Date:         Sat, 12 Oct 2002 08:03:48 -0700
Reply-To:     pensioner <al_knoll@PACBELL.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         pensioner <al_knoll@PACBELL.NET>
Subject:      Battery Mfg. Warranty Charging Voltage
In-Reply-To:  <200210120405.g9C45mc7467248@mta3-ext.prodigy.net>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

Funny we should be on the battery topic.  My setup uses an optima yellowtop
and a delco maintenance free group 41.

The Delco came highly recommended and although the first one I had lasted
many years, this one with a mfg date of Feb 01 is failing.

I called Delco.

Talked with a rather snooty, IMO, fellow on their customer service line.  I
explained that the battery would not take a full charge using a trickle
charger.  He asked what kind of car it was in and foolishly I told him.  He
spouted that that was not the right battery for that car and no wonder it
wouldn't hold a charge.  After some further drivel I managed to learn how to
tell when the battery was manufactured.  I mentioned that the measured
charging voltage was 14.2VDC at the battery terminals (inexpensive DVM) and
asked what the recommended charging voltage was.

He said "it doesn't matter, that's the wrong battery for that car".
Remember this is AC Delco Customer Service.  I asked again, got a similar
response.  Then I asked about the 6Year Warranty noted on the battery
itself.   He said that they would not warranty the battery as it was the
wrong one for the car.  I hadn't mentioned the optima or the subaru
alternator.

So caveat emptor for at least this particular knows-very-little poseur at
Delco.

Would I buy another Delco, what do you think?

I seem to recall that a charging voltage of 14.2 or so should be sufficient
to charge the battery over a long period of time.  David mentioned that it
might not be.  I will measure the 2.5A trickle charger voltage today and see
what that measurement is.

A call to a local Delco battery shop revealed that "the battery needs a fast
charge to clean up the plates"  eh?  Why?  "it gets rid of the
sulfation"...I probably won't visit that shop either.  IIRC the PBSOn
doesn't go back into solution it just falls to the bottom of the case.  But
that may not be true either.

So at the end of the day, the maintenance free boogery is going to Battery
Bill's for a test and possible replacement.  BB has been in business since
Hobbes discovered which way the electrons flow and I have worked with them
before.

There was a thread on the bmw moto list involving a material whose name
started with an "E" that was reputed to be able to delay sulfation.  Might
have been by the electronic carburettor folks or the multifire spark plug
guys or the swirl induction gas saver ninnies,  EDTA or something like that.
I'll google around and see what I can learn about that too.

An old moto trick is to put a trickly charger on the light switch for the
garage and hook the charger to the moto battery.  Keeps it in better shape
through the winter.  BMW also sells a "Battery Tender"  that in theory will
keep the system up to snuff through the miracle of electronics.  $75US or
something like that.

cheers,

pensioner