Date: Tue, 3 Dec 2002 08:30:01 -0800
Reply-To: Mike Miller <mwmiller@CWNET.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Mike Miller <mwmiller@CWNET.COM>
Subject: Re: Camping in cold & battery
In-Reply-To: <20021203.080706.732.0.wilden1@juno.com>
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
I think someone already nailed it. If you don't rev the engine slightly the
system won't allow charging. This is normal, I don't understand why but it
is.
So if the engine was just started and never rev'd up then it would never
charge as was stated. Maybe all the other things are true but this is
cheapest to fix, always rev the engine slightly when you start it and want
to recharge your battery.
Mike
On 12/3/02 6:07 AM, "Stan Wilder" <wilden1@JUNO.COM> wrote:
> All of those cheap battery testers with the floating balls or three
> colored float are neat to play with but you need a genuine hydrometer to
> test your battery. One that will give you a true reading, 1260 specific
> gravity is what you want to see.
> In addition batteries are just mass produced and the lead plates can be
> defective as well as the connector bar inside. (Visit a battery plant
> sometime and you'll see many of these plates that are in recycling bins.)
> The only way to properly test a battery is to first bring it to a full
> charge then run a discharge load test on it.
> My batteries in my Westy tend to last six years or more as they are in a
> very protected environment.
> If you're having battery troubles suspect a defective battery.
> I've got four to five vehicles at any given time and many battery
> manufacturers give you a NC exchange on batteries less than 24 months
> old, I use this feature to rotate batteries. Most of the employees at
> Sams Club don't know Zip about discharge tests or batteries in general so
> If I say its bad they hem and haw for a minute or two and then just give
> me a new battery at the NC warranty.
> The only battery problem I've had with my Westy battery was a glazed fan
> belt that slipped and one other occasion when I added a ram scoop to the
> vent and flooded my alternator into failure in a heavy rain storm.
>
> Stan Wilder
>
> On Tue, 3 Dec 2002 00:54:47 -0500 Kim Brennan <kimbrennan@MAC.COM>
> writes:
>> On Monday, December 2, 2002, at 10:47 PM, Steve Firebaugh wrote:
>>
>>> An hour later, when we were ready to go, the battery was dead. A
>> push
>>> start was needed. Clearly the alternator at idle rate was not
>> charging
>>> the battery while running the heaters (front and rear).
>>
>> Three issues. First, your alternator is probably marginal and may
>> need
>> replacing soon. Second, you were running it in near worse case
>> scenario
>> (low rpms and high electrical usage, those fans use power.) Third,
>> the
>> battery STILL shouldn't have been drained, unless it is getting
>> close
>> to the end of its life cycle.
>>
>> So is it normal for your battery to be dead at that point? No.
>> Surprising? Not really. You probably could have gotten in and run
>> the
>> engine at higher rpms (aka 2000 rpms) for a couple of minutes at
>> the
>> end of the "warming cycle" and gotten away with it (as I have in
>> the
>> past).
>>
>>
>
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