4 minutes ago, MikeTheThinker said:

Does she do takeaway?

 

 

I've often suggested that she's missed a great business opportunity.  Her roast potato's (and wedges, come to think of it) are always amazing.  My Son is a chef and even he is bemused at how good they are, consistently.  Aunt Bessie, eat your spuds out 😁

 

We go out occasionally for breakfast, and good as they always are, they're never quite up to DIY standards.

 

G 

Can I have beans on mine as well please  

1 minute ago, Lady Elanore said:

Can I have beans on mine as well please  

Perhaps, my Lady Elanore, we should acknowledge your rise in the aristocracy and refer to your good self in future times as "your majesty, The Bean Queen"?

 

We're coming up to The Wirral in January to see friends who've just emigrated up to Ellesmere Port.  I'd try, but I can't guarantee they'll still be warm by the time we get there - or Manchester 

 

Thought I'd make my apologies now.

 

G

 

I'd happily go for the Bean Queen. 

 

2 minutes ago, Gaz said:

We're coming up to The Wirral in January to see friends who've just emigrated up to Ellesmere Port.

I appreciate the though regarding a takeaway but would have to agree with you regarding the lack of freshness on delivery

 

If you have time when up maybe we could meet up? Good selection of acceptable breakfasts on The Wirral; I've tested quite a few

 

5 hours ago, MikeTheThinker said:

If you have time when up maybe we could meet up? Good selection of acceptable breakfasts on The Wirral; I've tested quite a few

 

Very nice of you to ask Mike 👍  I'll suggest it, but as I type I suspect it'll overextend what we can fit in.

 

Charging has started to drop off:

 

 

 

So I've turned it off for the night.  Might see what happens with a bit of charging on the 'morrow, but I might also give it the requisite 12 hours and see what gives with the ol' Juke of Earl.  Provided it stops piddling down 🙄

 

Gaz

 

Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything.

 

Take multimeter showings with a pinch of salt, a mate asked me to take my optimistic multimeter over to compare against his old two and new one he just bought that showed lower than the two existing, all four showed different figures mine was near but above his original two and all three reasonable close but his new one was lower by a margin.

 

 

7 hours ago, Gaz said:

Then Mrs Gaz tempted me with an intermission of:

 Looks very nice and very good intentions for you by Mrs Gaz - but you can get more on an oval plate and that looks far too health for what it is . 😁

 

7 hours ago, Gaz said:

Then Mrs Gaz tempted me with an intermission

 

Did she cook the bacon in the fridge?

Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything.

 

6 minutes ago, Gaz said:

Might see what happens with a bit of charging on the 'morrow, but I might also give it the requisite 12 hours and see what gives with the ol' Juke of Earl.  Provided it stops piddling down

Unless that's where the gauge normally shows for charged that's no where near ready for mating up to the car, bit more effort and patience required, no wham-bam-thank-you-mam, it's not teenage years stuff now.

 

Took it off charge at 8pm last night.  At 1pm today.....

 

Lights:

 

 

Camera......

 

Action:

 

 

 

Came as a pleasant surprise 😎

 

Checked the levels, ran it up to temperature and let condensation out of the exhaust.  Moved it (brakes let go quite easily) and remembered to leave the handbrake off this time 😁 

 

Gaz

 

Edited 20 December, 20223 yr by Gaz

Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything.

 

Well done to you - and Stanley, Halford and John.  

 

Just the one finger of the Kit-Kat for now, did you get the battery fully charged, what figure at connecting to the car (was there a bet on that I forget)?

 

Flog the doubters. 😄

 

On 17/12/2022 at 21:05, olduns said:

I'll go with a 3rd option....it may charge...but will it hold and keep re-charging in general use? 🤔 

I'll agree with olduns.

It'll dead cat bounce. Car will start and as soon as the engine is turned off the battery will drop charge faster than a fast thing

On 17/12/2022 at 21:05, olduns said:

I'll go with a 3rd option....it may charge...but will it hold and keep re-charging in general use? 🤔 

I'll agree with olduns.
It'll dead cat bounce. Car will start and as soon as the engine is turned off the battery will drop charge faster than a fast thing.
Doubly so if the owner is somewhere inconvienient.

