Playing Music - Car Turned Off

[RuskiE39]

Hey All,

Going camping this weekend, was wondering if anybody knew, assuming battery is in good shape, how long you can play music with the car off before draining the battery. Obviously I wouldn't be playing music all day, but a few hours at a time before curfew.

Any experience?

 

[Jeffy]

Hey All,

Going camping this weekend, was wondering if anybody knew, assuming battery is in good shape, how long you can play music with the car off before draining the battery. Obviously I wouldn't be playing music all day, but a few hours at a time before curfew.

Any experience?

I would be very cautious with this, and hopefully you have a portable jump starter or another vehicle around. It really depends on how loud you play it, but I wouldn't be comfortable pushing more than 30 minutes no matter what. The stock batteries just aren't made for that kind of use and you can easily hurt the battery.

I did it a few times in my 4th gen and I destroyed the battery pretty quick. It got to the point where I couldn't play the stereo for more than 5 minutes without needing a jump start.

 

[Bossman]

Bring the ... boombox! :rockon:

 

[RuskiE39]

I would be very cautious with this, and hopefully you have a portable jump starter or another vehicle around. It really depends on how loud you play it, but I wouldn't be comfortable pushing more than 30 minutes no matter what. The stock batteries just aren't made for that kind of use and you can easily hurt the battery.

I did it a few times in my 4th gen and I destroyed the battery pretty quick. It got to the point where I couldn't play the stereo for more than 5 minutes without needing a jump start.

I kinda figured, it probably wont be worth it... I have another car there, and jumper cables... but I suppose I'll just bring my portable speaker. Thanks!

 

[4FL]

I have let it play for hours and hours at a time. It is almost four years old now (original battery), and just last week I let it play for two hours. This is in Miami, weather reference if needed.

 

[Louise]

Really depends on if your 4R likes your music.

 

[17KT4R]

Was at the race track camping the other weekend and had all the doors, hatch open for probably 2 hour blocks throughout the day listening to music or the track FM frequency. Fired up no problem at the end of the day to leave the track for some supplies. Had the key in the ignition turned on a couple of times in order to charge cell phone batts via USB. Truck / Battery is only one year old, and all of the interior lighting has been switched to LED as well which makes some difference too in the current draw.

I do have one of these things however as a previous poster had mentioned. Helped to fire up my wifes dead battery in a Mercedes SUV no problem last winter...

https://no.co/gb40

Also bring this stereo along and it lasts the whole weekend on a 20V battery but my daughter is typically blasting it most of the time for her tunes LoL:

https://www.dewalt.com/en-us/produc...gers/12v20v-max-worksite-charger-radio/dcr015

 

[fixer5000]

my limited kills the power to everything after 20 mins not running. i hate that

 

[97BlackAckCL]

I had run my 4th gens on the radio for hours with no issue, definitely bring a battery jumper box if you have one. Honestly my new battery powered BlueTooth speaker is so good that when I go tailgating now I just bring it and save the truck's battery even though I have an Odyssey now lol

 

[1jzgte]

you could get a pretty nice bluetooth speaker for the price of a 4runner battery..
just saynin

 

[97BlackAckCL]

you could get a pretty nice bluetooth speaker for the price of a 4runner battery..
just saynin

Agreed, I got mine on clearance and this sucker is loud as hell

 

[erikjon]

Serious question: is the 4Runner's battery and electrical system any different than most other modern vehicles?

I ask because I've taken several vehicles to the drive-in over the years (yes, we still have one here!) and watched 3 feature-length movies with the car's audio tuned to the drive-in's FM band. There's typically a 20-30 minute intermission between each movie during which I'd run the car to top off the battery. Now, the drive-in does have a guy running around jump starting vehicles at the end of the night, but with new-ish batteries (stock starting batteries, not deep cycle) I've never had an issue.

So is there some sort of 4Runner specific issue that would preclude one from doing this? Is the stock battery underpowered for these applications?

Or is this really a long-term battery health issue? Like, I may not have had an issue starting the car, but long term the battery's lifespan is now diminished.

 

[RuskiE39]

Serious question: is the 4Runner's battery and electrical system any different than most other modern vehicles?

I ask because I've taken several vehicles to the drive-in over the years (yes, we still have one here!) and watched 3 feature-length movies with the car's audio tuned to the drive-in's FM band. There's typically a 20-30 minute intermission between each movie during which I'd run the car to top off the battery. Now, the drive-in does have a guy running around jump starting vehicles at the end of the night, but with new-ish batteries (stock starting batteries, not deep cycle) I've never had an issue.

So is there some sort of 4Runner specific issue that would preclude one from doing this? Is the stock battery underpowered for these applications?

Or is this really a long-term battery health issue? Like, I may not have had an issue starting the car, but long term the battery's lifespan is now diminished.

The main reason I was asking was because the 4runner seems to be A LOT different than other traditional SUV's in the sense that you have A/C outlets, USB ports everywhere you look, a speaker on the lift gate, "party mode", I mean the thing almost looks like it was literally built for people that go camping every weekend so I was wondering if the electrical system was any different in the sense that it could stay charged longer with the car OFF while catering to peoples electrical needs in the wild.

 

[97BlackAckCL]

Serious question: is the 4Runner's battery and electrical system any different than most other modern vehicles?

I ask because I've taken several vehicles to the drive-in over the years (yes, we still have one here!) and watched 3 feature-length movies with the car's audio tuned to the drive-in's FM band. There's typically a 20-30 minute intermission between each movie during which I'd run the car to top off the battery. Now, the drive-in does have a guy running around jump starting vehicles at the end of the night, but with new-ish batteries (stock starting batteries, not deep cycle) I've never had an issue.

So is there some sort of 4Runner specific issue that would preclude one from doing this? Is the stock battery underpowered for these applications?

Or is this really a long-term battery health issue? Like, I may not have had an issue starting the car, but long term the battery's lifespan is now diminished.

No, there's no issue. It's just a risk to drain a battery for too long when you're out camping unless you have some sort of backup plan just in case. I've seen people get drunk and fall asleep and leave their vehicles draining battery all night, or leave a dome light on and drain their battery. Just better safe than sorry that's why I recommend at least having a backup battery jumper box just to be safe. I've run my radio for hours and hours while camping on my old 4th gens before I had a deep cycle and never had an issue, just have to be careful

 

[erikjon]

No, there's no issue. It's just a risk to drain a battery for too long when you're out camping unless you have some sort of backup plan just in case. I've seen people get drunk and fall asleep and leave their vehicles draining battery all night, or leave a dome light on and drain their battery. Just better safe than sorry that's why I recommend at least having a backup battery jumper box just to be safe. I've run my radio for hours and hours while camping on my old 4th gens before I had a deep cycle and never had an issue, just have to be careful

Good info. Thanks!

 

[nglayton]

True story........first weekend I had the 4runner, I did the typical new car owner wash, wax, check out all the features, etc. I had the radio on the whole time in the the driveway. 2 hours max, when I went to start it and pull it into the garage it was dead as a rock. I had to put it on the charger to get it started.

If anyone asks why you need a dual battery system in your t4r........now you know.

 

[two4spooky]

(snip)...
Or is this really a long-term battery health issue? Like, I may not have had an issue starting the car, but long term the battery's lifespan is now diminished.

Yes, you will be shortening the life of your battery. The good news is the O.E. Panasonic battery your 4Runner came with is very good quality. Unfortunately, I don't think that same Panasonic made battery is available as a replacement. Like others have said, a portable speaker/radio would be smart.