| Author | Message | ||
| Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat)
Rating: N/A |
Interesting... I just picked up my 83 year old mom's car to do something about her constantly dead battery. She has a fairly new car with all the computers, alarms, clocks etc that constantly drain the battery, and her driving habits are such that she only goes out once a week or two. So the battery is always loosing it, and the auto club is over her constant calls.... I was going to install a battery solenoid that would disconnect the battery entirely, and make her try to remember to turn it off when she parks the car for more than a day, and back on when she wants to go. HOWEVER...  Today, in researching isolators for another thread, I came across this nifty doodah.. especially interesting to me since it is also a GREAT solution for us busnuts !! Check this out: http://www.prioritystart.com/ How does it work? It sits on the battery post in series with your (+) wire, and constantly senses the voltage. If/When the voltage slides below 11.7, it disconnects the battery entirely, using a motorized, geared contactor (NOT a relay...) Then is sits there and waits until it senses an abrupt change in load... according to the website, as little as a few millivolt step (opening the door thus connecting the interior lights, etc) and it reconnects the battery ! According to the website, it's good for 1000 amps, so it would probably work on a lot of out busses... for sure on the genset starter... and the house batteries... Hmmmm, I still havn't figured out how it sees a load change IF the battery is supposedly disconnected. I'll have to call em tomorrow and pick some brains. But evidently it works pretty well according to our local Interstate battery distributor... fun stuff | ||
| John MC9 Rating: N/A |
It's usually the radio that's responsible for an unexplained battery draw. | ||
| Tim Hoskinson (Tdh37514151)
Rating: N/A |
Gary I would guess that the unit allows a resistor left across the switch contacts that has a high enough resistance that it can't deplete the battery in any reasonable amount of time. It will however give the unit a easily measurable amount of voltage drop across the resistor. This signal can then be used for the sensing circut to control the switch motor drive. I have never seen one of these so this is just a guess. Tim | ||
| Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat)
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Tim, I'm guessing that you're right but I'd take it one more step... since the thing has a microprocessor inside, I bet it uses a fairly low value resistor but pulses it for a few microseconds every once in a while. That would allow a decent resistance measurement without using much actual power at all... I'll ask tomorrow and report. It seems like a pretty slick device... | ||
| Luis (Sundancer)
Rating: N/A |
A while back I heard of a really neat little gadget. Its called a battery charger and supposedly puts a trickle charge on your battery, thus preventing it from going dead. I heard it works really well. Just kidding Luis | ||
| Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat)
Rating: N/A |
Luis !! Hmmmm. Um.... Uh.... OH THOSE !!!! The problem is, mom put herself in one of those "assisted living" communities... you live there and can come and go as you please, HOWEVER it's worse than living in a gated condo community run by a bunch of retired whiney bueauracratic lawyers (actually that's kinda what it is and who runs the place)... you get what they provide and not a teensey thing more. AND you don't dare ask. If you are so lucky as to still be even able to drive a car and own one, you get a nice parking place of your own, outside under a sunshade, with your personal number on it, and no-one can park there. But ask for a 110 volt outlet within 500 feet ? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA There's nothing of the like allowed and IF you got caught running an extension cord to your car, you'd catch hell and then some from the security guys running around in their stupid little golf carts. They won't even let you put a flower pot out in "community area" without first having a major town meeting and majority vote, plus approval of the "owners"... gawd can you imagine a community of 75-to-90 year olds trying to agree on something? Anything? You should have seen the comotion when mom brought a stuffed pheasant-wreath into the community center and hung it on the fireplace mantle...yes I agree it's tacky as hell BUT it caused a three month commotion, rumours and skuttlebut like you wouldn't believe, and resulted in THREE full-on community meetings, votes, oustings, etc.... it was absolutely amazing... Ooops, I'm ranting.... Bottom line, NO trickle chargers allowed... someone might trip their walker up on the cord and "we just can't have that now, can we"... aargh aargh aargh Amazing that they'd rather have a noisy messed up tow truck in there every week, than allow something sensible like a P L U G for a silly charger... Priority Start here I come.... It's the truth... amazing, simply amazing.... | ||
| FAST FRED Rating: N/A |
It's the truth... amazing, simply amazing.... What is MORE amazing is that someone would PAY to "live" in one of these prisons! With a bus , boat and trailer in my yard , I have to say ,, Not for ME! Stick a 75W solar panel on the windshield, FAST FRED | ||
| t gojenola
Rating: N/A |
You might also want to have a close look at the car's operating manuel. Some of the newer cars with sophisticated safety and anti-theft electronics are programmed to disable the ignition in the event of battery disconnect or other major electrical malfunction. That in itself is not a problem, but the reset precedure may be out of your mother's range. My Honda Element came with such a system, and I still haven't learned to fully understand it - and I'm just 71. tg | ||
| Cliff (Floridacracker)
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TG, Good Point! One of my vehicles alarms goes off as soon as the battery is reconnected. Cliff | ||
| FAST FRED Rating: N/A |
