RE: [alfa] Elizabeth's battery

["Brian Shorey" <bshorey@xxxxxxxxx>]

<snip>
> The bottom line is that you need to get a kill switch for your battery.

Not bad advice, but it doesn't address the problem.  If there is a wire
wearing through and starting to make contact with ground, or some other
intermittent short, then you really want to identify and fix the problem,
not hide it by applying a band aid elsewhere.

> Are you familiar with this? It is a $10 spigot-shaped oddment that you
> attach to the positive battery terminal. It has a screw on it that will

I'd put it on the negative side.

<snip>
> Anyway. There have been many many many discussions over the years about
> why Spiders trickle down their batteries when the cars sit for a while.
Some
> of the folks on this list insist that a properly sorted out Spider will
> not cause the battery to trickle down, but I have my doubts.

There is no reason why a Spider should be inclinded to drain batteries more
than any other car.

> One esteemed gentleman on the list -- and my apologies to him because I
> cannot remember who it was -- pointed out that the wiring harness for the
> Spider is not of the largest gauge, so he posed the theory that just
> driving the car around the block for a few minutes wasn't good enough to
> build the charge back up as the "pipe" was too narrow. He had
> remedied the entire situation by replacing his harness with larger gauge
> wire... like that used in a Volvo, if I recall. So, if you want to

There's really only one wire that matters, between the alternator and the
battery, so replacing the entire wiring harness would seem to be misguided.

> recharge the battery by driving around, you need to be more patient and
> get out on the freeway and do a goodish jaunt for a half an hour or so.
> Ask me how I know that just driving to work (a mere two miles) is not good

> enough to recharge the battery sufficiently to start the car
> again....

Yup!

> Start by getting a good new battery. I'd recommend a marine-style sealed

I think she said she's already bought about three new batteries.  It's time
ti identify and fix the problem, not keep throwing new batteries at it!

I've provided some pointers off-line on how to begin isolating problemmatic
circuits.  A kill switch and/or a trickle charger is not a bad idea, but I'd
want to eliminate something serious before I fell back on either of them.

bs
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