> In a message dated 2/2/98 12:31:43 PM Eastern Standard Time, mgbob@juno.com
> writes:
>
> > Texaco has sent me an advert for a device called "Auto Starter". It is
> > described as being a sealed 14.5v alkaline battery with 5 amps "of
> > recharge power to start your vehicle". The thing plugs into the cigar
> > lighter
> > snip <
> > Questions--how can this little thing (2.5 x 7.5 x 1.875 inches)
> > provide the power to crank over an engine, and how can cigar lighter
> > wires carry enough current for the starter motor?
>
> Bob,
>
> It can't. They won't. I have seen these things advertised, and I assumed they
> were meant to give your car battery a quick charge so you could use it for
> starting. Even at that, I am more than a little bit skeptical.
>
> Dan Masters,
> Alcoa, TN
>
I'd like to add to my earlier comments. The claim that the 14.5V
battery has "5 amps" is irrelevent and inaccurate. Amps are a
measure of current, and depend on the load. A two-volt battery can
provide five amps, if the load is small enough. Now, if it is a 5
amp-HOUR battery, then it would probably be able to start your car,
but not through the cigar lighter. I'm with Dan in thinking that the
purpose of the battery is to charge your car's battery in the hope
that the car's battery would then be able to start the car. Even
with such a plan, the 14.5V battery wouldn't be able to transfer all
of its energy to the car's battery. It would just charge the car's
battery until the voltages of the two batteries were equal, somewhere
between what the car's battery measured when dead and 12V.
Scott
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