[6pack] Dead

[Jerry C Shaw]

I use a maintenance charger (not a trickle charger) on mine.  NAPA sells one,
but there are others. Stays with the car and just plug it in.

Extremes in temperature are also hard on infrequently used batteries, e.g.
Florida or Maine long term storage, and the maintenance charger helps.

Jerry
'74 TR6 Mallard Green in Connecticut
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Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:24:40 -0700
From: "Navarrette, Vance" <vance.navarrette at intel.com>
Subject: Re: [6pack] Dead
To: John Summers <rivers2hills at yahoo.com>, "6pack at autox.team.net"
<6pack at autox.team.net>
Message-ID:
<4158487B9DEE0647BA23911D1C22795712E24F9E45 at orsmsx501.amr.corp.intel.com>

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

  John:

Battery. My last failure on the TR6 was almost identical to yours. Starts
great, voltmeter says battery is fully charged, headlights bright, etc. 10
minutes later, starter solenoid chatters but won't pull in, headlights still
seem bright. Next morning starts great, that weekend all I get is a click
from
the starter.
Pulled the battery, had it tested. Tested great. Dropped the starter, had it
tested. The tech says its fine. I express skepticism, so he proceeds to cut a
2x4 in half with the pinion while the starter is running on his test bench.
Hmm, OK, maybe the starter and solenoid are fine after all. What does that
leave? Relay, ignition switch, or is the battery intermittent?
Next time it happens, I toss a set of jumpers on and it fires instantly. I go
to the battery place, the tech tests the battery AGAIN. Swears it is ok, and
I
would be wasting my money. Thanks, but replace it anyway, says I. No problems
since.
I think the light duty our batteries get is surprisingly hard on them. This
battery was 3 years old, way oversized, and was immaculate as were the
binding
posts. No hint of a problem, yet it went intermittent. Not using it for 7
months out of the year seems to take a toll. At least, that is what I think.

Vance

    Vance Navarrette
    Cogito Ergo Zoom
    I think, therefore I go fast