[Shop-talk] Stranded by a bad car battery.

[DAVID MASSEY]

Ford, for one, does this.  They have a current sensor in the negative cable and the computer integrates the current in and out and computes the net battery charge.  When using an external charger it is important to connect the negative to the engine block so as not to bypass the current sensor so the computer can monitor the charge current and reflect the charger's current in the battery charge calculations.
I expect there are others that do the same.

Dave 


 

    On Saturday, January 13, 2024 at 04:39:57 AM CST, Moose <eric at megageek.com> wrote:  
 
 One more note of stupidity on this topic. Modern Range Rover requires their computer to change a battery!

That's right, you need to tell theircomputer there is a new battery.

I'm not sure if other makes are goingthis way, but it is one item on the long list of reasons I'll never ownanother RR!

Moose



From:       Dwade Reinsch <dreinsch at swbell.net>
To:       David Scheidt <dmscheidt at gmail.com>,old dirtbeard <dirtbeard at gmail.com>
Cc:       "shop-talk at autox.team.net"<shop-talk at autox.team.net>
Date:       01/12/2024 23:12
Subject:       Re: [Shop-talk]Stranded by a bad car battery.
Sent by:       "Shop-talk"<shop-talk-bounces at autox.team.net>



Thanks to all who added to my knowledge basefor modern cars and batteries.

I replaced the old battery the next morning,started right up, and continues to run perfectly.  I guess I'll justhave to have battery tested after about three years of use.

Thanks again!!

Dwade



On Wednesday, January 10, 2024at 04:10:50 PM CST, old dirtbeard <dirtbeard at gmail.com> wrote: 


Hi David, 

Yes, I do understand aboutthe lead acid chargers. I have accumulated many over the last 50 years.🙂

Best,

Doug
mobile

From: Shop-talk <shop-talk-bounces at autox.team.net>on behalf of David Scheidt <dmscheidt at gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2024 9:17:13 AM
To: Dwade Reinsch <dreinsch at swbell.net>
Cc: shop-talk at autox.team.net <shop-talk at autox.team.net>
Subject: Re: [Shop-talk] Stranded by a bad car battery.
 


On Jan 10, 2024, at 00:48,Dwade Reinsch <dreinsch at swbell.net> wrote:

 
This afternoon I was sittingin the 2016 Honda Odyssey van waiting for granddaughter to finish a theateractivity and I went to sleep in the front seat.  Had the radio andinside lights on.  When she finished and came out, car would not start. Completely dead.  Electric seat would not come back to drivingposition, etc.

Here's the question:  Inthe old days a weak battery would give notice by cranking slowly, etc.,before failing.  This is the car I drive regularly and it gave NOwarning.  Luckily, I could call son-in-law and he came to help.  Wouldnot start with good set of booster cables.  Would not start with 15minutes of charging on cables before attempting to start.  So in themorning I'll take pickup and tools and pull battery, get a replacement,and move the van home.

Does anyone have a suggestionfor identifying a failing battery before being stranded?  (Batteryis about 4 years old.)


If used properly, the conductancetesters work well.  Not cheap, but every auto parts store will testfor you, assuming your battery is accessible.  Many cars, startingjust a bit later than your ofdesy, have state of charge and battery performanceinformation tracked by the computer.  (OnStar sent me email tellingme the battery is low when I left my car on to listen to the ballgame ata campsite. I also get a monthly email, which told me to replace the batteryfor a couple months before I actually had it replaced.)

Modern cars have much higherloads at start time, and lots of them require a reasonably good voltageto turn the computer on.  Without that, the car won’t do anything(the computer controls the starter solenoid on most cars).  The variouscomputers also control all the other parts, which is why the seat couldn’tmove. 

This fall, I drove my wife’sfusion to the garage to do the brakes. I turned off and on a couple timesto get it spotted in the right spot. The third time I tried to start it,battery was dead. 20 seconds earlier, it fired on instantly, with no slowcranking.  Since I was in the garage, I had a battery charger handy.10.2 volts or something like that. Putting the charger on lowest settinglet it start.  Plenty of joules in the battery, just not enough voltageto turn the ecm on. (I replaced the battery before pulling it out of thegarage, it was 4 or 5 years old.)
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