Monday, December 14, 2015

Did I Just Drain The Battery In My Parents' Car?

I haven't used my satellite radio ... uh, radio in a long time.  I have access through the Internet and have the app on my smartphone, but there are two main drawbacks that I still want: 1) I want to to listen to sporting events, many of whom I can't listen to online or through the app; and 2) oftentimes I want to listen to satellite radio in my car, especially on the weekends, especially sporting events.

I can't do that because the power cord for the car kit frayed to the point of it being broken.  I actually spent $95 to get a brand-new device through eBay just so I could get a new power cord.  Got it a few days ago, opened it last night to take out the cord, and I thought I was good to go this morning.  But when I hooked everything up and turned on my radio, the only two channels I received were the preview channel, XM Channel 1, and Channel 0, which just displays the ID Number of my device.  It's as if they shut down my receiver.

I was scared that I would have to pay a fee to get it reactivated.  Since XM merged with Sirius and eliminated all competition, their prices have skyrocketed to an obscene level; the only reason I keep paying is because I am pretty much sick of terrestrial radio.  But when I chatted with some dude named "Jackson," I was just given the reactivation/refresh number.

I decided to spend my lunch break/nap getting it reactivated.  The automated voice on the other side just said to turn on the radio, tune it to Channel 1, and wait 15 minutes.  So I waited.  And waited.  I only had ten minutes out there before I had to get back to my desk before my lunch break was over, and throughout those ten minutes I tried to take a nap, but the sound of the constant spinning of the cassette tape, and knowing that I have the key in the ignition set to "ON" kept me awake.

Once my alarm went off, I took one final spin of the dial.  Nope, still only channels 0 and 1.  I didn't have time to wait, so I turned it off.  It may have reset since, but now I'm just going to call after work and eating at the Mall of America and have it refreshed while I'm driving.  That way my car's roof (and the antenna) will be open to the sky and the satellite up there will have a good half-hour to reset my radio.

But in retrospect I should have done that in the first place.  Now, not only do I have to do it again, but I had my car on (though not my engine) for a good ten minutes.  That's ten minutes where my battery was on without being recharged by driving.  And now I'm paranoid I've drained all the energy out of the battery.  Dammit, I shouldn't have done that.

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