The battery provides storage, buffering, and continuity. You may be
thinking only of its storage capability. You need the battery there
to at least pass current. The first time my Sprite just dead stopped
running was when I was driving spiritedly down some twisty lanes with
bumps. After one of the bumps, the car died. Inspection revealed that
the battery cable had popped off (I did not have a battery tie-down
at the time). I put it back on and went on my way. This is a '65 with
a generator.
I agree with the idea of charging over night. Most chargers have a
meter that basically shows the level of 'charge' in the battery.
Typically, upon first hooking up to the battery, the meter will read
high (6-8 on a scale of 8). By morning it should read below 2. If it
does not go down to about 2 with an 8 hour charge, it may be time to
buy new. If it initially reads at either end (pegged) of the scale, I
would suspect that the battery is shot, also.
Given what Charles has told us, I suspect that the spridget was
running off the battery and charging system of the booster car. This
suggests a battery problem beyond just not holding a charge, though
it could be a regulator problem, I guess.
At 7:56 AM +0000 12/20/99, Andy Webster wrote:
>I would expect that if the charging system is in order, the car should
>continue to run when the battery is disconnected.....unless thats only on
>cars with generators.....?
>I'd be checking the alternator and putting the battery on a charger for a
>night to see if its charging deep enough.
>Andy
>
>
> >From: "Charles D. Sorkin" <cdsorkin@ix.netcom.com>
> >Reply-To: "Charles D. Sorkin" <cdsorkin@ix.netcom.com>
> >To: "Spridgets list" <spridgets@autox.team.net>
> >Subject: Re: Yet another ignition problem
> >Date: Sun, 19 Dec 1999 11:24:37 -0500
> >
> >Well, I started from the begining this morning, checking connections,
> >replacing the rotor and cap on the distributor. When I tried starting
> >again, I hooked up the jumper cables to a running car (I had already run
> >the
> >battery down trying to start yesterday), and the Midget started on the
> >first
> >turn of the key (!). I waited about 60 seconds or so, listening to the
> >sound of the engine, and everything seemed fine. However, at the -precise-
> >instant that I removed the jumper cable from the positive on the Midget
> >battery, the car stalled out, and resisted all attempts to be restarted.
> >
> >Thus, my problem is in the battery, right? Before I go out and buy a new
> >one, is there any other problem that could cause the car to die at the
> >instant that the cable has been removed? Even though it has enough juice
> >to
> >turn the starter a little bit, and light the headlights, it has been
> >difficult to hold a charge lately. I'd been eyeing the alternator.
> >
> >Regards,
> >
> >
> >Charles
> >'74 Midget
> >'68 Sprite (has yet to fail to start for me)
> >cdsorkin@ix.netcom.com
> >Bloomfield, NJ
> >
Jeffrey H. Boatright, PhD
Assistant Professor, Emory Eye Center
Senior Editor, Molecular Vision
http://www.molvis.org/molvis
Mailto:jboatri@emory.edu
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