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Ah, more info! Posted by Ari [Email] ![]() ![]() In Reply to: Re: more info/data...., kooch, Sun, 1 Feb 2004 06:35:31 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
The battery dying can be one of two issues. The first, and most likely, is that the battery is getting old. Batteries lose the ability to hold a charge over time. This is especially true if they've died a few times. Every time a car battery is discharged, it loses capacity. You can recharge it, but it'll self-drain that much quicker. And the more that happens, the more life it loses. So if your battery is three years old or more, and has been discharged a few times, then it's probably new battery time.
The other possibility is that you have some parasitic current drain while the engine is off. This tends NOT to be the case for battery problems, no matter how much people hope it is. But since you've done some major mods to your car, all bets are off. Basically, stick an amp meter between the positive or negative battery post and cable, close the doors, and wait a minute or two (engine off). This gives time for all the timers to time out. It's normal to see 15-30 milliamps of current draw. If you're seeing 75 or 100 milliamps, then I'd look for what's drawing the current. The easiest way is to pull fuses and see which one causes the current to drop.
With 13+ volts when running, you will be charging the battery properly, so I doubt you're 'low voltage' is causing the battery to die. It really isn't low voltage. Anything over 12.9 (12.6, actually) will charge the battery. Not very fast, but it will. With 14 volts, the battery will charge fine.
Now, if you're having driveability problems at 13 volts, you've got a problem. Car electrical systems run down to the 12 volt range, and can be as low as 9-10 volts during starting. If you're modifications require at least 14 volts to work, then that's a design flaw in the mods. A robust design will work in the 13 volt range.
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