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Location:
Face down in a ditch
Registered:
May 2002
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Battery/Electrical Issue
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Mon, 14 April 2003 04:45
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I believe my battery is dead and am hoping someone can confirm or deny it.
I had my amplifier hooked up by the car audio person the other day. The stereo was running just off the battery for around half an hour. I then got home and had the car turned on (idling) for around half an hour with the stereo on. I turned the car off, but when I went to kick it over again.... nothing.
The car was able to be jump started so I went for a drive around at night for an hour. When I got it home I turned it off then on.... nothing.
I don't think there is a problem with the alternator because when I went for a drive the lights and all that were working perfectly.
I hooked the battery up to a battery charger and it charged in around an hour. Still, the car would not start. I don't have a spare battery so I couldn't test it. The fact that it won't start the car and charges so quickly means it must be only storing a fraction of it's maximum amount.
The whole situation suggests two things to me: never let anyone mess with your car unless you trust them implicitly; and the alternator cannot return more charge to the battery than what the stereo takes out (at least at idle).
Does anyone know how I go about measuring the current that is drawn from the battery, and how much is returned by the alternator? Also, is fitting a bigger alternator an easy thing to do?
Cheers
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