Neon AC compressor cycling

I didn't know you spoke ebonics Clara.

Heh-heh... apparently it implies a whole lot more than that...

Or, what you had for dinner.

Yo foo, waz in dat poo?

I never said that the volt meter was connected across the battery.

Interesting phrase, let's remember it and save it for later.

No Bill, it doesn't matter for the coils sake whether the input voltage is 12 volts or 9 volts. See, this is where I take issue with the terminology you and the rest of the gaggle insist on using. To quote you "it is an unavoidable result," [it] being the reduced voltage. What else could a ballast resistor connected in series with the ignition coil reduce?

Now, back to the voltmeter/battery thing.

I was curious as to who would choose to disagree with what I posted (well) just because they couldn't help themselves (emotions and prejudice being what they are). Emotion and prejudice kept you and a few others from reading clearly (comprehending) some very simple words. (no surprise) I stated very clearly that the voltmeter would be connected TO the battery, I left it for you guys to imagine how many different ways a voltmeter could be connected TO a BATTERY. (imagination seems a bit limited here)

None of you got it, and it's one of the oldest test procedures that has ever been applied to using a voltmeter to test a BATTERY.

Either way, my little experiment worked flawlessly, Clare is still a doofus and the rest of you are more interested in pounding your chests and proving how smart you think you are. This all is nothing more than data collection so that someday hopefully I can postulate a theory as to why a bunch of Dilberts are hanging out here masquerading as auto mechanics.

There is only one way to connect a voltmeter to a battery. There are two ways to connect a voltmeter to a circuit - the right way and the wrong way. The only way to connect a voltmeter to a battery is ACROSS the battery, as there is no other possible connection to a battery with nothing else connected to it.

In a circuit, there is only one CORRECT way to connect a voltmeter, and that is ACROSS the load or ACROSS the source. On a simple circuit that is one and the same. On a parallel circuit, placing the voltmeter across either the source (battery) or ANY load in the circuit gives you EXACTLY the same result.

Throwing in bad connections or resistance in wiring changes the circuit from a simple circuit to a complex (series/parallel) circuit - so don't even bother bringing that up.

In a series or complex circuit, placing the voltmeter across any parallel branch will give the same result, and across any set of series connected loads will give you the results of a simple voltage divider.

The WRONG way to connect a voltmeter to a circuit is in series. Doing this, you are using the voltmeter as a quasi ameter. All it will tell you is if the resistance of the circuit in question is higher or lower than the impedence (or resistance) of the meter.

It will read either full source voltage, or less than source voltage. The only legitimate use of this connection is to check for trace current leakage (ie. current too low to measure with an available DC Ameter) or to tetermine if a circuit is open (totally open circuit+ no reading on the voltmeter).

Well, we know of ONE for sure. Last name of Nelson. AKA Dilbert Doofus.

(by the way, Dilbert Doofus, who taught you your trade? Sure glad it wasn't me, because I would have had to fail you in your basic Grade 9 auto mechanics course. You would never have made it to grade 10, much less graduated from high school.

If someone else had pushed you through high school, you would have been failed by me in trade school - and would never have passed your C of Q exam.

Yes, I have taught both.

Clare, you claimed to have been a mechanic for many years...

Connect the negative lead of the voltmeter to the negative post of the battery. Remove the caps from the individual cells. Place the positive meter lead in contact with the electrolyte. Read voltage.

Speaking of grade 9 auto mechanics, how is it that you can't fathom the simple concept of measuring the individual cell voltage(s) of a battery?

You have a big head for someone who can't even understand the basics.

Another reminder that you ARE a has been. Why is that? Did all of your student walk out in disgust, were they bored to tears or couldn't they stomach the thought of being trained to become a parts changer?

Well, what you are doing is STILL measuring across the battery - although only part of it. Each battery is a series circuit. However, as Bill has stated so clearly, you are a dishonest character, and are changing the question and the rules in mid-stroke.

Second - MOST batteries today do NOT have removeable caps. Thirdly, the ONLY definitive test for batteries today is a transconductance tester, such as a Midtronics.

