Car battery 12.1v

Well short of sticking it under a pyramid and donning a tin foil hat and chanting an ancient Flemish magic spell, you may need to. Sounds like one cell might be dodgy to me. Brian

Not just the radio to consider on some vehicles with stop start, the condition of the battery and its charging is monitored by the electronics as the battery ages which is why the stop start ceases to function when the battery has deteriorated to a point that complete failure is imminent. To get the best out of it the new battery has to be registered with the vehicle which dealers and other garages who can do so charge a fair sum for. This is rarely mentioned when the stop start systems are promoted as money savers by less use of fuel, the main beneficiaries of such systems could be the car makers as it helps lower emission figures. Some people who do a lot of car maintenance may have the tools and software so could do it but if the OP doesn?t know anyone then buying that is also a cost.

GH

I'm always surprised by the fact that the cost of a trickle charger if added to the cost of a car when new is peanuts why not just include it and give you a long mains cable to plug it in. You could build a charger for about a tenner from rescued bits. Brian

My car is stop/start (I'm just about used to its foibles after a couple of years)

The stop/start won't operate until the engine oil is up to temperature (so less viscous) and the strain on the belt alternator/starter is lower.

It also won't operate when there's a very high load from all the auxiliaries (aircon, heated seats, etc)

It does have a higher capacity battery than the equivalent non-stop/start car, but it's not a *special* battery that would need to be registered to the car.

During the first lockdown my car usage was minimal but going to the supermarket I gave my car at least a 15 minute run with AC on so it didn't dry out and to get the engine up to temperature. During this time the start/stop facility didn't work.

After the first lock-down it took a run of around 40 miles at around

I believe that stop/start is inhibited not only on low battery charge but also on the outside temperature being too high or too low, low engine temperature, heater and AC usage, heated windscreen usage, and maybe time since engine start.

Can you run that by me again? Are you saying if you disconnected the battery and connected the charger to it, it wouldn't charge?

Some but by no means all can be charged from the cigarette lighter socket. Many modern cars disable it when asleep though. Older ones OK.

I charge my car battery old school with croc clips on the terminals. Nice big fat spark jumps when I make contact. Initial current to a flat battery about 8A falling to a steady 6A as the terminal voltage rises.

The stop/start on mine doesn't operate if the air temp is much below

In message snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, T i m snipped-for-privacy@spaced.me.uk> writes

No '?' about it! She's obviously after your body.

Are you doing this with an old style charger switched on?

I've got several assorted chargers here. None spark when connected to the battery. That's more what you get when jump starting from a vehicle which has the engine running.

I've not had a stop start vehicle, but my brother has. He says he can't work out when it's going to work or not. Think I'd like a warning light when it is in operation. He can disable it, but it reverts to on at the next switch on.

Make/model ?? Just curious.

Erm, whilst I guess it's not impossible (she was single at the time) ... she still really needs to get her own battery charger. ;-)

She's actually a very nice lady but obviously doesn't really have any interest in cars, judging how she seems to abandon hers, rather than actually parking it.

Cheers, T i m

Shirly if you come to a momentary halt and the engine stops, that could (would?) create more pollution (stopping and starting any mass needs to overcome inertia, linear or rotary) than just allowing it to run a few more revs and not stop?

If it does, then there would be a finite time that an engine would need to stop for before it actually made it cleaner ... and it's possible that could be linked into a realtime GPS / traffic monitoring system that allowed the car to know if you had stopped at traffic lights (and how long they had on red on that cycle) or just in slow moving traffic?

I think it *is* a good idea if all engines are cut off if left idling for say 5 mins or more (unless in 'engineering mode') to stop all those who park up, leave their headlights on and sit there talking / eating for 20 mins with the engine running. ;-(

Something I come across surprisingly often when out walking the dog.

Cheers, T i m

Audi A5

I think my 20yo last-of-the-model car probably counts as older.

Lighter socket is linked to the ignition, which is handy as it means my satnav powers off when parked.

Andy

I looked into this once, I can't remember exactly but it was a surprisingly short length of time.

Yes. Its the simplest way to check it is still working. It can source 3A or 6A at either 12v or 6v depending on its switch settings.

The initial state will be a 27v no load DC connected to 12v for a moment and a lot of current flows. Enough to make a nice fat spark.

The meter on the thing is unresponsive so the spark is the best indication I have that it is working. It is way too old to have any kind of indicator LED - just has a little worn out ammeter.

My local medium sized Tesco has a decent sized car park. And not busy during the day week times. Why I use it - in better times. As such it is popular with van drivers to have their lunch in - a meal deal from the store, etc. And they near all have their engines running. Perhaps understandable if cold for the heater. But this happens at all times of the year.

Of course the majority don't pay for the fuel used. But I still don't understand why you'd want a noisy diesel idling while you eat your lunch.