Technical Battery Story/ Food for Thought

@Hyvolt they use what are called conductance testers for automotive service or warranty now, they have the advantage the battery doesn't need to be fully charged before testing, they are standalone handheld units, it sends an AC signal through the battery. The better ones will display the remaining CCA. They seem to do a pretty good job at finding defective batts. They'd be great at sorting through a pile at a junkyard I'd think.

 

On cars with CPUs , is there a reason why a jumper battery should not be attached to the cable clamps before disconnecting a battery to keep power in the system while the battery is being replaced?
BTW, on a roadtrip to the Albuquerque NSRA show last month, the internal voltage regulator in my alternator crapped out. Had O'reilly's check it, and also my battery. They told me not only was the alt. bad, but my battery failed as well. It's a 5 year old 4 post Optima. I couldn't believe that as it had given absolutly no hint of having a problem. I replaced the alternator in their parking lot, but passed on the battery. Drove home that night 5 hours in the dark with the headlights on. Next morning I checked the battery and it had 12.9 volts.

 

They make a memory saver to be used when swapping a battery in late model cars that is simply a 9v battery attached to clamps big enough to work with battery posts...it also saves all your pre-set radio stations and power seat positions etc. Stops a lot of headaches but isn't the answer to all things. ...like the Mercedes issue...


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If the battery died in a modern car, a memory saver is probably too late to do much for you. The battery has already died and the memory has already cleared.
I have to move my truck to mow tomorrow, I suspect I'll have to jump it again. Gene

 

Not necessarily, a battery might not have the power to start the engine but has enough to keep memory going. The memory saver could still be used.

 

I can't imagine too many guys are going to have a "memory Saver" battery, so back to my original question: Is there any reason a portable 12v jumper battery should not be used for the same purpose?

 

An actual battery will work great, if that's what you mean. Those miniature jump-start devices may have some internal voodoo I'm not too sure about. Do they measure 12 volts at rest?

 

I've seem ads for those new miniature devices, and like you, I have reservations. I was talking about those "full size" jumper units close to the size of a regular battery, built in handle, cables, compressor, etc. Mine is a Stanley unit.I couldn't think any problems it would cause, but since it wasn't mentioned when discussing replacing batteries/cpu memory loss, I thought maybe I was unaware of an issue. Thanks for the response. I always carry one on my roadtrips, and for sure now since the previously mentioned O'reilly's test failure. 700 mile roundtripper this weekend to "Run to the Inn of the Mountain Gods" in Ruidoso, NM.

 

Another Battery story from me. This Fall driving to AZ. in our late model SUV( have dogs, can't fly) to our Winter Snowbird nest, the AC stops working and looking at dash I see temp gauge is not working and a trouble light on dash I never saw before, car ran fine. At Motel I research this problem as the car ran fine, figured I'd fix it when arriving, next day all gauges fine, AC works, WTH, third day everything works fine, forth day, temp gauge and AC not working, car ran fine, got to our Winter nest all is good. More research on his issue and a good battery critical to our new cars with all the computer stuff I read. Had battery checked and charging system battery 5 years old, marginal, replaced with new one and no problem since, all is good. I posted on this subject (battery) again just to remind everyone that our new cars are way more sensitive to battery condition, grounds, etc.