I had that too. Pads and discs. Have new ones standing by to be fitted. When the warning comes on.
Of course the tester is guessing on how hard or not you are on brakes. How the car is driven/used make a big difference to pad life.
I do an automatic (triggered by the controlling PC) test once a week. I run the test, then report what the capacity is after a fixed period of time. If it's not 100%, I know the battery is starting on its way out.
I replaced one a couple of weeks ago. The short test dropped it to 75% immediately, and it didn't recover quickly at all.
There is a fuel gauge for fuel, there isn't an equivalent for the battery when left unattended.
If the relay can reliably cope with the starter current in the coldest latitude then I suspect with the odd occasion when one battery is flat, creating an inrush, the relay's going to survive the event.
Squeezed is an understatement! LOL
The main one is never create a system where a fault one sensor can break a correctly functioning piece of equipment. 737 Max failed that way.
The acid test is will it start the car the following day after being taken off charge. A newly recharged car battery has to be incredibly bad not to be able to start the car at least once. Mine had been on its last legs for a while but the lockdown this winter finished it off.
The instructions for my Mk2 Cortina said (something like) that the brake pads should be replaced when the thickness was between an 1/8th and
3/32nds of an inch. I always wondered what you should do if the thickness had worn down to less than 3/32nds of an inch!
You don't need a gauge. Just a calender. Pretty well everyone knows a battery goes flat in not that long when left connected in the car.
Mate with a motorhome which is obviously not used as often as a car can see the battery state via his phone. IIRC, it also sends him a warning when getting low.
Or solar panel. ;-)
Depending on the car. We didn't use the Meriva for a good few months and it started fine. The 407 that daughter bought cheap wouldn't restart after being left for 5 days. We fitted a new battery on it and it's been fine ever since (and this is in the lockdown). I tested the old one and it was ok for one test cycle then failed on the second (one cell short I think).
I did have such (badged Accutire) on a motorbike but it's off (beside me) atm.
I think I disconnected it before mine did (I'll have to stick another CR2032 in it, hook it up again and check it out).. ;-)
Cheers, T i m
TBH, my suggestion/question of hours was for a self-discharge time when not attached to a vehicle and therefore Bill's experience is pretty close to that.
I based 1,000 hours on a 50mA discharge for a 50Ah battery, and we have established the self discharge rate for a typical 50Ah battery would be ~2mA.
What sort of battery did you have. I now have a car with an AGM battery for stop start. I am now wondering how long it will last and what a failure will be like. For the past 25 years my cars have normally started very easily so I don't notice that the battery is failing. One car would not start so I charged the battery, drove about 10 miles to buy a new one and then the car would not start to come home until I fitted the new battery. Fortunately I had the tools I needed with me.
Depends if you are a dick like me:-)
I left the dashcam in the car plugged in for three weeks and flattened the battery [1].
The car's "cig lighter" socket is always on unlike the works van.
[1] Just enough so that it did not have enough juice to start the car. Diesel on a cold morning etc.
That may be true of more sophisticated cars but the two Fords I had about 10 and fifteen years ago simply had a single wire that was open circuit until the pad contact wore down to short it to earth. So they had no idea whether they were connected.
They may do now but the operation of these seemed to be open circuit when the pads were new and a short circuit to the disk when worn.
This was many cars ago so no idea.
Often in the "good old days" part of the problem with a failing battery was a low starter motor cracking speed coupled with a poor spark. Then came electronic ignition and then fuel injection and often if there was enough in the battery to just turn the engine the car would start immediately.
But now it's not just the equivalent of a warning light - it tells you how many fuel miles you have left in your tank.
On my current car I've not had to find out after it says the tank is empty how many fuel miles miles are left in the tank.
On my old car after the gauge said empty and long after the light had come on I could drive at least another 30 miles.
On my car all power to the USB and 12V socket (cigarette lighter socket) goes off approx 10 minutes after the key is removed from the ignition.
I keep one of those compact battery boosters in my boot. It has successfully started a neighbours car after it had been left overnight in the cold with the lights on.
I only do a quick top up charge on the booster pack every 6 months.
Is this a lithium pack alan?
I have a lithium pack that I have used successfully many times but as you say, you do need to ensure it's kept reasonably 'ready' (not sure it's good to keep lithiums at 100% charge when in storage) whereas the super capacitive starters don't need to be kept ready, so could be better for true long term 'emergency' use.
I think they are much more expensive though.
Mate bought one for himself and used it to start a car with dying battery (several times) and then bought a bigger one and gave the first to his daughter.
However, he suggested another mate buy one and when his battery went flat, we couldn't seem to get it to work (I was helping him over the phone) and he ended up putting it on a conventional charger for a few hours.
Anyone here got / tried a capacitive one OOI?
Cheers, T i m
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