Re: decode marketing accumulatorspeak for me please

There are a bunch of people selling AGM batteries for auto use, including

> Optima, Lifeline, and Rolls-Surrette.  Personally I don't think they ar e

the issue is what's available locally besides exide. I'd have to check on that

worth the extra money, but then I don't actually have car battery failure s. > Last time I changed a car battery, I bought a Deka that was about four ti mes > the capacity of the OEM battery.  That was ten years ago, and I still c heck

And you somehow managed to coddle it into the standard battery bay? Not that I have a problem with my mechanic making a secondary battery bay in the trunk for a high capacity battery. But I wonder what would running two high gauge wires into the trunk cost me. He did not charge an arm and leg when he was fornicating with the trunk installing the towing enabler but running the wires would require pulling the carpet and removing the seats I'd think.

it at every oil change and add water as needed, and it's just fine.  If I > lived in Arizona I might feel differently.  Thank God I don't live in A rizona.

Since I also live in the temparate climate I think I'd save the money and get a conventional battery of the same capacity as the one I have, dump it into the trunk and disconnect the negative terminal. Then once the main battery is dead I'll put the terminal back on. Jump start and disconnect it again.

Reply to
AD
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Get a manual transmission. If the battery ever dies, push-start it and drive to someplace where you can buy a battery. No problem.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

snipped-for-privacy@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) wrote in news:k0irgd$hpi$1 @panix2.panix.com:

one small problem!!! if the batt is truly dead it wont push start either. KB

Reply to
Kevin Bottorff

A manual transmission equipped vehicle with a permanent magnet alternator is not solely dependent upon an external power supply for field excitation and accordingly can be push started with a totally dead battery.

Reply to
Heron

permanent magnet alternator??? get your proboscis out of that thesaurus and under the hood kiddo. fact is, the auto industry doesn't use them. what they use is cheap silicon steel in their core laminations, and although it's supposed to not retain any magnetism, usually still does. it takes very little residual flux for self-excitation.

again, you need to get your proboscis under the hood. very few batteries go totally dead. even if dead shorted for hours, within a couple of minutes of going back to open circuit, most will read a couple of volts. of course, that's completely useless for the starter motor, but it can help the excitation of an alternator.

Reply to
jim beam

It sure will with a magneto or generator system. No battery required.

With a more modern alternator type system, you're screwed.

Reply to
AMuzi

in theory, but in reality, cheap alternator cores and the fact that batteries are seldom ever /completely/ dead conspire to usually get you going. particularly as the alternator's silicon steel core ages.

Reply to
jim beam

We agree. Very little current is needed to energize an alternator for a bump start. Remove the battery however and the system is kaput.

Reply to
AMuzi

Possibly, but in the case of any PMA equipped vehicle it certainly isn't.

Reply to
Heron

Permanent magnet alternators are very common on motorcycles. I can't think of one car that uses them, though.

Reply to
Mark Olson

wriggle. squirm.

fact is, this is a car thread. unless you specifically call it for an alternative such as "moto" or "aero", then any "auto" thread is about cars and your bleating about permanent magnet alternators is either ignorance [based on the fact that you never stick that proboscis of yours under the hood of a real car] or a deliberate red herring.

Reply to
jim beam

Not that you've claimed otherwise, but none of my posts on the subject so much as alluded to a car application.

Reply to
Heron

True and especially so on newer cars if the computer and fuel pump won't power up. An older car will still run after all the accessories have died...

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

if the alternator will energize, and it will if its got any residual magnetism and/or battery potential, then you're merely blathering presumptive nonsense. but that's nothing new.

Reply to
jim beam

I ran my old Blazer battery so low (alternator went bad) that when I put the brakes on and illuminated the stop lights it almost killed the engine due to insufficient power for the HEI distributor. The rest of the accessories had long since be powered down in an effort to make it home.

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

I had a similar experience years ago... was a passenger in an old Monte Carlo. Turn signals stopped working on a long highway drive. Rather than stop and troubleshoot we were only an hour away from destination and since we didn't actually need signals (traffic was light, we were on the Interstate, so no turns) just kept pressing on. When we got to our destination the battery was so low that you couldn't even see the parking lights when turned on. Alternator had apparently failed early in the trip but since it was daylight, weather was mild, and there was no radio (it had been recently stolen out of the vehicle... gotta love the city) we just didn't notice, other than the fact that the signals didn't work. Funny thing is the idiot light for the alternator never came on...

I never did figure out how to get the thing to charge reliably though. After that trip I replaced the alternator (10SI, integral regulator) and charged the battery, still wouldn't charge, owner of the car sold it on as it was rusty anyway and this was the last straw, new owner was from WV so didn't need to pass safety inspection (she showed him the rust on the body mounts, apparently it didn't bother him...? some people.)

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

Google,,, How to push start a car that has an automatic transmission It is possible.

Reply to
JR

It is possible.

Isn't guaranteed to work though, unless your transmixer has a rear pump, and most of the ones that do are likely older than most of the cars that readers of this group will be driving.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

There is a magneto starter (the car design predates electronic ignition, it's a fiat 124 knockoff) so the alternator could be a low tech as the one in the majority of motorcycle applications. I'd have to check the manual though.

Reply to
isquat

  1. I don't own a car with an automatic. Owned one, worked fine. Dumped it as soon as I learned to drive. Automatic tranny is a great crutch to get going but I saw no fun in continuing along that route.
  2. Prices for batteries vary greatly around here. It pays to shop (and buy) waaaay beforehand.

Hance me thinks I need a battery that can sit unattached to alternator (or a car charger) for a few weeks without any ill effects.

Granted, it would've been better if it sat in the warmth of a house on a dedicated trickle charger, but having two (curious) little boys under 3 years of age puts a damper on my desire to move any lead+acid into the apartment.

I think I'll ask for a BMW battery since those are notoriously trunk based :-)

Reply to
isquat

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