just add a connection and hook up 2 batteries in the alternator? Thanks again

Post to post means positive cable from under hood battery to rear battery positive post. Negative cable for additional battery is from its negative post to a good attachment location on the floorpan. Preferred place would be at frame point. I assumed that you had already wired in some kind of power shut off. Otherwise your amp will never shut down. That arrangement will kill even ten batteries, it would just take longer.

 

[FROMDUB]

Thanks again Scotman i'll take your advice on the connections when i add an additional battery just for my amp. And just an update. I was able to get a New replacement Battery for the Fiesta. And its 50 amperes which is higher than the original (44 amp.) so i feel a lot more alive when i drive the car while kicking the bass of my amplifier. and i never get a power shortage. Maybe because its a new battery or because of a higher ampere rating of the battery coz its a bit bigger than the old one. But i'll just monitor the newly installed battery because it has only 15 months of warranty. hope it reaches or more before i replace it again. As of now its all fine and everything is working. no warning lights in the dash. And yeah I already placed a Kill Switch for the amp. coz just like what you said, it will always be On if i don't place a killer switch for it. Thanks again man appreciate it

 

[Lawnmaster]

I've installed dozens of aftermarket stereos. You don't need a 2nd battery. You should install a 1/2 to 1.5 farad capacitor in-line with the amp. Capacitors charge and discharge much faster than batteries. When the bass drops deep, the power will be sucked out the capacitor and it will quickly recharge from the alternator. The only time you should have a dead battery is from a few things... Either there's a short, the battery is old, or you ran the battery down below 50% its capacity by playing the stereo for long periods of time without the engine running. It all depends on the wattage of your amp. Watts = amps x volts. So your amp will use different amounts of power depending on if the engine is running or not. They can say whatever amount of wattage they want, but when your car is running, you're normally at 14.4 volts. So if the amp drops the bass and sucks out 30-40 amps of power for a brief second, you're putting out up to 600 watts from that bass dropping. I used to have a 1400 watt sound system that ran perfectly with a 1.5 farad capacitor. Over 20 years ago, I remember paying nearly $180 for my capacitor from Crutchfield. Now a 1 farad capacitor is like $20 bucks from Amazon. That's mindblowing how they've dropped in price.

 

[Corvair]

You need to wire it so it will not take any power when the key is out. The starter requires a lot of power. The wire going to the starter is as fast as a pencil, the wires going to the dash lights are really fine.

 

[Lawnmaster]

You need to wire it so it will not take any power when the key is out. The starter requires a lot of power. The wire going to the starter is as fast as a pencil, the wires going to the dash lights are really fine.

That's what the blue wire is for on the amp. It tells the amp when to turn on and off. The amp doesn't use any power when the car is off. It should not interfere with the power that the starter needs. Once the car is running, that's when you turn your stereo on and that turns a relay on inside the amp to use power. The amp doesn't hardly use any power until music starts playing at a high volume. Usually loud bass notes make it consume the power. Watts = volts x amps. Some amps only have a 10 or 20 amp fuse, so they don't use all that much power as you think. 14.4 volts x 20 amps = is only 288 watts. Some amps say like 1,000+ watts and have a 20 amp fuse. So these amps are never putting anywhere near the 1,000 watts.

 

[FROMDUB]

Thanks Man Speedracer for this additional info. Really appreciate it. Now i know what really is the purpose of a capacitor in car audio. A great idea for a newbee like me. And on my story after replacing the battery i added a voltage meter so that i would know whats the voltage remaining while i turn out my music out loud. And your right Man, it always has a reading of 14.4 normally and when the bass hits it just goes down to 14.3 then went back to 14.4 to14.5 max. But as of now i dont have any issues when starting the car even after turning my radio on all along my trip. Thanks again Man

 

[Lawnmaster]

Thanks Man Speedracer for this additional info. Really appreciate it. Now i know what really is the purpose of a capacitor in car audio. A great idea for a newbee like me. And on my story after replacing the battery i added a voltage meter so that i would know whats the voltage remaining while i turn out my music out loud. And your right Man, it always has a reading of 14.4 normally and when the bass hits it just goes down to 14.3 then went back to 14.4 to14.5 max. But as of now i dont have any issues when starting the car even after turning my radio on all along my trip. Thanks again Man

All that beating takes a toll on the alternator. I burned one of those out before from the bass. That's when I learned about the capacitor right after they started coming out over 20 years ago. Ever since I started using them, the lights stopped dimming on my system with over 1,000 watts RMS. I never burned out another alternator in over 15 years of putting systems in cars. Capacitors in the 90's were like $200. Now they are under $50 for the same one. Sometimes even $25! A very cheap investment. Just pretend it's a battery and mount it closest to your bass amp as much as possible. By power distribution blocks by Stinger, Monster, etc. I used 4 gauge wire.