> All kidding aside and someone please correct me if I am
> wrong, but isn't the volt gauge designed to measure the condition of the
> battery
Nope. Depending on the failure mode, the voltmeter will look just fine when the
battery is junk.
> Whereas, the
> ammeter will indicate charging capability of the charging system, shorts,
> major power drains from a particular electrical sources (on our cars like
> when activiating aux lights, air horns, electrical brakes from from the 24'
> double wide you are towing, etc.) and the capacity to maintain adequate
> battery charging.
It will also tell you when you've left the lights on, whether the brake lights
work, and when the engine idle rpm is too low to keep up with the electrical
load.
> It talked about internal
> battery drain. This requiring a monthly slow charge, or the use of a trickle
> charger.
Problem is, the self-discharge rate varies widely. That's why it's better to
use a regulated "float" charger rather than a trickle charger. The float
charger senses the battery's need, and responds appropriately.
> Recommendation, is to always disconnect one
> terminal while storing a vehicle as well as when trickle or monthly
> charging.
Reasonable with our old cars. But it causes my stereo to lose all it's presets,
so I don't bother. Instead, I hunt down current leaks and fix them (except for
the radio).
> There
> is a test also for a new "dry" battery that will determine if the battery is
> structurally/mechanically, or electrically good that can be carried out
> within a 2 week period of its activation.
Just guessing ... is this a load test ? Put a known load on the battery (like a
battery tester) and check it's output voltage both under load and after the load
is removed ?
> I can't imagine that the test
> would not work for even a newly charged battery like you get at Walmart.
I dunno. If the test is similar to what those automated things at Pep Boys do,
I don't have much faith in them. Few years ago I took a battery in to be
tested, and they pronounced it fine. Checked the charging system, etc.,
couldn't find any problems. When the battery finally would not start the car at
all, I took it back for testing again. They said it "needed to be charged". I
went home, put 10 amps into the battery for 10 hours straight, then took it back
... the machine still said "needs to be charged". I bet the service manager he
could not charge it enough to make the machine say the battery was good ...
after 10 minutes on their fast charger (still "needs to be charged"), he finally
saw my point of view.
BTW, that car had a voltmeter, that said everything was hunky-dory. But I could
tell the engine was cranking slower than normal, even after driving 1/2 hour
with the voltmeter reading 14.4.
Randall
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