The Morris battery. Again.

[T i m]

One to be careful of is not having it on Amps when measuring Volts ... or having it on a too low range when measuring Amps (although some are fuse protected).

So, if say you are looking for a very low current drain but there is an initial inrush current as you first make the circuit with the meter (in series) ... keep the meter clips shorted together as you first hook up (low voltage stuff only etc).

This wouldn't apply to you MM but a mate texted me a while ago asking if a 20mA drain would flatten a battery over a few days. I said it probably would but suggested he leave the meter in place for say half an hour and check again. He texted back to say it dropped back to next-to-nothing after 20 mins or so. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[tony sayer]

In article , Harry Bloomfield scribeth thus

Me Audi A6 has a boot mounted battery and thats right at the back with some sort of switch relay in line but still works fine, pretty thick cables tho...

[Huge]

[The Other Mike]

You might struggle to get a signal for a dwell reading from a coil on plug system without a break out adaptor, sourciing the connectors for both genders could be a problem too.

Plus the question is what you'd do with the reading when the dwell isn't even specified by the manufacturer and probably won't have been for anything since the '59 Mini went points free sometime in the 1990's

Anyone with any sense at wanting semi-reliable transport would have fitted contactless electronic ignition to their 'classic' at least two or three decades ago. Perhaps they prefer to piss about under their cars rather than driving them. Other than washing and waxing every bit of maintenance on our classics is done over less than two days per year per vehicle , that's all maintenance, laying up for the winter, getting the MOT and recommissioning. They start on the button every time and touch wood they have never failed at the roadside.

Not sure about more recent kit (only seen throttle angle percentage on my generic scanner) but some pre-OBD diagnostic kit could display the injection pulse on time it was actually commanding. But while you could measure the actual the actual pulse at the injector it was still no guarantee the injector actually opened and metered fuel, only removing the injectors and seeing the spray pattern and measuring the fuel dispensed could eliminate injector problems.

[Bob Eager]

The original Mini had battery in the boot (a sod to top up). Of course, the cable didn't have to be all that long to reach the front...!

(to get guaranteed weight over the back wheels, which tended to lock up when braking)

[whisky-dave]

Lesson 6: Learn what continuity is :- It does not mean short circuit or z ero resistance, in fact most report a bleep if the resistance is less than

50 ohms

Lesson 7: know how to replace the internal fuse and keep a spare fuse espec ailly if it't 2 amps or less.

Lesson 8: Think about what you expect to see on the display before doing th e test.

[Max Demian]

I think the Mini Van had it under the driver's seat or nearby - I know the driver had to reach around to operate the starter (if you excuse the expression).

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You can generally probe the back of the connector.

You're not looking for an exact figure since it can't be adjusted anyway. Just something in the ballpark for fault finding.

You'll be saying a contact less system can't fail? They can and do. And being able to fault find that can be useful.

You can use a noid light, neon, or even a LED to see the injector firing at low revs as they will flash. A dwell meter, however, will work at any revs. Unlike the lamps which will appear to be on all the time at higher revs.

Of course a 'scope is far more use for all of that. But is even more difficult to learn than a DVM.

The snag with a lot of diagnostics is they can tell you what the ECU is trying to do, but not necessarily if that function is being carried out properly.

[Bill Wright]

An oval? I thought it was two semicircles connected by two straights? For an oval you'd need an infinite range of differently curved tracks, wouldn't you?

Bill

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Or more because there simply wasn't any room under the bonnet. Mini vans had it behind the driver's seat.

But away from engine heat is actually the most sensible place for a battery.

[Bill Wright]

12 or 24V microwave ovens draw 45 or 90A. The cables need to be very thick and very short or the oven says 'low voltage' and shuts down.

Bill

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Indeed. On one of mine, a replacement fuse costs more than a cheap DVM. I tend to use a clamp meter first to make sure there's nothing silly, then the DVM for an accurate reading.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Early Mini cars and vans had the starter switch in the same place - on the floor beside the handbrake.

[Graeme]

YKWIM :-)

[Cynic]

Some of us managed perfectly well with an Avo

[Bill Wright]

I had a ferocious geometry teacher. He would point to an ellipse on the blackboard and ask the class what it was. Anyone who said it was an oval regretted it.

Bill

[Bill Wright]

As did my two CA Bedfords.

Bill

[Max Demian]

You're thinking of an ellipse. Oval is a much vaguer term.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Dave Plowman (News) formulated the question :

Wasn't it under the overhang of the load deck?

Very true, especially for the older open vented batteries.

[Bob Eager]

There was a specific decision to move it from the engine compartment, as discussed here (by a close friend of Issigonis):

"...he (Griffin) made some calculations based on facts about wheelbase, weight distribution and centre of gravity which proved that really hard braking could result in locking teh rear wheels and complete loss of control. This being an incontrovertible argument it led ... to the transfer of the battery from the engine compartment to the rear luggage locker, so as to transfer some weight from the front to the rear, and to the introduction of the rear-brake limiting pressure valve."

So clearly the battery *was* originally in the front. This is also shown by an early photograph of the engine compartment, which shows the battery (note that this particular version has the engine oriented the other way round - later changed due to carburettor icing).

Photograph here: