Engine off, radio blastin' - how long will the battery last?

Just curious - planning on some tailgating come football season, curious how long we can expect the battery to hold out.

Follow up question: assume a small TV was plugged into the 120V outlet. How long then?

 

I have no idea but hope I don't park next to you

 

Football doesn't start for a few months. You have plenty of time to test run the audio to full drain. It's the only sure way to find out. I did a full drain on my Silverado a few years ago. Took about 2 hrs.

 

For the 120v outlet to work you will have to leave the ignition on the entire time. The accessory position will not work.

 

Right. I wonder low long you can go with that.

Will the 120V outlet shut down before the battery becomes critically low?

 

It depends on the health of your battery, the load you put on it, and how long you drain it. And if you want to be able to start your vehicle after watching the TV.

Your best setup would be to power a TV from a portable battery/power station like a Jackery, Goal Zero, or similar, like people use to power their fridges.

If instead you insist on running it from your starter battery, keep jumper cables handy. Or get a portable lithium jump starter power pack.

 

Your truck battery is a starting battery, not made to run stuff with the truck turned off. Unlike a deep-cycle battery, starting batteries are not designed to withstand multiple discharge/recharge cycles, and draining it can significantly shorten its life.

 

The house plug in the cargo area only works while the engine is running. So as long as you have fuel it will power forever.

If you have your ignition turned to the accessory position, a healthy battery in the 4Runner playing music will last anywhere from 4-6 hours based on personal experience. I would recommend against doing this however as every time a starting battery is completely discharged, it's weakened and will never be the same. That's also from personal experience.

You're better off with a bluetooth speaker, than depleting your battery leaving you stranded. Plus you don't wanna be the guy blasting shitty dad rock who runs his battery flat then has to go around asking random people for a jump.

 

The ignition needs to be on, but truck doesn’t need to running. This is how I have used mine.

 

Optima yellow top / XS power battery’s. My only 2 go to’s. Wire 2 of those up one for a main one for a secondary wanna to another step get a high output alternator. Used to be in to the ‘subwoofer game’ hard and this is how you power a few thousand watts and not drain your batteries. People talk bad about optima batteries but I never had one let me down...

 

Shit you're right, it's got two levels right? One with engine running and in park and another the rest of the time?

 

I know mine turns off after 10 or 15 minutes if I sit in it with the radio on for too long, with engine off.
You would probably need to figure out how to disable that feature.

Steve

 

Buy a generator.

 

No real number you can put on it but I'd find a different solution. A small Honda generator would be a better idea.

 

The battery life of a vehicle depends on several factors, including the capacity of the battery, the state of charge, and the power consumption of the devices connected to it. For tailgating, where you might be using the vehicle for things like playing music, running a cooler, and possibly charging phones, the battery should last for several hours. However, continuously running a small TV from the vehicle's battery can drain it more quickly.

 

100% this

 

My 2020 only runs the accessory for 15 minutes unless you put it in neutral and kill the engine. Even then it only runs about half an hour before the battery is critically low and then it dings and beeps if you open a door or get out with the fob.

 

I would guess no more than an hour before it's dead. Bring alternate source of power or revise the plan.

 

Li-Ion Power pack.

The only way to go.

They have obsoleted the 2nd "house battery"...

 

After depleting the battery, your alternator will then be over working to put out a full charge. It's not designed to do this and will put unnecessary wear on it. After several times doing this you'll be replacing your battery and your alternator.

 

Ha ha ha, this original posting ended in June 2022, and were responding to it again as of this week

 

OP is still stuck in the parking lot at the stadium with a dead battery.

 

And his team lost and he's outta beer...

 

I tested this today on my 2020 4Runner, which contains an Optima Yellow Top AGM battery which is about 2 years old. I charged the battery to full with an external charger, and then put the key in the ignition and started playing music on the stereo from an iPod connected to the USB port at not full blast, but a moderately high level of volume. (I did turn off the screen from the menu a couple of hours into this experiment.) Wifi was also ON the whole time. It played fine for 9 hours, at which point I went ahead and removed the key from the ignition. I then checked the battery with a multimeter and it showed 11.09 volts. I tried to start the car, and though it struggled a bit, it did successfully turn over the engine.

It was about 70 degrees outside. If it had been a very cold day, I might not have been able to start the engine. In any case, I think a fully charged battery should be able to play music safely for at least 6 or 7 hours.

I would be very interested to hear what other people's results are when running a similar experiment.

 

Yeah lest guesstimate how long it will last and when it doesn't be stranded.

Also ruin your battery by taking it all the way down.

 

An Optima Yellow Top is a deep cycle AGM battery, which are designed to be deeply discharged.