Jumping dead car-starts-won't start again
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 14
Likes: 0
From: Morristown, IN
Jumping dead car-starts-won't start again
Hey guys,
So my car sat for a month or so and stupid me didn't start it regularly or anything. So when I go out to start it today, it's totally dead. I had a power strip (3 to 1) cig lighter plugged in that has several led's on it, so maybe somehow over a month's period of time they drained the battery???
Oh well, so I don't have a battery charge (I really need to invest in one of those) , so I decide I'll just jump it and see what happens. So I put the cables on , waited 5 or so minutes, car kinda wanted to start, waited 3 or so more minutes, car fires up. Unhook the cables and the car is still running fine. Check the voltmeter and it's reading fine. So I idle for around 10 or so minutes and then drive her around for 10 or so minutes. Come back, park it, turn it off. Then try and start it again, notta, it attempted to crank, but then nothing. So it was late and I gave up for the day.
Enter today. Did the samet hing, except this time idled for a longer period of time. Yap, you guessed it , same results. Could it be my battery is just so dead it's not getting a good enough of a charge from the alternator? Should I go find a battery charger and throw it on there???
Anything you guys can think of to help would be greatly appreciated.
So my car sat for a month or so and stupid me didn't start it regularly or anything. So when I go out to start it today, it's totally dead. I had a power strip (3 to 1) cig lighter plugged in that has several led's on it, so maybe somehow over a month's period of time they drained the battery???
Oh well, so I don't have a battery charge (I really need to invest in one of those) , so I decide I'll just jump it and see what happens. So I put the cables on , waited 5 or so minutes, car kinda wanted to start, waited 3 or so more minutes, car fires up. Unhook the cables and the car is still running fine. Check the voltmeter and it's reading fine. So I idle for around 10 or so minutes and then drive her around for 10 or so minutes. Come back, park it, turn it off. Then try and start it again, notta, it attempted to crank, but then nothing. So it was late and I gave up for the day.
Enter today. Did the samet hing, except this time idled for a longer period of time. Yap, you guessed it , same results. Could it be my battery is just so dead it's not getting a good enough of a charge from the alternator? Should I go find a battery charger and throw it on there???
Anything you guys can think of to help would be greatly appreciated.
Two options: Dead battery or alternator not able to charge the battery enough.
I have had both happen in my Camaro, and when the battery is totally drained alternator just don't put out enough juice to give it a charge it can hold. I just took it down to the local Schucks and had them test and charge it for free, after that its worked fine!
I have had both happen in my Camaro, and when the battery is totally drained alternator just don't put out enough juice to give it a charge it can hold. I just took it down to the local Schucks and had them test and charge it for free, after that its worked fine!
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 14
Likes: 0
From: Morristown, IN
I found a battery charger so I'm gonna throw it on there for a while and see what happens. I undid both battery terminals and checked for corrosion, etc and they both looked fine.
I'm still curious as to why the battery was fully dead after only a month or so.
ryan
I'm still curious as to why the battery was fully dead after only a month or so.
ryan
Member
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 461
Likes: 0
From: Warrenton, VA U.S.A.
I wouldn't have said "stupid me". I have left my car sit (albiet with the battery stored in the house at room temperature) for over three months without problems. When I re-installed it, it fired up on the first crank - even faster than when I start it daily!
Left connected in the car, there is commonly what is known as a parasitic load, typically 20-120 milliamps. This is the cumulative load that that is produced from electrical devices such as clocks, computers, alarms, etc. that operate after the engine is "off". If you're drawing more than one ampere with the engine off, you may have a problem.
Even when I leave the battery connected (and being discharged by the parasitic load [~60mA for me]), it'll start right up after sitting for weeks.
I would guess that your battery needs replacing (presuming that your alternator is good and it was charged when last used). It shouldn't have a problem sitting for only a month. Of course, there's always the problem that something is draining it (other than the parasitic load described above) while the ignition is off.
It is not a good idea to charge a dead battery from a CS-130 alternator. Doing so will present a large load to the alternator which are prone to fail because they notorious for being head sensitive. Charging a dead battery will cause the alternator to heat up fast, and when they are hot (delivering >50 amperes) for more than ~15 mintues continuously, the chances of the rectifier and/or regulator being damaged is increased. This has happened to me one already. (I subsequently used an "Iceburg" alternator upgrade kit from Summit to help it keep cool.)
The proper way to charge a dead battery is from a battery charger. If I absolutely had to use the car with a dead battery, I'd try to let the alternator cool after 15-20 minutes, and then continue again, while using the least amount of electricity to keep the load to the alternator to a minimum.
The length of time to fully recharge a battery depends on the amount of discharge (in your case it looks like it was dead), the amount of surplus current that the alternator can provide to the battery, how long the engine is "on", how fast (rpm's) and the temperature. Alternators are designed to carry the maximum accessory load along with a safety margin and maintain a battery, not recharge a dead battery.
Depending upon how many amperes the alternator could divert to charge the battery from the other electrical needs of the car (dependent upon alternator capacity, accessories in use, engine speed, temperature, to name a few), it could take hours to recharge a dead battery. For example, a 120 minute RC battery would take ~3.5 hours to be fully charged at 25 amperes, or 8.7 hours at 10 amperes or 86.4 hours at one ampere.
If your battery is bad to begin with (accepts a charge, but has lost capacity), then you can see how only running the car for ~20 minutes may not have been enough to recharge it.
Left connected in the car, there is commonly what is known as a parasitic load, typically 20-120 milliamps. This is the cumulative load that that is produced from electrical devices such as clocks, computers, alarms, etc. that operate after the engine is "off". If you're drawing more than one ampere with the engine off, you may have a problem.
Even when I leave the battery connected (and being discharged by the parasitic load [~60mA for me]), it'll start right up after sitting for weeks.
I would guess that your battery needs replacing (presuming that your alternator is good and it was charged when last used). It shouldn't have a problem sitting for only a month. Of course, there's always the problem that something is draining it (other than the parasitic load described above) while the ignition is off.
It is not a good idea to charge a dead battery from a CS-130 alternator. Doing so will present a large load to the alternator which are prone to fail because they notorious for being head sensitive. Charging a dead battery will cause the alternator to heat up fast, and when they are hot (delivering >50 amperes) for more than ~15 mintues continuously, the chances of the rectifier and/or regulator being damaged is increased. This has happened to me one already. (I subsequently used an "Iceburg" alternator upgrade kit from Summit to help it keep cool.)
The proper way to charge a dead battery is from a battery charger. If I absolutely had to use the car with a dead battery, I'd try to let the alternator cool after 15-20 minutes, and then continue again, while using the least amount of electricity to keep the load to the alternator to a minimum.
The length of time to fully recharge a battery depends on the amount of discharge (in your case it looks like it was dead), the amount of surplus current that the alternator can provide to the battery, how long the engine is "on", how fast (rpm's) and the temperature. Alternators are designed to carry the maximum accessory load along with a safety margin and maintain a battery, not recharge a dead battery.
Depending upon how many amperes the alternator could divert to charge the battery from the other electrical needs of the car (dependent upon alternator capacity, accessories in use, engine speed, temperature, to name a few), it could take hours to recharge a dead battery. For example, a 120 minute RC battery would take ~3.5 hours to be fully charged at 25 amperes, or 8.7 hours at 10 amperes or 86.4 hours at one ampere.
If your battery is bad to begin with (accepts a charge, but has lost capacity), then you can see how only running the car for ~20 minutes may not have been enough to recharge it.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
db057
TBI
10
Aug 11, 2015 10:11 PM