On 17/12/2022 at 21:05, olduns said:

I'll go with a 3rd option....it may charge...but will it hold and keep re-charging in general use? 🤔 

I'll agree with olduns.
It'll dead cat bounce. Car will start and as soon as the engine is turned off the battery will drop charge faster than a fast thing.
Doubly so if the owner is somewhere inconvienient.

The battery was at 12.04v at 1pm, so after 17 hours.  I stalled it while freeing off the brakes and it started again fine,, not slow or lethargic.  It was 11°C at the time.  I'm not expecting miracles, it is what it is, and will no doubt need looking after if it's to survive.  In normal times, my friend has a five mile commute to work, mostly 30mph and in traffic.

 

But at 720A it's a fair size battery for a 1.2.  That we have 12v is a positive sign as to the cells.  Time will tell.

 

I'll update if anything exciting happens, either way.  I'm quite pleased to have even got it this far.

 

Gaz

 

It should be more than 12v after resting several hours post charge and at room temperature, 12.1v equates to about 40% charge, however given that you have such a margin with a 720ah battery on the small engine that it will probably function OK, it will not have the same autonomy so will not take kindly to not being used for weeks at a time, it may only have days of autonomy and leaving the lights on for an hour when parked will probably kill it.

 

That was my experience with a battery I brought back from the dead.

Edited 20 December, 20223 yr by J.R.

Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything.

 

49 minutes ago, Gaz said:

The battery was at 12.04v at 1pm, so after 17 hours.

Put the Kit-Kat back!  You were impatient, my wife's 18-month old (AGM) battery on a car with no (VW) signs of the battery being low took 17 hours to fully recharge (on the vehicle).

 

Well done on taking it on though. 

 

You really want to fully recharge the battery, just because it starts the car and the lights seem bright enough doesn't mean the battery isn't low, or still low in this case, subject to the accuracy of the multimeter reading.  The battery should show something like 12.6v to be fully charged (more or less depending on its age and use, abuse), 12.04v is about 45%.

 

Even if you fully recharge it it might not be very good but you have to fully recharge it to know.

 

I'll take at 720ah and the Juke started easily that it might be a diesel(?).

 

Just for your info figures from my neighbour's Ring battery charger/analyser.

12.7v - 100% - 12.5v - 90% - 12.4v - 80% - 12.3V - 70% - 12.2v - 60% - 12.1v - 50% - 11.9v - 40% - 11.8v - 30%  - 11.6v - 20%  - 11.3v - 10%.

 

When you next get a chance fully recharge it but don't wait too long or it'll go too low and you'll take it to  Zombieland.

 

ETA: Did Stanley really stand for all this, after all he's seen, must have broken his, er leg, cross-bracing, spirit.

 

Edited 20 December, 20223 yr by nta16
ETA:

It's worth investing £20 or so in an electronic discharge tester, mine is easier to use and does not discharge the battery like my old school kettle element load tester but I'm not convinced that the AH and "Life Remaining" figures are accurate but good enough as a comparator, it does not give accurate readings if the battery is still connected to the vehicle.

 

If you have used  various chargers enough times to resurrect supposedly dead batteries then you eventually get a feel from the ammeter readings against time whether the operation will be successfull or not.

 

Whilst  the modern chargers are able to desulphate a battery to a degree they will not spark up with a completely dead battery, you have to put one with some cell voltage in parallel, also you cannot give them a higher voltage initial burst to get them going like an old school charger on the high setting, I have even had to use my starter charger for a few seconds to get the initial charge going.

 

Thankfully I am no longer so hard up that I have to nurse a dead battery through winter, taking a charged spare with me if I leave the vehicle at a station for a couple of days or having to take the battery in on cold nights, one extreme time when I had no heating in the property the battery had to come to bed with me 🥴

 

If you find this battery wont turn the engine on a cold start on a very cold day pour a kettle of boiling water slowly over the casing, wait 60 seconds and then crank the engine, that is if you stopped cranking promptly and did not crank it to death.

