Jump to content
XS Power

Recommended Posts

I purchased a D3400 just over 2 years ago and now the battery is starting to have issues. It sits at about 12.4 volts which is only a little low but even if I put is on a battery charger it won't fully charge. Also when I start the car the battery drops way down to around 9 volts, and then immediately jumps up to 14. I'm not an expert by any means but I assume this is definitely a bad battery and has nothing to do with my alternator. I did have it tested at autozone and they said the battery was bad as well. I am running a two battery setup I have the d3400 up front and a D3100 in the trunk. I killed my stock alternator several months ago and replaced it with a HO alt. However I had already drained both batteries pretty low at that point because the batteries were basically running the car by themselves, and I didn't start to see any issues till they both had dropped to around 10 volts or less. Amazingly I was able to charge them both back up and they stayed charged.

Anyways on to the point the D3400 has a 3 year warranty, and so I contacted XS Power and they told me first that it wasn't necessarily a batttery issue which shocked me, and also that it probably wouldn't be covered under warranty, because the battery is slightly swollen. That is absolutely crazy, I like XS Power they make a great product don't get me wrong, but even Kinetic when I had an issue with one of there batteries, charged me a small shipping fee and sent me a replacement battery right away. I have temporarily removed my entire car audio setup from the car in an attempt to not put any more strain on a bad battery and so I'm currently driving to complete silence. Also what am I suppose to do in the mean time the point of the warranty I thought was so if anything happened I didn't have to buy a new one, but in order to ship this one to them first I'm already out 50-60 bucks for shipping, and second I'm out another almost 100 buck for a battery just so I can drive my car to work. Then if they decide not to replace the battery under the warranty I'm out all that money with nothing to show for it.

Suggestions, is it worth it to try to send the battery to them, or should I just buy a new one?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In for the answer, as I was also eyeing an XS Power battery in the future.

2015 Toyota Tacoma Build Thread

2007 Mazda 3; 5000K HID's, Kenwood Excelon KDC-X997, Infinity Reference 6.5 comps in front and coaxials in the rear doors, JL 320.4 four channel, Rab Designs built ported enclosure with an SA12, Kenwood monoblock, Redline Leater shift boot/e-brake boot/center console cover, JBR short shifter/shifter bushings/rear motor mount.

Build Thread

 

1996 Mazda Miata: Kenwood Excelon HU, Alpine speaker in the doors, Clearwater (miata specific) headrest speakers. 

 

1994 Mazda Protege: Kenwood Excelon HU, Infinity Reference 2 ways all around, 2x RF Punch 10's in ported boxes. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

XS is a vendor here. That being said you will not get the kind of critisism you are looking for. I can tell you that they will not honor any warranty on swollen batteries as it is always your fault. Do other companies care? No not at all. Have you had everything checked including you alt? Bench test your alt... Also if you have had the system in a couple of years, what kind of wiring are you using? I would check all power and ground connections for corrosion and/or swelling. These issues will not allow current flow. All of these thing can strain your battery and caused it to short cycle which kills the battery.

Team Deadly Hertz


Ampere Audio/SHCA/Singer/ XS POWER

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry I honestly wasn't trying to criticize XS Power as I said I love their batteries. I suppose I was just venting, the whole situation is frustrating. I finally got an audio setup that I liked a lot and planned on sticking with this time and then I started having problems.

I'm pretty sure the alt is fine but will have it tested I have tested the wires that shouldn't be an issue, I am using Knuconceptz 1/0 gauge wire. As for corrosion yes I had started seeing corrosion on the front battery along with the swelling I just can't figure out what caused it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Could be from engine heat? Also what does your alt charge at? If you over charge and consistently do it, it will have a effect to the battery. Throwing those to out

05 dodge magnum rt

DEH-80PRS

Rockford fosgate T600.4

st200 tweeters

Sundown Neo Pro 6.5 v2's

2 Saz-3500v2- Toolmaker dual 1/0 inputs

2 Sundown ZV4 12" D1

1/0 Sky High Power wire OFC

3 XS D3100- Toolmaker battery terminals

Mechman 320 Amp Alt

Smd Voltmeter

KnuKoncept 1/0 OFC

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My 3400 was swollen at about 2 years of age. it happens when they are under the hood with all that heat and high voltage charging. That battery should be in the 9 volt range with a 500 amp load for 30 seconds.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There warranty proceedure, has always been sent in the battery for testing, in which they will test it themselves and make a determination. Some times, there are bad batteries, however other times and more often then not that batts aren't bad at all and need to be recovered properly from a deeply discharged state. Swelling usually occurs from engine heat or over charging. I personally have had a 1 or 2 batteries fail during warranty out of several hundred I have sold. Both were replaced. I did have one come up this week that went bad, cause there was a hairline crack appear in the case from who knows where. I called and looked it up by serial number. At which point I was told it was just out of the warranty period. But to get me a replacement the offered to discount a new joe to help me out. I know it's frustrating, but the have a system in place for a reason. If they took everyone's work that the batteries where bad when the called and just shipped a replacement, they would be losing money. And no business it out to give stuff away. Almost 80% of batts sent in are recovered and work properly out of all warranty claims. Just think of the potential loss there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My alt is charging at 14 volts. However my car does get pretty hot, at least a lot hotter than most other peoples cars that i've gotten in after they've been sitting in the sun for several hours, although I've never been able to figure out why. Also I recently purchased a battery isolator, if I didn't have one before, could that have been the issue? Since the rear battery is a lot more powerful than the front could the swelling have been caused by trying to keep the back battery charged during periods of heavy bass. I appreciate everyone's help, hopefully if I find the cause I can prevent this from happening a second time.

Also does anyone have any suggestions about what I should do from here? I'm thinking about just buying a new one, but I'm wondering if maybe they would give me a discount if I shipped them my old one. Or maybe I should take a gamble and send it in and see if they do replace it under warranty. I don't know thoughts anyone?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Who's Online   1 Member, 0 Anonymous, 369 Guests (See full list)

×
×
  • Create New...