Thread: Interesting battery information

Originally Posted by waynep

What's with all these bad people wearing red lipstick ?

¿Qué?

Drivesafe I read somewere,can't remember that one expert thought the best way to send power to a van was throught a 7 pin trailer plug.We might be talking about the same expert. Pat

Some of the 10 points have some merit but others are just not true.

I doubt any one would have a battery charger for automotive batteries that cycles them with a load and charge for home use.! Common for little rechargables and phone batteries for home use but not a car battery.

However I agree batteries tend to last longer if used on a regular basis than if left for long periods.

Heat does kill batteries usually due to fluid loss or undesirable chemical reactions.

Different batteries have different requirements in charging and use but for the most part 4WD use will never be optimal in any respect and when the battery fails after 2 or 3 years, just buy another one. The batteries of today are much better technically than those of only a few years ago!

I have discussed batteries and charging on AULRO before with Drivesafe and Bellaposs and others and we tend to have some differences of opinion. I do not want to re hash it all again.

On the insurance angle. Any modification to your vehicle should be notified to the insurance company and inspected if they want/need to. If they have suspicion or cause to deny payment then the fine print and liability can often consume more than the value of the claim. I always laugh at the question on the policy form. " will the vehicle carry flamable liquids" I have asked the underwriter about the fuel tank full of deisel or petrol but they still said answer truthfully as you see fit!

Within reason I would fit a fuse. But as a firefighter have seen electrical fires in cars from wiring faults or collision damage with the only solution to remove the batteries by what ever means!

Zwitter
James

Hey mundy

Well done with posting those points. The intentions were good.

You could post that black is black on here and someone will tell you its white

Go and talk with an old school auto electrician. Find the right one and they will sort you out.

Justin

Originally Posted by DRanged

You could post that black is black on here and someone will tell you its white

Go and talk with an old school auto electrician. Find the right one and they will sort you out.

Curious, how do you know if you have found the right one, if you don’t have the correct info in the first place, particularly when most auto electricians do not do dual battery installations and many of those that do, usually don’t know what they are doing.

I’d say this would be a case of the blind leading the blind.

One of the most common faults that auto electricians fall into is one that Pat raised above and thats the use of a 7 pin trailer plug to supply charging power for a caravan or trailer mounted auxiliary battery.

That’s a good one to look for when trying to work out if the auto elec actually know what he is doing. If he recommends using a trailer plug to get the power to the trailer’s battery, go look for another auto elec and start again.

I have to comment...As a battery engineer with over twenty years in the business most of the comments seen here are pure fantasy and conjecture.

Try designing a battery system, that has to last over twenty years, giving 80% of its original capacity at end of life. Consider the battery environment. Heat, cold, ventilation, vibration protection, charging requirements, earthquake considerations and most of all the initial cost and ongoing maintenance costs.I have to get it all right as my livelihood depends on it.Try justifying spending $200,000 on one battery to the wife, and then telling her you need four of them in switch able parallel to do the job.

I purchased a battery for my 4WD in 1998 to run the Engel in the Nullabor whilst working there for several weeks.It then went in my Patrol for several years and on to the Freelander where it eventually failed after 10 years three months.It had been discharged to near zero on several occasions and upon recharge it came good again.

In my case , buy the best you can afford, gain the knowledge and look after the battery.It will serve you well.

Ignore the so called experts who mean well, as they are not spending the money. YOU ARE !!

Seek advise from experts.

Originally Posted by Hoodoo Brown

Seek advice from experts.

The problem is finding one. Who does one believe?

I'm am an electronics tech but batteries are not my field. I've done a lot of reading on the 'Net and found lots of articles about batteries and charging.

An amazing number are copied from a website somewhere else. I wonder how much of the stuff I have read is useful or can be relied upon. Not a lot, I suspect.

I don't think my old elec. engineering (c.1965 or older) books (if I can find them) cover this stuff. Battery manufacturers don't seem to provide much useful info via the 'Net.

My local library hasn't any useful books on the subject.

Definately wouldnt be inviting him around to play with the charging gear or batteries at work......

on the fusing front.....

go look at some of the newer BMW's the battery is in the boot and all of the fuses are up the front.