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Drive-In Movie and the Radio

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Old 06-21-2009, 04:05 PM
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Drive-In Movie and the Radio

Saturday night we took the HHR to the drive-in. They have it set up so the sound comes through the speaker or the radio. Is there anyway to have the radio run longer than 10 minutes in the accessory mode? It was kind of annoying to have to keep turning it on. In older cars you just turned the key backwards and it was on accessory unti you changed it, not so on this one. I looked in the manual and did not see anything, but thought I would check.
Thanks!
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Old 06-21-2009, 04:15 PM
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just turn it one click forward thats accessory mode on these, at least on most newer cars. This is what I do if im just sitting and want to listen to the radio actually I think if you look right there at the ignition in says acc and on just put it to acc.
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Old 06-21-2009, 04:47 PM
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But be very careful. GM produced these vehicles with batteries that will not produce enough voltage to run the radio very long....THEN EXPECT TO START THE CAR. The batteries meet the bare minimum of requirements for starting the car and a few accessories use. Using the radio, on battery, for 2-3 hours will PROBABLY drain the battery.....thus a no start situation.
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Old 07-10-2010, 08:12 PM
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Originally Posted by Snoopy
But be very careful. GM produced these vehicles with batteries that will not produce enough voltage to run the radio very long....THEN EXPECT TO START THE CAR. The batteries meet the bare minimum of requirements for starting the car and a few accessories use. Using the radio, on battery, for 2-3 hours will PROBABLY drain the battery.....thus a no start situation.
I almost learned a very hard lesson from this last night.....

Went to the Sacramento 6 Drive-in and saw Predators. I had arrived a half hour before the first show so combine that with the 2 hours for the movie.... I went to leave a little into the second movie and got the "clicking" when trying to start the car. I shut off the radio and called GM roadside assistance and noticed that my cell phone was almost dead. Got the details to GM and my cell phone dies.... I get out of the car, have a smoke, then try to start it one more time and it started... Called up Onstar and had them cancel the roadside assistance......
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Old 07-10-2010, 08:22 PM
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We had a G2G back in May, and my kids sat in my HHR thru 2 movies that night and I didnt have one bit of trouble trying to start my HHR when the movies were done and it was time to go home. My radio played from 8:30p.m. till about 1-1:30ish in the a.m..
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Old 07-12-2010, 01:04 AM
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Originally Posted by mgfred
I almost learned a very hard lesson from this last night.....

Went to the Sacramento 6 Drive-in and saw Predators. I had arrived a half hour before the first show so combine that with the 2 hours for the movie.... I went to leave a little into the second movie and got the "clicking" when trying to start the car. I shut off the radio and called GM roadside assistance and noticed that my cell phone was almost dead. Got the details to GM and my cell phone dies.... I get out of the car, have a smoke, then try to start it one more time and it started... Called up Onstar and had them cancel the roadside assistance......
Hi Fred-

Good to hear from you.. Glad your car started finally..
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Old 07-12-2010, 11:14 AM
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I would suggest that if the car did not start after a couple of hours of listening to the radio, the battery or connections need some work. Chuck
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Old 07-12-2010, 11:39 AM
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Done the drive-in thing twice so far this year and have no issues with the battery. However I did run into another issue. We like to back in and sit in backwards to stretch out. With the tailgate open the lights in the mirror stay on and I have to put something over the mirror so as not to annoy the other patrons. With the radio on for a double feature and the mirror lights on the entire 4 plus hours, the battery did its job just fine. If I can just get the lights to go out I'll be happy.
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Old 07-12-2010, 01:45 PM
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You still have drive-ins? There are none left in NJ. I was thinking how it might be a new novelty to open one up. There are so many car shows and cruise nights that a drive-in would be the perfect venue for these
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Old 07-12-2010, 03:38 PM
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Originally Posted by chuckbear
I would suggest that if the car did not start after a couple of hours of listening to the radio, the battery or connections need some work. Chuck
When I bought the car last July, it had been sitting for almost a year at the dealership and it needed a jump to get going when I test drove it. About three weeks ago I was stuck at the Dr's for 3 1/2 hours and my daughter was listening to the radio and using the windows etc and it killed the battery. I only tried starting the car during the second movie because of that trip to the Dr's killing my battery.

I don't drive much (2600 miles for an entire year) and maybe my battery is not as charged as it should be. Also I had the volume up pretty loud while watching the movie (I have the 7 speaker setup with the powered subwoofer).

I'll call them up this week and see what Chevy has to say about it.... But boy after my cell phone died while calling for service, did I start sweating it..... Plus this was the first time in three months I had really gotten out of the house since my spinal surgery....
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