I've had my empeg in my car for a few months now, and it's great of course. But there is an annoying problem regarding power and I need some suggestions.

There seems to be an issue with power (or lack thereof, apparently). I read somewhere a while ago about the battery icon coming up when power dips below some threshold. My player has been doing this a lot recently. Along with the battery icon, the player itself (audio and display) seems to reset for about 5 seconds with the led flashing but the processor keeps going because when the music returns it continues as if it was playing during the audio outage. While it happens intermittently, it mostly occurs when the car is idling with the lights on and I do something that draws power, like braking, signaling, etc. Sometimes it will do it often, and even reset a few times while I’m waiting at a light, some days it wont happen at all. Needless to say when it is doing this, it is very annoying.

So what can be done about it? I suspect that maybe accidentally leaving my lights on and running down the battery a couple of times may have caused the battery to be weaker than it was and the strain of multiple sources of power while idling causes it to dip below the threshold for a moment. But the car power seems to be functioning normally otherwise, so I don't want to replace the battery if I don't have to. For instance, maybe this is a known issue with the empeg or something can be done about adjusting the threshold level via software.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

Mine was doing that before I had to get the alternator replaced. Try taking it in and getting the alternator tested...should only cost a coupla bucks and it'll give you some peace of mind.

I bet:

- the temperature has just dropped and the weather your way has gone cooler.

Check:

- battery fluid level
- battery acidity (garage test)
- fan belt tension
- that the battery terminals are both shiny metal clean (use a wire brush) and greased with Vaseline

If it's still giving problems, take the battery out, wire a headlamp bulb across the terminals (with heavy wire) and burn the battery flat overnight. Check the fluid levels, top up with distilled water if necc. Recharge the battery on a low-rate charge over 1-2 days. Re-install and run the car for a while to charge it up further before serious use.

If it's still giving problems, take it in to the garage and get them to do a charging system check (battery and alternator together).

If all is OK and it still gives trouble, check your wiring to the sled.

If it's still giving problems, give up.

In addition to the things Schofiel said, check the Troubleshooting section of the FAQ. There is an entire entry on this topic.