Opinions on a new battery

[cruiser88]

Did you check the voltage between the battery and the alt? Mine runs 14.5 at at idle and 14 on the highway....no load of course. Did you test yours with a load like maybe the headlights? But even with no heavy loads 13.4 is plenty to charge a battery.

 

[RockDoc]

Did you check the voltage between the battery and the alt? Mine runs 14.5 at at idle and 14 on the highway....no load of course. Did you test yours with a load like maybe the headlights? But even with no heavy loads 13.4 is plenty to charge a battery.

You mean the voltage at the battery? or at the alternator output? Or checking to make sure there isn't excessive drop between? The values I gave are off the inverter I have in the cab. When I slapped the charger on the truck overnight I noticed that my multimeter read 0.2v higher at the battery than the inverter's readout........

The 13.6v highway value I gave must be the regulated voltage (as seen in the cab on the inverter) as switching between lows and highs (340W on my truck) leads to a twitch of the voltage, but it quickly rebounds to 13.6v.

I am starting to wonder if a lot of this is just a function of the really cold battery not taking much of a charge back off the alternator, and progressively losing capacity while the temps are really low. I am going to pick up a battery warmer to throw under whatever I put in there. The temps for the next week or so don't look bad, but River Shiver is coming up, and I better have something good in there incase we get a deep freeze then.....

 

[cruiser88]

You mean the voltage at the battery? or at the alternator output? Or checking to make sure there isn't excessive drop between? The values I gave are off the inverter I have in the cab. When I slapped the charger on the truck overnight I noticed that my multimeter read 0.2v higher at the battery than the inverter's readout........

The 13.6v highway value I gave must be the regulated voltage (as seen in the cab on the inverter) as switching between lows and highs (340W on my truck) leads to a twitch of the voltage, but it quickly rebounds to 13.6v.

I am starting to wonder if a lot of this is just a function of the really cold battery not taking much of a charge back off the alternator, and progressively losing capacity while the temps are really low. I am going to pick up a battery warmer to throw under whatever I put in there. The temps for the next week or so don't look bad, but River Shiver is coming up, and I better have something good in there incase we get a deep freeze then.....

Sorry the alt. output(terminal) in turn is the big white wire which is also going to the battery.


Would a low wattage heat tape do the trick? I had the same trouble here recently where really cold temps would hurt my battery over several days so i installed a cutoff switch at the fuse able link(where it butts together at the little block) and my issues went away......strangely when it is over 20 deg. i don't have any trouble.

 

[RockDoc]

Planning to get one of these 60W battery pad heaters along with a 150W pad heater for the oil pan. That should make cold mornings (with electricity) much easier on the truck.

 

[cruiser88]

Planning to get one of these 60W battery pad heaters along with a 150W pad heater for the oil pan. That should make cold mornings (with electricity) much easier on the truck.

Well I have been thinking about this for some time over tea and IF i had a low amp draw..................it should do it all the time right? I went threw something like this on the runner but all the time..............never did i find a low amp draw but advance(where the battery came from) said there was something wrong with the plates causing this.....could be our trouble?

 

[RockDoc]

Well I have been thinking about this for some time over tea and IF i had a low amp draw..................it should do it all the time right? I went threw something like this on the runner but all the time..............never did i find a low amp draw but advance(where the battery came from) said there was something wrong with the plates causing this.....could be our trouble?

Quickly getting out of my area of knowledge..... you could have a constant low amp draw, or maybe something shorts or misbehaves as it gets colder? If it was an internal short, I could see how that could be temp dependent. In my situation though, the battery is absolutely fine as soon as it is warmed up (without any charging or anything) so I think it may just be a poor cold performer. Your suggestion of an internal short made me wonder about the fact that 2 cells iced while the others looked perfect, but then they were the 2 furthest from the rad, and likely stay colder during running than the others...... but then how do the batteries work? Is it 6-2v cells in series, or 2 banks of 3 6v cells? If all are in series, no cell should get a weaker charge than any other, if they are in 3 cell parallel banks, then maybe I just had 2 cold cells being bypassed as the third took as much charge as it could, resulting a weak overall charge.?

I better get back to my mapping work.... that I understand!

 

[cruiser88]

sorry did not mean to get you off topic.....just something to ponder

 

[RockDoc]

Once I get a new one in, I'll take this one in and get it load tested. Maybe it will turn out to be an internal fault......

 

[87 HJ60]

Hey RocDoc, I bought two Optima red tops for my HJ60 from Wal Mart last fall. They were $138 Cdn each. So far no problems. Only difference is you have to use the spacer (supplied with the battery) on the bottom because the Optima is a bit shorter in height than the stock battery. They're supposed to be a superior battery compared to regular lead-acid type batteries. They're supposed to have a longer life expectancy, hold a charge better and have a better operating temperature range.

 

[RockDoc]

Well C88, I just checked my voltage at idle from the alt and battery, and there is a 0.5v drop. So, looks like some new wiring is in order once I get a chance to dive into it. Time to pay more attention to those threads......

 

[Kief]

Optima... best I've ever owned, don't off-gas and rust everything out... I've used red tops but have thought about yellow tops but the red top has never let me down. Never tried any of the hi-tech batts, curious to see if they'll ever make a lithium-ion battery... $$$$$ for automotive applications.

 

[Dunbar]

A similar battery warmer, a wrap around by zero start, caused an engine fire that destroyed my first FJ62. I would carry the battery inside before buying a battery warmer.

Dunbar

Planning to get one of these 60W battery pad heaters along with a 150W pad heater for the oil pan. That should make cold mornings (with electricity) much easier on the truck.