I ripped about 30 cds today while listening to the CF card music. The SOW hard drive uses more juice than I would have thought. I was watching the games and doing a little spring cleaning. Time flew by. When I went to pull my new G in the garage, it wouldn't start. I felt pretty stupid. Had to jump it with my big truck. The battery is very small on this car, so beware of using too much juice without starting it up to recharge.

 

how long were you playing with your car before you tried to start it.

 

Same thing happened to me - had the SoW turned up pretty loud while I washed, used a clay bar, then zaino'd the car (two coats). By the end (I'm guessing 4+ hours), dead battery.

No issues since tho.

 

LOL, this happened to me about 3 weeks ago. I was cleaning up my garage and listening to some tunes while I was doing it. After about two hours, the battery was completely dead.

 

Has anyone here tried one of those jump starters that plugs into your cigarette lighter? Reading this thread makes me wonder if its worth the $50 or so to invest in one in case I get stuck somewhere.

 

That is just not cool. maybe the car needs a coach battery like my RV

I have ran my radio in my accord for 6 hours without turning it on and have never had a problem. So are we saying that you can't run the radio in the new G for more than 2 hours without the battery running out? Is the battery cheap? Maybe upgrading the battery will help.

 

I'm guessing the difference is in any other car you would be running the radio whereas the G is drawing enough for what is essentially a computer running in the car - and not just a chip here and there but a real HD-based computer. If you've ever heard your PC whir or the fan come on and off you know it can draw a lot of power when its on. I'm not saying the SOW in the G is equivalent to a home computer but I would guess it draws more power than a standard car radio.

 

Well, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one! I had mine on for about 6 hours but it sounds like it could have been as little as 2 hours. The battery itself is seriously small. I didn't realize this until I took the cover off to jump it. I mean it is like the size of one that goes on a four wheeler or snowmobile (ok, a little bigger). I bet if I had not had the speakers on up it would lasted longer size the bose amp was also kicking in. Mine probably lasted longer becuase I had the LED interior lights so each time I opened the door it was not burning alot with the interior lights. I think using a battery charger while ripping cd's for a long time, etc would be a good idea. Put it on the slow charge setting and leave it hooked up. I can't imagine needed to rip that many cd's again, so maybe this is a one time deal.

 

Wow, my dealer warned me about running the stereo with the car turned off. I thought he was exaggerating, but I guess not.

Thinking it through... A small desktop-PC consumes about 120 watts these days. Low-power embedded systems should be less power-hungry, but I suppose it shouldn't be a big surprise if the onboard computer and the stereo running at high volume would consume 200-300 watts (16-25amps). That would run down a normal car battery in just a couple hours.

 

My friend has one. She used it once, and it works. I am indifferent and wouldn't justify your getting or not getting one. Up to you.

As for the battery, that's why I use the time when driving -- especially when stuck in traffic -- to rip my CDs. I'd take a bunch at a time, put it in the center storage console, and just rip everything from left to right, until I've reached my first ripped CD.

 

Yeah, I had a problem with the battery dying on me.... When the battery was dying, there was a constant click-ing sound coming from the hood, maybe 1 click every 1 to 2 seconds. It looked like the car was trying to turn on the headlamps, but it didn't have any juice, and every attempt to turn it on produced the clicking sound. Even though I had turned off the lights, it was still doing this. Anyone experience this problem? Anyway, I quickly recharged my car, and everything was fine afterwards.

 

Haven't tried this. I keep jumper cables in my trunk for emergency use if I'm not home. At home, I have a Sears battery charger that plugs into a wall outlet (and to the battery, not the cigarette lighter). It has come in handy a couple of times with my previous car and once with the G35 when I needed to recharge my battery and my wife wasn't home with her car.

 

Yeah I found them for $50 or so, I was thinking of throwing one in the kit my wife has in her car too, piece of mind and all that if she gets stuck somewhere.