Cranking Battery Power

Yes and Yes but if there is a leakge I don't know where, 'cos I have looked at every possible connection and pilot light, and all seems secure.

Dunno about the desert now. Run into officious bureaucrat.

Will have to get battery though...lol

Yup...will do that.

Reading was showing 12.3.

Maybe there is something loose somewhere....lol


Cheers

Hahahahaha....cheeky young fella


Cheers

Thanks.

Voltage shows at 12.3V. Could be a crook Multimeter....lol

Willem, Who writes your lines?Nearly hissed re the crook multimeter.Cheers Snake

Thanks Pete

Thats probably what it is. After our heatwave we are now wearing sox and overcoats

Next payday maybe. $300+ for 2 batteries...almost as bad as the fuel price...lol


Cheers

As mechpete says William, check voltage under load. Turn the headlights on and measure the voltage at the same time.

What is actually happening when you try to start ? Do you get any engine turnover at all ?

Thanks Mike

I charged the battery for 4 hours and it kicked over no worries. Will still clean the terminals though.

Ta Phil

I do too many short runs, I think. Although I did a run to PA on Friday. Is charging at 14V...new bloomin' alternator!

Whats an Ammeter?

BTW Fitzy had a look at my brake/rotor/bearing problem and declared it fit and well. Now I don't know!!!!!.....lol


Cheers

Glad you got Fitzy to look at the front end. When it comes to 4wds, he knows it all. My hubs get hot too, I don't believe that you have a problem.

Ammeter measures current. Most digital multimeters can measure up to 10amps, but you need to move the red lead to a different socket to make the measurement. Simplest way is with the motor stopped, to loosen the neg terminal on the battery, one probe on the battery post, the other probe on the terminal, and then remove the terminal to make the measurement. Any current being drawn will flow thru the multimeter and be measured. If its more than about 100milliamps, then its too much.

I'd guess that your problem is too many short trips.Mine sits in the shed for weeks at a time, but rarely drops below 12.6V, but I put it on a charger anyway.

Whatever you do, don't connect the multimeter directly across the battery terminals when it is set to AMPS.

Thanks Robin, but what constitutes a healthy battery?

I don't mean this to sound cute - but a battery that will restart the car at 11.0v is healthy.
If it doesn't it means its getting sulphated up or has other faults that rasies its internal resistance.

As a post further up says Willem , its under a load that really counts.

Robin,
I'd believe you'd have a chance of starting a petrol motor at 11.0v, but an old fashioned diesel usually pulls about 60amps from the glow plugs before they need the big amps to crank a high compression motor.

I've only tested mine down to 12.15V and it did start easily. But I've been unable to start a LandRover TD5 at 12.2V (battery was allegedly in good nick).

Hi Phil

Certainly harder all right , but problem might be that 11.0v is getting pretty low and those glow plugs could as you suggest hurt the remaining charge and make it to hard.

But the battery internal resistance doesn't change a lot and it can generate the peak amps.
Have a bad habit of to often starting my car at 11v and current supplied still reads around 400 peak amps.

The battery of course it couldn't supply that for much for even 30 seconds.

But I take your point that it is a bit dependant on the car, there is a wide variation, and older diesel in particular can be harder and take longer.
Some diesels like the Patrol 3lt with 16:1 draw much the same current as my 4.8 10:1 petrol.

Modern petrols keep the spark voltage constant and fuel pressure up and mine only takes under 3 seconds (hence a claim I have made that I have started car with pack of AA cells , first discharged into battery).

Soon I hope to trial a Li-ion , which is now available for bikes with starter motors (12V 4ah about a 1kg i think)

Load test chart.

Thanks for the chart, Derek. Your imput is always appreciated



Cheers

The worse part is that the aux battery was low as I have not had the solar system hooked up to it as the Troopy is due a service and now has sat around for a week, and it can't start the dam thing, I've now got it out there on charge just so I can get the thing going. I did not swear to much.. LOL

Cheers

Richard

Yes John...and that seems to be 12.3V.....lol


Cheers