in order to charge the battery to a full state, i imagine it would depend on
the overall performance of the electrical system...a good hour long drive
should charge up most systems...however, if you have a bad battery,
defective charging system...all that could change..i have had some
electrical issues before (thanxs to advise on the spit list...no
longer)...below are some notes i have kept (from a fellow member of this
spit list) regarding my two past electrical issues...hope some of this info
helps...richard / colorado / 79 spit
Generator / alt problems: You either have a generator or an alternator, but
not both. In your case (79 spit), the car came with an alternator. If your
ignition light comes on or doesn't go out, it is likely that the alternator
is not putting out properly. But the problem may be in the battery's ability
to retain a charge. Or worse, you may have a short to ground. If you have a
late model solid state radio that has channel presets, this will always be
using some (although a small amount) of current. If the car isn't driven
much (very possible in Colorado winters) it could be that all is normal and
the radio is draining the battery and the car is not driven enough to keep
it charged up. We have alternators no generators on the younger spits, the
haynes manual shows a diagram on page 217 of a alternator current and
control unit test diagram. one of the quick ways to tell is to start the car
and pull the negative battery cable, if the car dies time for a new
alternator. if not, shut the car down and put an ammeter between the
disconnected negative cable and the negative post of the battery, it'll show
you if there is a drain elsewhere, but not necessarily where. don't let the
car run more than a couple of seconds without the battery in the circuit, if
the alternator is bad it will die almost immediately.
A simple but effective way is to hook a voltmeter across the battery
terminals while the car is running. When revved up around 1500-2000 RPM
(actually just above idle should do it) you should see a voltage of approx.
13.75 - 14.5 if the generator/alternator is functioning correctly.
Starter acting up? Clean all connections with a battery brush, down to
bright metal, and re-attach slightly enough to make good metal-to-metal
contact; no need to ver-tighten, since that would just break the copper or
lead parts anyway. First remove the battery ground cable from the battery
post, so your friends won't start calling you Sparkly. Once you get all the
connections clean and re-attached, you can spray them with the red stuff
sold in auto parts stores, to prevent the lead sulfate corrosion from
starting again, if there was some on your clamps before the cleaning. You
may find that one or both of your battery cables no longer looks like clean
copper wire, but instead more like blue powder inside the red or black
plastic coating. In that case, buy yourself some new cables, and that
should be the end of your starting trouble.
----- Original Message -----
From: <SLCL914@aol.com>
To: <spitfires@autox.team.net>
Sent: Saturday, September 18, 1999 10:02 PM
Subject: Re: 70 spit battery not charging
>
> on the same topic, does anyone out there know exactly what it takes to
charge
> the battery? I've heard it is done just by running the car, i've heard you
> have to rev the engine, ive heard you actually have to drive the car, and
ive
> heard you have to drive the car for 5,10,20 minutes before the battery
will
> start to charge. Does anyone out there know the truth?
>
> Stephen
> 76 Spitfire
>
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