Sat-nav's drain car batteries

[Pebb]

Source: Auto Express

More than half of all callouts for a flat cell which the organisation responded to last year were found to have been caused by electrical accessories exhausting the power supply. And it's not only the guidance systems that are to blame.

An increase in the use of a variety of in-car devices, such as iPods, DVD players and mobile phone chargers, is also causing the premature failure of thousands of car batteries. Society of Motor Manufactures and Traders figures show the sales of aftermarket sat-nav and audio systems rocketed from 100,000 units in 2001 to a staggering 1.9 million in 2005.

As a result, the RAC recommends that car owners upgrade their power packs to the same specification the manufacturer would have used if the extra electronic kit had been fitted as standard. Contact your dealer or car maker for advice.

 

[Jim Prower]

That device that cuts out your power if the battery gets too low, that might be a good investment, too...

 

[Aquendwato]

Batteries drain faster with more load on the system!? NO ****ING WAY!!!!

 

[jammyozzy]

Batteries drain faster with more load on the system!? NO ****ING WAY!!!!

Basically what I thought.

Seriously, does it take a genius to work out that plugging more stuff into a battery makes it drain faster?

 

[SagarisGTB]

So... not only are Sat navs annoying, expensive and useless, but now they will cause you to not be able to start your car as you are trying to get away after you had eaten all the porridge at the house of the three bears.

Seriously, what the hell happened to the good old reliable highway map?

 

[Jim Prower]

So... not only are Sat navs annoying, expensive and useless, but now they will cause you to not be able to start your car as you are trying to get away after you had eaten all the porridge at the house of the three bears.

Seriously, what the hell happened to the good old reliable highway map?

Rich people got lazy.

I absolutely agree. I wish fewer cars came with it, I don't like having a big screen in my dash that I'm just going to largely ignore.

 

[lmracer]

logically that makes sense. i was pondering why my car battery has lasted for 5 years plus recently. it even survived the punishment inflicted by the cold winter freezing my fuel. I turned the motor over and over and over for hours trying to fire it with ether. then again, every dash light except for the speedometer and temperature gauge has burnt out. and i dont have power-sucking aftermarket speakers. actually my four channel head unit doesnt even feed all eight factory speakers. my battery has had a very light load on it for nearly all of my 5 year ownership. my alternator must be pretty good too.