ok so i just installed my amp and subs yesterday and everything worked fine for yesterday, then car started fine this morning and i drove to work, 6 hours later, my battery is dead..

the battery is an optima red top that is only a few months old, and the amp turns off when the car is off, so why did my battery die? is it related to the stereo in any way? any help

 

I'd check for a short or something. It's probably related to something you did in someway. Highly unlikely it's just a coincidence. The day after I installed my first sub, the old battery I had in there finally died. Wouldn't take a charge anymore... got a new one and it was fine since.

 

maybe you killed the alternator... if it was weak when you installed the stereo, the amp would just finish it off...

Start the car, and disconnect the battery... if the car dies, the alternator is bad.

Other than that, it kinda sounds like there is a drain somewhere... thats the only way a battery would die in 6 hours.

 

kinda hard to start a car with a dead battery.

is the battery dead as in gone, or have you not gotten a chance to jump it yet?

 

the easiest way to check an alternator is to take a voltage reading at the battery with the engine running. you should see at least 14 volts present. if you rutn on some accessories like the heater an and rear defogger if the alternator is wrth a damn it should still be able to maintain almost 14 volts at idle. if you read anything close to 12 volts with the engine running your alternator is not doing jack.
pulling the positive terminal off the batter with the endgine running is a bad idea. without the reference voltage of the battery present you couls easily spike the voltage of the car well about 16 volts. not good for your ECU

 

yeah i finally got a chance to jump drove a whikle to charge up battery, let it sit over night and it started fine this morning, i dunno..