Battery problem

[Scooter911]

Hello. I've been following this forum for quite a while now as a guest, but I have a question that I could not find an answer for when I searched so here goes:

I have a 2003 H2. My 2 year old daughter loves to play in the truck and watch movies on her DVD player! Cheap babysitter!

Anyways, after she watches movies for around an hour the battery is dead and I need a boost to start.

I took the truck to a garage and the mechanic connected a battery tester to the battery and it checked out good (however, I always thought you had to remove the battery and the entire test took hours not minutes).

He also checked the alternator with the same tool and it read a charging voltage of just over 14 volts.

So my question is... is it possible the battery is dead or dying even though the battery tester gave it a thumbs up? Surely 60 minutes of watching movies can't be enough to kill a truck battery!

Once I get a boost the battery gets charged and I'm good to go - unless of course I allow my daughter to once again watch movies with the engine off.

Can anyone shed some light on this? I'm strongly thinking about going to the GM dealer on Tuesday and buy a new battery. I tried to price one at Canadian Tire (Yes, I'm Canadian and live in Kingston Ontario) - but they didn't have anything even close that would fit.

Thanks.

Scooter 911

[KingVinnie]

Are you watching DVDs without the truck running?

If so then yes, it is enough to drain the battery quickly. If its like normal systems you have to cut the key to ACC. Which powers up all the trucks ACC powered equipment. Then you have the TV going along with the stereo and Bose amps. I’d say an hour is about right to drain to the point of not being able to start.

[Dug]

Scooter, my 03 also has this problem. I have replaced the battery last year , but it still does it. It only needs the radio on for 30 minutes and my wife is calling for a jump start. I think i will buy a better battery ? doug

[blockrockin]

yeah i agree that it would drain the battery watching movies for an hour. i have amps and other electronics and i cant leave my audio video stuff on with out the truck running.. for even ten minutes or the battery would be dead, so i think that is pretty normal to be dead after an hour.

[Scooter911]

Thanks for the replies guys!

Yes, she was watching movies while the truck was not running, but the key was not in either. The DVD player runs off the acc plug in the rear - so the only thing powered up was the DVD player.

I just sold my 25' boat which had two marine deep cycle batteries and I was able to watch movies and run the fridge all night... I hate to think that just watching movies for an hour will kill my truck battery!

My wife and I sometimes go downtown and one of us stays in the truck with our two girls while the other runs into a store (saves us from dragging the kids around the mall) - so now I'm a bit worried to leave them in the truck watching movies because I'll come out to a dead battery.

I think I'm going to put an ammeter on the DVD player tomorrow to see what its drawing - I'll post my results tomorrow.

Scooter

[Mr_Pat]

My H3 has some sort of power drain going on. If I leave any thing pluged in for more then an hour or two it kills the bat. Or just when I go out and start it up in the morning it may not start some times. There is only supose to be a 70 mili-amp draw when the truck is turned off, mine is drawing 350 mili amps. I am taking it in on tuesday.