Quote: Originally Posted by nkotch
I bought mine from another user on here and he said he had it modded at OPUS to cut 5V power at shutdown so that is something you may want to look into.
I have, modding it will cause you to loose the suspend functionality. So I don't want to do that.
Quote: Originally Posted by nkotch
Also, even though your alternator tested fine that one time, you may want to try again at different times or at least try another time or so if you have access to the equipment. I had some battery problems about a month ago. Went to the shop, alternator tested perfect the first time, replaced the battery, and it died again. Tested alternator again and it was "inconclusive", apparently they say that an alternator that is going bad can be weird, sometimes it may test fine, other times it may be on the verge of going..... kind of depends on when you catch it.
I replaced the original alternator about 6 months ago because a bearing was making a noise. So I got a new factory alternator under warranty. When I had battery problems about a month ago the charging characteristics struck me as being fine. The battery shorted internally and constantly ran down even with no load on it, but I tested the alternator just to be sure. I work at a Pontiac dealership so I checked it with a GM computerized tester that can load it down while measuring the amperage it's putting out. You can't get much better than that. So I really don't think I have an alternator problem. I've rebuilt numerous alternators and know them inside and out, but I might check it again, just for the hell of it.
Quote: Originally Posted by nkotch
Could also just completely disconnect the OPUS for a couple days and see if you still have battery problems.
I don't think I can go without music for that long.
I'm using hibernation right now and since it's the weekend I may not drive anywhere for 24 or 30 hours, so I'll pull the power plug on it and see how it does. I know the PC is drawing some power, but I don't think it's excessive. I don't want to have to unplug the PC every weekend. I'm definately going to replace this battery and then I should be able to go back to using S3 suspend.
It's a cheap Walmart battery around 3 years old so I'm not too surprised anyway. I'm just trying to decide what battery to get. There's Optima Yellow Top, Stinger SP1000, Deka Intimidator, Exide Select Orbital XCD or Odyssey 925.