DaveC426913 wrote:Bilgemaster wrote:DaveC426913 wrote:
It's not clear to me if you've hauled yours in to an auto parts joint for a proper "load test" (just a voltage reading won't do: that could just be a quickly dissipating "surface charge"), but if not, that trip should be step one.
Canadian Tire auto department. They stuck them in one of their machines to charge it. Within ten minutes the guy took it off and said it's fully charged and holding fine.
Well...that's still not a "load test" as such, but if that guy at Canadian Tire says the batteries look fine, they most likely are. My hunch is he'll have seen more than a few batteries that
weren't fine. In fact, given your rather more battery-challenging climate way up there, I'd have to guess that sizing up batteries by sight might be a common folksy skill or even an amusing parlor game during those long dark months when those glaciers are rolling majestically down through the tundra and into the Tim Hortons parking lots as the raging winds carry the scent of hot poutine to the sled dogs, howling with yearning in their igloo-like enclosures.
Brrrrrrr!
Of course, if you ever wanted to do a proper load test youself, there's plenty of YouTube videos showing all manner of DIY load testing strategies using just a multimeter, which you'll be needing anyhow if you plan to make any real headway in sorting out your electrics yourself. Or, you could splurge on a nice Schumacher analog or
other brands of dedicated load testers for about $20 American or less. Alternatively. and maybe even better than metered load testing, if you have regular "old school" non-sealed lead acid batteries (the type with the removable caps), you could also take something called a
battery hydrometer to each of the cells to check their individual conditions. They typically run less than 5 bucks or loonies or whatever--Affordable elegance for
real knowledge of the batteries' true state. Just do the hydrometer thing whenever you're topping off those cells with distilled water (at least annually, better yet every few months), and you'll have no surprises.
If, as it seems, you don't already have one, you'll definitely want your own battery charger sooner rather than later, instead of dragging them in to the shop. The more you keep them tip-top the happier they'll be and the longer they'll last. Given your appalling climate (at least to someone like me south of the Mason-Dixon line with short shirt sleeve December afternoons), frankly I'd have thought
every Canadian might typically have at least a half dozen chargers, with perhaps one "special one" reserved as a "marital aid" to help bring that "special spark" back into the marriage. Yup, it gets mighty cold up there. I'll bet Maine would seem like the damned Bahamas to some guy staring at a well head in Moose Jaw or trying to remember what the sun once looked like in Yellow Knife. OK...You're in Toronto, but still...
Anyhow, best of luck in your rats nest hunt
! If you're lucky, a little wire brushing and cleaning and the odd bit of rewiring with fresh connectors, and she might be whole and hardy in no time. Like I said earlier, Don Casey's book may help. At least it seems to have kept me from doing anything TOO sub-moronic.