33 minutes ago, Gaz said:

The battery was at 12.04v at 1pm, so after 17 hours.  I stalled it while freeing off the brakes and it started again fine,, not slow or lethargic.  It was 11°C at the time.  I'm not expecting miracles, it is what it is, and will no doubt need looking after if it's to survive.  In normal times, my friend has a five mile commute to work, mostly 30mph and in traffic.

 

But at 720A it's a fair size battery for a 1.2.  That we have 12v is a positive sign as to the cells.  Time will tell.

 

I'll update if anything exciting happens, either way.  I'm quite pleased to have even got it this far.

 

Gaz

 

Well done, interesting experiment - regardless as to it lasting, it appears to have at least some life in it. I'll have to PM you for wager delivery details.

Nearly there then....I may however eat my (your) KitKat before I get back to Blighty....

Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything.

 

After years of being 'borrowed' by his son-in-law my elderly neighbour got his battery charger returned today, 8 amps and switchable normal fast charge, I'd just refitted his car battery after recharging it again for him, this time with my new RSC 804 charger/maintainer.

 

It was one of these -

Spoiler

 

I can remember my Mrs having a flat battery on the Qashqai, I think it was due to her leaving ignition on while her Mum was in the car for the radio but subsequently the heater blower as well. Anyway she called the AA and they got her going and reccommended a replacement due to its age and condition and the fact it had been heavily discharged.

 

If I could go back in time I would of told myself to stop being a tight t**t and just get a new battery, but no, I charged it up and maybe got another year out of it before it failed randomly very far away from home and I had to drop whatever I was doing, go buy a battery and then go and fit it.

 

It was not worth it.

 

 

2 hours ago, SuperbTWM said:

It was not worth it.

You already said that; "on the Cashcow"...

5 hours ago, KenONeill said:

You already said that; "on the Cashcow"...

Apologies, must of been having one of those senior moments 😂😂

Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything.

 

9 hours ago, SuperbTWM said:

It was not worth it.

I agree, despite knowing car batteries are often changed far too prematurely and how to look after them (takes very, very little effort) and how to use and not abuse (far too much effort or different priorities for some) I changed the battery on my wife's Fabia Mk3 far too prematurely as I didn't want any hassle from the car battery and how my wife wants to use and abuse the battery and not to be summoned to sort out a breakdown from "battery failure" and explain why I'd allowed this to happen as car work is my job not hers and I know that.

 

Different people have different priorities, my wife and I certainly as regards any car battery use, there's also the recharging of a battery that's been flattened many don't have the time or patience, despite it being vey easy work, to properly and fully recharge the battery - and of course batteries don't last forever.

 

On 20/12/2022 at 16:58, Gaz said:

The battery was at 12.04v at 1pm, so after 17 hours.  I stalled it while freeing off the brakes and it started again fine,, not slow or lethargic.  It was 11°C at the time.  I'm not expecting miracles, it is what it is, and will no doubt need looking after if it's to survive.  In normal times, my friend has a five mile commute to work, mostly 30mph and in traffic.

 

But at 720A it's a fair size battery for a 1.2.  That we have 12v is a positive sign as to the cells.  Time will tell.

 

I'll update if anything exciting happens, either way.  I'm quite pleased to have even got it this far.

 

Gaz

 

 

What was the end of this tale ?

 

I use Smart battery chargers which go through 8 stages of recharging starting with desulphur and try and nurse the battery back to life.

They have digital display as to what they are doing Amps, Volts, temperature etc as well as guessing what percentage of full health the battery is.

 

During early January one can get 20% off new batteries at some battery outlets and prices start at around £54 for a 70AH 650A CCA battery I recall.

 

Some battery chargers and starting device will not even do anything when voltage below 4 volts or so therefore need to have some jump juice from a healthy 12 first to put a few volts in to the dead battery and then one can pop on the smart battery charging device. Recently bought a 10A smart charger for less than £20 from Amazon.

 

If I am worried about my battery I will carry a small solar generator (basically just a lithium battery with a 240AC 200W inverter on it to give the car battery some charge.

 

Some cars are not moving to lithium batteries as we are in motorcycles as lithium batteries seem to have less problems than even standard, EFB or AGM batteries and are so much lighter.