It will NEVER steer you wrong and can test a battery with as little as roughly 10% charge ACCURATELY and RELIABLY.

The voltmeter test is neither accurate nor reliable, although it is better than nothing, and properly used can sometimes determine where an open circuit or short exists in a battery. It can also very often show a battery to be in excellent condition when it is incabable of lighting an 1157 bulb.

Now, If you connect a LOAD to the battery, and THEn do the test, you MAY get more meaningful results - but then again, that was NOT the situation you described (or didn't describe.

Admit it young feller - you are out of your depth, and as Bill has alluded, you'd swim better with both hands.

No Clare, that is not measuring across the battery.

Do you know the difference between a cell and a battery? Guess not. Some instructor you must have made.

Nope, I clearly laid out the conditions to which you claimed I was wrong about. The whole thing proved that you can't make up your mind which raises serious doubt about -your- ability to apply reason and logic.

Hogwash. Exide batteries have removable caps, Interstate batteries have removable caps. About the only batteries out there that don't have removable caps are Delco/Delphi "Freedom" type batteries and Optima batteries.

Red Herring, and besides, you don't even own a Midtronics tester.

Which has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that you totally blew it, hell I even posed the scenario to include something that would have been a common industry standard test method waaaaaaay back when you claimed to have started your (supposed) career.

You used a Midtronics conductance battery tester back in the 60s and 70s did ya? Aren't those decades the premise for all the "I've got 40 years of experience" chest thumping that you did a few posts back? Secondly, how do you suppose battery re-manufacturers identify individual dead cells prior to their remanufacturing process?

More weasel words.

Well, you guys are so smart, I shouldn't have had to spell it out totally for you. Fact is, all I said was "connect a voltmeter to a battery." Your eagerness to jump to conclusions is what tripped you up.

"Young feller" Gee Clare, that sounds like it comes from someone who would have intimate familiarity with the type of battery testers used 30-40 years ago, you know, the big clunky hand held voltmeter with a ground lead and the test probe sticking out the bottom. Congratulations, you now know what that mysterious thing-a-ma- bob was used for.

hahahahahahahahahahahaha

Wrong!

You'd have to answer that as it doesn't apply to me. There's your non-sequitur that you were talking about earlier (as in: has nothing to do with my side of this conversation), so not sure why you bring it up. I have been consistent. Your dishonesty (or mental state - like I said, sometimes the two are intertwined as to be inseparable) is showing again.

See Clare's very good explanation of this. You'll find the answer "hidden" in his post (hint: it has something to do with Ohm's law and some silly little mathematical relationship among current, voltage, and resistance (or impedance)).

Huhh!? I love that last sentence. Clinton has nothing on you for weasel wording - seems to be your forte.

See again Ohm's law, resistance, voltage, current and the links that you yourself posted about voltage dividers that explain things very well. Since resistance is difficult to change on the fly with a coil, the design exploits Ohm's law by adding a resistance to control applied voltage, with the result that current is controlled. There's the all-truth of the situation.

Bill Putney (to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with "x")

^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

^^^^

Finally!

Sure do - the battery is made up of cells in series, and any time you go from either post to anything other than the end cell you are testing a battery of cells.

I have access to the shop Midtronics any time I want. Most Canadians do too, by taking their battery to Canadian Tire for testing. Only the results of the Midtronics tester are accepted to declare one of their batteries good or bad.

Any battery manufacturer I have dealt with dissassembles the entire battery, mechanically checks it, and repairs as required.

And you said to a battery, not to a cell - then say I don't know the difference between a battery a cell.

How about the cell load tester that dug through the tar-top battery lids to connect to the intercel connectors? That's what WAS used as the "definitive" battery tested before the Midtronics came along - and before the hard-top batttery.

Aren't you special and interesting. Wow, I'm so impressed by such wild tales. And you even....walked out on the ice!

It's not about me you latte' sucking moron, it's about the winter conditions where I live.

Bill Putney (to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with "x")

Much obliged.

Damn! Never a break in the weather when you need one :0)