>
>Or maybe I am, but last night, after leaving my lights on for 5 hours,
>my truck would not begin to start. When I turned the key, I only heard
>a fast clicking sound, that is all. 24 hours later, I was getting ready
>to jump it, and I turned the key. It started as if there was nothing
>wrong with it at all. The voltmeter registered about 15degrees to the
>right of middle, totally normal. My battery recharged itself. (It
>knows I have the warrenty, and got scared I guess.)
>Well, thanks for all the info. and I'll get a battery charger in May.
>Robert,
>- --
>Mailto:rotrottmann@davidson.edu
>http://thelma.davidson.edu/rotrottmann/web/default.htm
>Davidson, NC- Now
>St. Louis, MO- May 19th
>95 Sport 318 Auto 2WD
Robert,
Lead acid batterys do recover on their own to some extent. As the
battery discharges the ions are taken off the surface of the
plates. When all the ions are gone from the surface the battery is
dead :-( When the battery sits, some of the ions from the inside
of the plates get a chance to migrate to the surface, thus
restoring some of the charge.
A felt tip pen or marker is a good analogy to this. If you use it
a lot it will go dry (no ink in the surface.) If you let it sit
for a while with the cap on some of the ink will migrate to the tip
and you have fresh ink.
What happened to your truck was a normal thing. However, I would
not count on all dead batterys being well in the morning as this
regeneration effect is small and works best with a new battery.
Your truck must have been on the edge. BTW, dodge has a fuse that
you can pull that eliminates the constant draw (clock and other
stuff) from the battery. This fuse is described in the manual.
If you had removed it it would have improved the recovery. FWIW.
Drive Safe (and charged)
Joe Dille
Telford PA USA
(joe@dille.montgomery.pa.us)
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