Anyone Else Want To Rant? Join In

Discussion in 'Not Sure Where it Goes' started by Von Jones, Jan 29, 2021.

  1. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    The battery bleeds down in all temps, it's just accelerated when it's cold when I don't pull the fuses. It was fixed once by the replacement of the window/door lock control panel (it had a short in it), but the problem has returned. So far, the only obvious thing that's been reset by pulling the Body Control Module and the radio fuses has been the Time on the radio. Station presets have been fine. There must be a very good battery backup in the radio, because I've had its fuse pulled for over a month many times. Either that, or the presets are retained by programmable chips.
     
    #1411
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  2. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    I decided to delete that video; too much "blah, blah." But the topic was a battery kill switch, which could be a solution for the battery drain.
     
    #1412
    Last edited: Dec 24, 2023
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  3. Mary Stetler

    Mary Stetler Veteran Member
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    I have a line on a great deal for a small back hoe on tracks!!! It is close by and I've always wanted a good one. But if we will no longer be able to use gas/ diesel,... whatever how can I run it via Biden?
    If I make vodka from our potatoes will that work? Ethanol is made from corn....
     
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  4. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    That's the same thing as pulling the fuses, and I'd still have the concern over what I might be doing to the electronics by pulling power, letting it sit for weeks, reapplying power the brief time I drive it, pulling power again, etc etc etc

    The charger seemed to work. It brought the battery from under 75% to 100% overnight, and will safely maintain it. So everything will be powered up properly. I still worry about the underlying draw issue and what it may do over time to the other electronics.
     
    #1414
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  5. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    I waas just discussing it with my daughter. You may have to use either corn or soybean oil. The rest of the world will be using diesel.
     
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  6. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    Go for it! I'd make used of a skid loader, but used ones are $25k and up. And then there's the issue of having yet one more thing to maintain.
     
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  7. Mary Stetler

    Mary Stetler Veteran Member
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    OK, Long story. I think it was in the 70's I had a VW Rabbit. I loved it until, one day, the battery would start to drain by itself causing me to miss work several times because, on getting a jump, I had to drive up to Appleton (the nearest dealer) and wait there till they could check things out. I'd go home only to have to go back up there (no loaners), wasting days, with no answers.
    One day, again, it would not start. My neighbor watched as I got out and attacked my car. I kicked it, lifted the back up and dropped it, jumped on the hood and bounced on it and then, as a last resort, I got back in and it started!!!:eek:
    I told you guys I was scary.
    I drove to work and told my boss, again, I could not get it started, (why I was late or missed work) He had me drive it over to an old farmer friend of his (my boss was an old farmer too) and we left it there. He checked every nut in the engine and found one was loose. It would choose it's own time to jiggle and short out a wire. When I jumped on the car, I must have jiggled it back. Old farmer tightened it and I never had an excuse to miss work again.
    Just make sure to attack your truck in the correct sequence.:rolleyes:
     
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  8. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I had a 1958 Austin Healey Sprite. My ex had a 1961 Austin Healey Sprite. Her car hated me. It would break down at the most inopportune times.

    One year--in the middle of February--it would not idle down. The engine would rev real high and stay there. I did everything I could think of to do, working in the cold and the wind and the dark after work, night after night. One night I got so %@#*& infuriated at the thing I grabbed the side-draft carbs and started shaking it as I cursed. When I pushed the carbs toward the engine it would rev down, and when I pulled the carbs back towards me, it would rev up again.

    The intake manifold was loose, causing a vacuum leak.
    "I fixed it, Honey. I am so darned good!"
     
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  9. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    We had kill switches on our motorhome; came that way from the factory. When we'd take it to storage, turn off everything then hit the kill switches... one switch for the engine battery and one for the house batteries. Then we'd have to jump down to the ground when exiting because the steps would not extend. :D It would sit like that for months at a time.
     
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  10. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I was reading some of the comments for the charger I installed, and lots of folks with modern vehicles say that if their cars sit for only 4 days or so, the electronics drain the battery and the car will not start. It creates issues when they drive to the airport and leave it parked for any length of time.
     
    #1420
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  11. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    I think I told of my brother's Honda Ridgeline that shuts off the electronics if left unused for extended periods, but his wife's (now deceased) car did not. They discovered it when she was undergoing chemo and didn't drive. He disconnects the battery in his wife's car to prevent discharge if he has to leave it for a long time unused.
     
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  12. Mary Stetler

    Mary Stetler Veteran Member
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    Milwaukee has a jumper truck that roams the lots all the time, or at least did when I needed it.
     
    #1422
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  13. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I think I'm going to like this maintainer that I bought so I can keep the truck's battery fresh, rather than just pulling fuses to remove power and have the battery sit unused (not that doing so has hurt my tractor battery.) Where I live, keeping an extension cord run to it is no big deal, and is slightly less inconvenient than pulling fuses.

    The product's propaganda says:
    -battery charger
    -battery maintainer
    -trickle charger
    -float charger
    -battery desulfator
    -detects ambient temperature and alters the charge to eliminate over-charging in hot climates and under-charging in cold climates

    I got the model with o-ring connectors so it's attached to the battery connectors. Had I realized that I might be taking my truck back to the dealer for the parasitic draw, I would have gotten the one with clips on the end instead of the o-rings so I could easily take it out (I fear the dealer may see the device and claim it caused the problem.) Both models are held in the mounting bracket by a Velcro strap so they can easily be removed, and both stay installed as you drive around. It's the battery connection type that allows one or them to be more easily removed...but the o-rings are probably a better connection.
     
    #1423
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  14. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    Well, today I have a grumble. Not a bad grumble, but a grumble, nonetheless . For most of the night last night ….CHRISTMAS EVE….. people up and down our street were having loud parties and shooting off guns and fireworks, etc.
    What ever happened to singing Christmas songs around the Christmas tree, eating fudge, and maybe even going Christmas caroling ?

    This was the most UN-Christmas we have had here, I think.
    The loud firecrackers were shaking the house long after midnight. Poor Poodle, finally had enough, put his little paws on the side of the bed and said he wanted to cuddle under the covers, so that is where he spent most of the night.
    I guess it is just how people spend any kind of celebration now that our whole part of town is mostly Hispanic. I have grown to expect this at New Years, but not on Christmas .
     
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  15. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I'm in the country, and folks shoot their shotguns on New Years Eve, but there's no noise on Christmas.
     
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