battery help a.s.a.p. please

[whosyourdaddy?]

All right. First of all no baby yet and the wife is still in pain every 5 minutes or so. She says its all part of labor so I'm saying shes a trooper.

Secondly, I appreciate everyones help with this in my time of need. Turns out the 100 amp hard start on my battery charger, which is the expensive sears craftsman, killed the optima red top. Installed another battery and everything tests out fine. Unfortunately I didn't have time to check voltage drop and test across the terminals,but that was the problem.

Now that I figured this out I now realize how many batteries I have fried by using that 100 amp quick charge where the charger starts goin, "kting,ting,ting, and the fans start kickin on, and I'm runnin to try and turn the key over as quick as I can!"

So thanks again all, hopefully I can help someone else soon and I will send in my cash to be a member of an orginization that has saved me time and money on more than one occasion.

Let you know about the baby when it comes!

 

[Churchlady]

Do you mind posting links to these sites? I've been looking at some of those jump boxes for my Jeep and my mom's Jeep. Been looking at the ones that have the air compressor, light, and all the goodies in them....cause they're about the same price as those w/o the goodies. But something that runs through the cig lighter sounds like it might be safer/better.

Here's a company with a good assortment: http://www.autobarn.net/batteryjumpstarters.html

 

[old_man]

I would turn in the battery under warranty. Unless you leave a charger on so long that the battery gets overly hot, charging at 100amps should not hurt an automotive battery. I run a 130 amp alternator.

 

[Churchlady]

But something that runs through the cig lighter sounds like it might be safer/better.

99, I forgot what your question was. if you look at that last site you'll see they're all the clamp-type, not the cigar lighter. Another Googling just now adds to my suspicions that the cigar type are available only in the UK. But look at this UK site:http://www.eurobatteries.com/sitepages/battery_chargers.asp

The 2nd & 3rd ones down, though (The Speedybox) can be bought with either a UK or a US plug. It would cost about $70 US, but if there's one maker of adaptable ones there must be others.

I wish someone would tell us the difference in US & UK auto batteries and if there IS an American-made cig lighter battery starter/charger.

 

[RichP]

The cig lighter adapter is only a simple wire that provides a path from a running engine to a dead battery, thats all it does, it allows the battery in the dead vehicle to be charged. A single lone woman only has to crack her window and pass it thru. You can make your own with two cig lighter adapters available at any radio shack [get one with a built in fuse] and say 20ft of lamp cord. Look for the lamp cord that has either marked sheathing wires or one side copper the other silver. You do need to get the polarity right, plus to plus and minus to minus on the adapters. The center spring loaded pin on those adapters is the + and the outside clip is the - .
I found them years ago at a parts store in the bling bling accys section in a small plastic battery shaped carrier. Liked the idea so I bought a few, I think they were like $15 ea.
Those emergency jumper boxes sound like a good idea but I've heard some bad reports of them destroying a battery. Do not know the particulars but I had seen the results on two cars and the batterys were broken physically. I'd research them a bit before picking one based on price only....

 

[Churchlady]

You can make your own with two cig lighter adapters available at any radio shack [get one with a built in fuse] and say 20ft of lamp cord.... I think they were like $15 ea.

Rich, did you look at that first UK site I posted, (http://www.towsure.com/default.asp?d=41&t=247&p=0&op=), with exactly what you're describing for $20ish? I don't think shipping to the US would bring the cost above $30, and it looks like a sturdy well-made one.

I'm going to email Towsure right now and ask them (1) if it will work on US cars, (2) how much to ship.

Stay tuned, 99XJSPORT06.

 

[RichP]

Rich, did you look at that first UK site I posted, (http://www.towsure.com/default.asp?d=41&t=247&p=0&op=), with exactly what you're describing for $20ish? I don't think shipping to the US would bring the cost above $30, and it looks like a sturdy well-made one.

I'm going to email Towsure right now and ask them (1) if it will work on US cars, (2) how much to ship.

Stay tuned, 99XJSPORT06.

I just wonder what that black box in the middle is for, some kind of isolator maybe or polarity matcher...

