Randall
Thanks for replying
The reason I thought of using the bulb was because my father worked down
a coal mine in the 1920's - He always told me that they used lead acid
batteries and left the lights which were powered by them on even in the
daylight in order to discharge the batteries and therfore give them
longer life. As I said, I have not tried the bulb idea, and of course
battery technology may have changed in the last 70 years ! My part of
the idea was that when you start the car then the battery is discharged
somewhat, only to be re charged by the dynamo. We know that this works
as it is a non used (and non charged) battery that is giving us all
trouble.
Anyway - my 'charge it a little bit once a day' system worked last year
(the battery was virtually new) so I'm going to do as you suggest and
just charge it via a timer. What I did do (but didn't say) was to stop
the charger from working once per month for about a week, which would
give everything a rest. I didn't want to overcharge the battery of
course !!
Cheers
Brian
Randall Young wrote:
>
> Brian :
>
> Unlike some other battery technologies, the lead acid batteries used in
> cars do not like to be cycled. Your "small bulb" idea will actually
> shorten the life of the battery. The 30 min/day scheme should work quite
> well, but IMO a 'smart' charger would work better (although perhaps not
> enough better to justify the price).
>
> Randall
>
> On Thursday, June 03, 1999 12:42 PM, Brian Johnson
> [SMTP:b.johnson@diamond.co.uk] wrote:
> >
> > John
> >
> > I have had the same problem in the UK - I have had three batteries so
> > far in my TR4 since 1993. However I think I found the solution - First
> > I found a company which gave a lifetime guarantee on the battery as long
> > as I owned the car. OK so I don't want the hassle of swapping it, so I
> > rigged up a charger that was connected to the battery and controlled by
> > a timer. The timer switches the charger on twice a day for 15 minutes
> > each time, and this seems to have worked. My other part of the theory
> > that I have not tried is to connect a small bulb permanently to the
> > battery thus discharging it in a 'normal' way. This of course may mean a
> > longer period of charge.
> >
> > --
> >
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