I am a proud owner of an '07 Element SC, which is about 4 months old now. I went camping this past weekend with it, and was running the radio for a little while. However, being nervous that I'd run the battery out so the car wouldn't start, I turned it off. My question is, How long can I safely run the radio in the Element without the car running before I run the battery too low?

-Justin

I think that there's only one way for you to find this out... Just remember your jumper cables.

I think that there's only one way for you to find this out... Just remember your jumper cables.

I agree try it you can't hurt anything.
After getting my Element I had to jump start it 3 times in 3 months. With the OEM battery I got about 3.5 hours of playing my radio at a pretty loud volume while doing some mods. The dome light would kill it in about 4-5 hours. There was nothing wrong with the battery. It was designed to start the E and thats it. There are a lot of threads on this subject it has been run to death.
I got a Sears Diehard 51R and have been more confident about running accessories with the E off. There are quite a few other good battery choices if you decide to replace it.

Until your camp neighbors get tired of hearing the base notes of your music :grin:

Well, I found out a couple of months ago with my SC.... Came home and started yard work... had the mp3 player cranked up pretty well... worked in the yard, continued work in the house with the back door open... had some dinner... and then.... the cd started cutting off and restarting, over and over and over... UHOH!

Best I can remember it was about 4-5h...

Tried to crank it, and got nothing but a click...

Luckily I had a backup 53AH sealed battery on my ham radio, so I borrowed it and boosted the E. Left it running about 20min, and all was good after that.

Wouldn't recommend trying to discover how long the battery will last, as runing a lead-acid wet cell down to zero has negative effects on the battery...

If you plan on listening to music for quite a while, esp music with heavy bass, I'd recommend investing in a backup battery to run the system, or maybe get a stans-alone system and run it with a secondary battery.

Good luck! Cheers,
-poosk

At least on my 2003 DX, it is possible to run the radio from a jump-start battery with the car off. With a double male cord (custom made), I can connect the battery to the front power outlet on the passenger dash. This outlet is on the same side of the key switch as the radio, so 12v going in here powers the radio without the car key off.

I've only done this as an experiment. I was really more interested in whether I could charge the jump-starter from the car (can't). I don't know if this would work with the factory radio with security codes, etc.

paulj

I take my E to the drive-in on a regular basis. They broadcast the movies over the radio and I can get through double features with no problem. But that's just the FM tuner and not the CD player. Plus the good folks at the drive in have jumper cables on hand just in case.