 

[UNCC_99XJ]

Rich, did you look at that first UK site I posted, (http://www.towsure.com/default.asp?d=41&t=247&p=0&op=), with exactly what you're describing for $20ish? I don't think shipping to the US would bring the cost above $30, and it looks like a sturdy well-made one.

I'm going to email Towsure right now and ask them (1) if it will work on US cars, (2) how much to ship.

Stay tuned, 99XJSPORT06.

Thanks alot for the info churchlady. I'll keep my eye on this thread for a while in anticipation of your results. If all else fails, I may try RichP's idea of making my own.

As for the boxes, My grandpap got one from sears for his Altima....has come in handy many times. It's one of those ones you can use in the house and run stuff off of it when your power goes out. Really neat, but as uaual, with everything he buys, it's expensive as crap!

 

[UNCC_99XJ]

The 2nd & 3rd ones down, though (The Speedybox) can be bought with either a UK or a US plug. It would cost about $70 US, but if there's one maker of adaptable ones there must be others.

That appears to be one for charging regular batteries that you would use around the home, such as AA, AAA, D, C, 9V, not car batteries. unless I misread that site.

 

[gjxj]

charging through the cig lighters is going to take hours.
(false advertising to call the device a jump starter)
Figure an hour or so if the battery is simply a bit low and,
well, between overnight and forever if its really low.

by the way, "Never" disconnect a battery cable with the engine
running. You are lucky you didn't fry the alternator and/or the
electronics in the car.

 

[Churchlady]

charging through the cig lighters is going to take hours.
(false advertising to call the device a jump starter)
Figure an hour or so if the battery is simply a bit low and,
well, between overnight and forever if its really low.
.

The better ones claim 20ish minutes, as Rich said of the one he's seen. There are also cheaper ones that say an hour to overnight. While you're right that it's not exactly a jump start, I can think of lots of situations (in my life, at least) when it would be a very good thing to have.

That appears to be one for charging regular batteries that you would use around the home, such as AA, AAA, D, C, 9V, not car batteries. unless I misread that site.

I'm not sure which of the 2 or 3 sites I gave you're reading--some of them do list the 6-9V chargers, but Towsure seems to be exclusively a vehicle site, and the ad for the starter we're talking about says:

Metro Jump Start
Emergency 12 volt supply from vehicle to vehicle via cigar lighter sockets. Comes with 3.7 meter cable from plug to plug. Simple, clean and a safe way to start a vehicle with a flat 12volt battery.
J213
£10.95

 

[RichP]

charging through the cig lighters is going to take hours.
(false advertising to call the device a jump starter)
Figure an hour or so if the battery is simply a bit low and,
well, between overnight and forever if its really low.

by the way, "Never" disconnect a battery cable with the engine
running. You are lucky you didn't fry the alternator and/or the
electronics in the car.

Not true, most cig lighter ckts are 20amp fused and if you look at most battery chargers themselves the wires they use to connect the chager to the battery are generally 14ga lamp wire with a couple of cheap clamps on them. The cig lighter adapters from running vehicle to dead battery will give the dead battery enough charge to start it several times and it generally does it in 20 min. I had a bad battery on my S10, it was a sunday and all the parts stores were closed and I had to work, charged it at home with the cig jumper, drove 30 mi to work and used a coworkers truck to do the same thing 8 hours later.
I'm not saying everyone should go out and buy or make one but the small size and ability to pack it behind a pickups front seat vs a set of monster jumper cables comes in handy.

 

[UNCC_99XJ]

Sounds like a nifty idea to have the cig lighter one. Any response from the company churchlady?

 

[gjxj]

try this, leave your lights on a few hours and run the battery
all the way down, then see how long it takes. Then think about
waiting that long in a cold parking lot because you were nice enough
to help someone else..

I guess it wouldn't hurt to carry both so you are prepared for different
situations.

by the way, if anybody wants to make their own, the problem
with straight wiring is you will blow fuses if the dead battery is really
low, or if the headlights are on or you try to start the car with the
cables hooked up, etc. That box in the comercial set is a regulator circuit
to deal with that.