Tim, Tony and Alpine gang,
>Hi Tony,
>I have a Series I Alpine and live in southwestern Pennsylvania. The
winter
>can be pretty cold here (although this winter was mild). I've had the
car
>for three years and every fall, I remove the battery and store it in my
warm
>basement. I use a 1 1/2 amp "trickle" charger with an automatic
shutoff.
>The battery has not been damaged so far. Any electrical engineers out
>there?
The battery charge voltage is dependant upon the battery temperature.
The colder the battery is, the easier it is to overcharge.
Running 1.5 amps into a battery forever, will overcharge the battery
and boil off the electrolyte, so some smarts is required.
Smart battery chargers run a constant current into the battery, and
know when the battery is charged (by temperature), then shut down till
the
voltage drops to where it needs more charge. This keeps the battery
charged and prevents damage.
Such chargers are available for RVs.
If you opt to do this, be sure to vent your battery box, and seal off
the cover to keep the Hydrogen gas from blowing you up when you
start the car.
This may have nothing to do with your problems, but I have found that
todays batteries are not too tolerant to the abuse that the generator
and the regulator put on the battery in general.
I have installed and carefully adjusted a new voltage regulator on my
61, and find that the "deep cycle nature" of the way the battery is
discharged during idle, then charged hard about 1500 RPM, kills
batteries readilly.
I have bought Pro-Rated 85 month batteries and kill them regularly
in about 9 to 12 months.
Since alternators charge the battery even at idle, perhaps an alternator
would keep the battery alive longer, but an alternator wont fit
underneath
factory headers.
I did once find a regulator with the cut-out relay welded closed, and
the
battery discharged into the generator when the engine shut down.
Jarrid Gross
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Sep 05 2000 - 09:39:40 CDT