[TR] Stag quit at speed

[Rye Livingston]

This is a pretty cool battery tester.  I use it on car batteries and on deep cycle batteries on my boat and camper trailer.  Conventional batteries and Optima batteries.  I typically disconnect the battery cables, but according to the instructions I don't have to.

https://www.amazon.com/BA5-100-1200-Cranking-Electronic-Battery/dp/B0017R5EQK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1471809677&sr=8-1&keywords=solar+BA5+digital+battery+tester

There is another model that cost a little more, and the only difference is it has a battery in the unit, while this model runs off the power of the battery being testing.

Rye



On Aug 21, 2016, at 07:00 AM, Dave <dave1massey at cs.com> wrote:

In their head long rush to maximize CCA (Cold Cranking Amps) they have been making the the plate are larger and larger.  In order to keep the batteries from becoming larger and heavier they have at the same time making the plates thinner and thinner to the point where it has become a thin layer of lead supported by a fiberglass mat.  During the discharge process lead is transferred from one plate to the electrolyte and to the other plate.  If the battery is discharged sufficiently voids will develop in the plate and once that happens the lead will never be replaced in the void thus reducing the effective plate area and the current capacity of the battery.  This is not a problem, normally, with modern cars since they are fitted with alternators that can keep up with the electrical requirements of the car and there is little or no demand on the battery once the car is started.

The alternator on my TR8 died one year when I was the the Summer Part at TRF.  Charles doesn't (or didn't) carry TR8 alternators so I bought a Walmart battery and a cheap set of jumper cables and drove 10 hours home on battery alone.  Plenty of charge left when I arrived.

If the car died while running then your alternator is not working and the battery is discharged.  The the voltage dropped to the point that the car died, the battery has been damaged and may no longer have adequate capacity.

Dave Massey



-----Original Message-----
From: Randall <tr3driver at ca.rr.com>
To: 'Lee&John Howard' <leejohn7 at gmail.com>
Cc: 'Triumphs' <triumphs at autox.team.net>
Sent: Sat, Aug 20, 2016 11:02 pm
Subject: Re: [TR] Stag quit at speed

> But does a bad battery explain the car quitting going 65 after being on
> the road for 15 minutes? Not to mention that the battery is less than 6
> months old, and hardly driven at all.

Sorry, I missed that you were actually doing 65 when it quit. In that case,
I'd say you also have a bum alternator (or wiring to it, etc.). But I still
think you've got a battery problem.

Batteries can be ruined in a matter of days by running them totally flat and
leaving them that way. Had that happen just a couple of months ago in a
non-LBC, to a battery that was only about 4 months old. I was out of town,
and the wife accidentally left the dome light on. When she went to start
the car exactly a week later (it has to be moved every Thursday for street
sweeping), the battery wouldn't take a charge.

Randall



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