19 Sep 12 15:45, Mark Hofmann wrote to Roy Witt:



 RW>> When the battery has to go through temperture changes like the
 RW>> transition from summer to winter weather, they have a tendency to
 RW>> live a shorter life. Of course they can be better maintained by
 RW>> using a trickle charger that has a voltage detector in the circuit
 RW>> to take it to the high limit and maintain it there and not over
 RW>> charge it. This would work to keep your Monte and/or the Charger
 RW>> batteries well maintained, while one sits and the other is used on a
 RW>> daily basis.

 MH> Here in Maryland, this time of year (September-November) is the peak
 MH> time for car batteries to fail.  The temperature change does wreak
 MH> havoc on them.

Been there. They usually failed in December/January in northern Illinois.

 MH> I have a nice trickle charger that I use for the HD battery.  I wired
 MH> a fast connector off the battery under the seat and all I have to do
 MH> is plug it in to the charger.  Keeps the HD battery from failing over
 MH> the winter or extended times when it is sitting.

I had one on mine too, but the battery died because of it. Either that or
batteries made exclusively for HDs don't live long at all. It wasn't even
a year old when it gave up. It looks like new, I still have the original
unused since I brought it home box and intended to take it back, but never
got around to it.

 RW>> My recommendation is such a device, rather than replace a battery
 RW>> that is only 3 years old. Especially such a great battery as the
 RW>> Sears Diehard.

 MH> Neither the Monte Carlo or Charger will be sitting for longer than 7
 MH> days, since I am alternating driving them every other week.  I didn't
 MH> think 7 days would cause the battery to fail, but it is apparently
 MH> weak.

I have a friend who thought the same thing. He has a 2008 Chevy Colorado
that sits during the week as he drives his POS Toyota Yaris to work every
day. The battery in the Colorado goes dead on him after a few days of
sitting. He now uses a trickle charger and has no problems starting his
truck on Saturday mornings. Drives it on the weekend and then cycles back
to the Yaris to drive to work. He's a cheapskate and I was surprised that
he took my advice and bought the charger, since he'd rather pinch a penny
than spend it.

 MH> I have been driving the Monte Carlo all week and it has been starting
 MH> right up, so I'm not sure what to think.

That's how my Silverado acted. Then it sat for 4 days and it wouldn't
start when I returned to drive it. The Optima battery had gone south and
it was a fairly new one. O'Reilly replaced it under warranty.

 MH> I had cleaned the terminals before charging it this past weekend
 MH> (using a can of Coke).

Not coke! Baking soda, water and a tooth brush...the baking soda
neutralizes the battery acid, the water gives the baking soda a medium to
travel on and the brush makes sure that you clean every surface. Then a
good garden hose flush and you're done.

 MH> Will wait to see what happens after it sits for a week.  I would plug
 MH> it into the trickle charger if there was an easy way to do it.  The
 MH> HD is in my garage with a fast connector to the battery.  Easy to
 MH> hookup.  The Monte is on the street (since the 2-car garage and
 MH> driveway is full of vehicles, etc).

Doesn't the person with the most body-hair have priority in parking?

He does here. 8^)

 MH> I wonder if it would be of any value to remove the battery from the
 MH> Monte and let it trickle charge for a few days to see if it then
 MH> keeps it's charge going forward.  The problem sometimes becomes that
 MH> you get a bad cell.

Yeup... I had a 'Chicago' brand trickle on the HD and I have a brand name
trickle on the Camaro. Both batteries weakened and died, but the HD went
first.

 RW>> Before I moved my workbench out of the garage, I maintained two
 RW>> batteries on one trickle charger as I mentioned above. One of those
 RW>> two was out of my 2001 Rodeo and came out of a Honda previous to
 RW>> being installed in the Rodeo. It had to be at least ten years old at
 RW>> the time. The trickle charger kept it at peak voltage, but when
 RW>> removed, it quickly died to a level of 9 volts.

 MH> Sounds like a bad cell.  I had one in my old HD battery.  I would
 MH> charge it all the way up, ride it somewhere, stop and get gas, and it
 MH> wouldn't re-start.  It just couldn't hold a charge very long at all.

Been there too. That happened to the original battery in my Camaro. But it
was at least 4 years old then. 1998 Camaro (sold new in Dec 07), by late
2002 it was new battery time.


                R\%/itt


... Mark Owen: "Hey, did you ever hear anything about that beer?
... Fellow SEAL: "You believed that shit, I bet you voted for change too,
... SUCKER."


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