One point is most cars have no problem with a weekly drive , so perhaps just a fresh batt will solve the problem. A start batt that has been run to almost 0% chage never really comes back, an older one is basically dead forever. FAST FRED | ||
| Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat)
Rating: N/A |
The stinking car is under a shade structure, and they won't allow me to toss a solar panel on it's roof... This is the third battery in 4 months (I just found that out..UGH) The ignition does not get disabled if you disconnect BUT the horn does go off upon reconnect until you start the car... that's HER problem... And the "weekly" drive? For her that usually means starting the car and driving two blocks to the shopping center across the street. The darned starts take more energy than the alternator will replace in that short of a time. So the battery slides, slides, slides... This is not a fun problem, especially since I'm the only kid in the family that still lives nearby... Oh well, moms, you gotta love em! Yeah Fred, NOT FOR ME EITHER !!!! Hey, anyone out there know a junkyard that has an Eaton Autoshift for sale? (10spd, overdrive...for ME, not mom....) | ||
| Sojourner (Jjimage)
Rating: N/A |
Believe your answer is not fully charge after half hour drive and sit until week later to repeat cycle. True for normal battery drainage is in process but full state of charge battery will start car after at least 2 weeks parked. Otherwise you have above normal drainage per specification. If you have security system it must have full time power to maintain it. Do what FF quote maybe the best all around suggestion along with an overcharge protection device connected in between. But if park in garage, a good trickle charger with limit voltage of 13.5. It automatically reduces as state of charge full except drainage. However one more thing that run off of 110v source to invite fire call. FWIW Sojourn for Christ, Jerry | ||
| Sojourner (Jjimage)
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OK, OK....have mom car park away from shade to use solar panel is your best choice. Otherwise costing more to shade or garage car than open field. FWIW Sojourn for Christ, Jerry | ||
| John MC9 Rating: N/A |
Time for a rope starter. | ||
| Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat)
Rating: N/A |
Actually I just finished installing a Priority Start unit, and it looks like it'll fix the problem. As advertised, it disconnects the battery when it gets down to 11.7. Then it "pulses" occasionally to see if a load has changed (opening the door, turning on ignition, etc) and when it sees that, whirrrrrr goes it's motor and it reconnects. So it looks like it will be pretty transparent to mom's reality, and that's important... Now all I have to do is convince mom that she needs to drive the car at least a half hour at a time to keep the battery up enough. I think after all she's gone thru, that won't be hard for her to understand. There's always more than a single solution... I'll report back if this one fails... Have a great day guys, and don't let your batteries down.... | ||
| sylverstone (Sylverstone_pd4501864)
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gary, you might look into a smaller alternator pulley or a larger crank pulley, if feasable... -dd | ||
| truthhunter@shaw.ca
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Possibly one of those retired lawyers are sneaking over at night and draining the battery; for say old times sake , like when they were protecting there clients in a divorce settlement and "drained the estate on a regular basis, or perhaps there showing there slightly less shrewd grandson "tow truck driver" how to service clients? Senility is one of the downs sides of those golden years , trust me on this! You obviously have a large parasitic draw, put a amp meter in between a battery post and its cable and start pulling fuses one at a time, until you find which circuit has the draw and take it form there with your amp meter. | ||
| Sojourner (Jjimage)
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Just a suggestion....trade car for one day every other week to get full charge on battery. FWIW Sojourn for Christ, Jerry | ||
| JR
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If the car is a "late model" with all the gizmos, be cautious about disconnecting the battery between each use. You'll lose all the programming in the radio for sure, and you may (may) lose the ECM programming resulting in rough shifts and other odd running issues until the ECM relearns whatever it is that it's supposed to know. Your dealer can advise potential for problems. What about a battery tender? Attach it os that the car can be driven off and the connectors passively disconnect...otherwise, your mom's going to pull all the wires off the power poles soon enough. Good Luck, JR | ||
| Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat)
Rating: N/A |
FINAL REPORT: THE DEVICE IS EXCELLENT It works PERFECTLY. I'm a believer. Today after getting the battery fully charged (Priority Start unit installed), I turned on the car's headlights and walked away. A few hours later (5 or so) I noticed that the car was dead. So I opened the door, nothing... stuck the key in.... nothing... turned the key as if I wanted to start the car...nothing... then 2 seconds later I heard a little whirr and the priority start sensed my key-turn and engaged the battery, and poof-like-magic, the car lit up, started without the slightest hesitation, and that was that!! I have to say, this is one slick device. Besides using it for this purpose, imagine sticking one on your house batteries and from that point onward never having to worry about over-discharging them. The device will stop you at 11.7 volts BEFORE you damage or abuse the batteries. I'm convinced... I'm sure I'll be installing more of them in the future... ONE GREAT PRODUCT!!! cheerio | ||
| airless in Jacksonville Rating: N/A |
Gary I saw in the past a battery that came with this device or something similar built in. I want to say it was a Sears. I will try to find it. |