Need ways to start a car with a dead battery.- 92 Civic Auto.

Not enough to cause a charge. If there WAS, then the regulator could
never bring the alternator down to near-zero output.

Alternator rotors are specifically designed out of "soft" magnetic
materials so that they *don't* retain residual magnetism. Go ahead- pull
the field wires off your alternator and put an ammeter in series with
the ouput and tell me how much current it produces.

 

As far as a solution, if you're really running your battery dry so
often as to retrofit your car, how about a 2nd battery that takes a
charge, but until you flip a switch, will not energize anything?

 

"Output voltage (Voc) is 16.5 VDC, output current (Isc) is 30-40 mA."

30-40 milliamps!!! He'd be better off pulling the alternator with a
rope!

 

What about something like this?

http://www.prioritystart.com/

From reading their page, it is supposed to disconnect your battery if
there is a drain on it without the engine running. Once the battery
gets below a certain voltage, I'm guessing it breaks the circuit. That
way you've still got enough power left to start the car again.

I'm interested if anyone has any positive/negative opinions on it, since
I'm thinking about getting one for a car that I don't drive very often.


John.

 

LOL!..... or drag his feet on the carpet and touch the battery!

The 500-750mA models listed would better suit. Even better, find out
what the Hell is draining the battery and fix it and get a new
battery. A battery that won't hold a charge for couple days is a bad
battery. Go to your local mechanic or even some auto parts stores and
have a battery "load test" done.

nb

 

Drive a manual transmission. You can push start those.

However, caveats:

- unburned fuel/air mixture during the first few cycles can ignite in
the exhaust system where it can damage the catalytic converter. You
have to weigh the cost of continuing being stranded against the cost of
a new catalytic converter. If you are fleeing from a natural disaster,
and your car won't start, who cares about the converter, right?

- the engine might not still not start due to the ECU and surrounding
components being adequately powered.

You know, you could just carry an extra battery in your trunk if you're
that absent-minded. Check it once in a while to make sure it's charged.

Also, a battery never completely runs "dry". What you do is turn off
everything that was draining the battery (dome light, stereo,
headlights). Then leave the car alone for 15, 20 minutes. Chemicals in
the battery might redistribute themselves to build up enough
concentration to provide enough current to start the car.

How is that going to work? You won't charge the battery from a few
revolutions of the alternator. It could provide enough current to spark
the engine if someone turns the ignition key at the same time. But
then, the belt is off!!! How is the engine going to continue running on
a dead battery, and no belt to the alternator?

 

I feel the same way, but the vast majority of cars sold here are automatics.

 

I do not care for the proliferation of worthless computer controlled
gadgetry in many
modern cars. For an air conditioning system, I would prefer a temperature
control and
an on/off switch. I do not need a $600 climate control computer. Nor do I
need a system
which holds on the lights for a few minutes when I exit, and dims gently
when I get
in the car.

The one item that I would really like would be log scale ammeter that could
function
with little or no current drain when the car is starting, running, or turned
off. Not the
easiest of tasks, perhaps, there are a number of ways to approach it.

Over the years such a unit could have saved my bacon when lights that should
go off don't, when kids in the back seat turn on reading lights and leave
them on,
when car control systems don't shut down on their own, when any of a number
of faults parasitically drain the battery, and when the starter begins to
sound weak.

 

Was your battery actually dead, or were you just playing around?

Because if your battery is actually dead, what can happen is that the
first few strokes of the engine can blow unburned fuel-air mixture into
the exhaust system where it will later ignite, possibly damaging your
catalytic converter.

So push-starting your car is a last-resort,in an emergency situation
where it makes sense to take that damage risk.

 

Was your battery actually dead, or were you just playing around?

Because if your battery is actually dead, what can happen is that the
first few strokes of the engine can blow unburned fuel-air mixture into
the exhaust system where it will later ignite, possibly damaging your
catalytic converter.

So push-starting your car is a last-resort,in an emergency situation
where it makes sense to take that damage risk.

 

Oh, good GRIEF!!

Catcons are *not* that delicate. No way in God's green earth that a few
cylinder-fulls of raw fuel/air mix is going to hurt a catcon. No way, no
how, AINT GONNA HAPPEN. If it did, we could never have had 16 years of
CARBURETED cars (1975 until the last carbureted Mazda pickup in 1991)
with perfectly functional catalytic convertors, now could we?

Running 20 miles with two spark plug wires disconnected- now THAT will
heat up a catcon to a nice cherry red and do some damage... but just
starting an engine? Nope.

 

Oh, good GRIEF!!

Catcons are *not* that delicate. No way in God's green earth that a few
cylinder-fulls of raw fuel/air mix is going to hurt a catcon. No way, no
how, AINT GONNA HAPPEN. If it did, we could never have had 16 years of
CARBURETED cars (1975 until the last carbureted Mazda pickup in 1991)
with perfectly functional catalytic convertors, now could we?[/QUOTE]

Or the *ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT* cat on my carbed '82 Mazda 626 which, due to
an uncooperative electrical fault that took the better part of a year of
on and off hunting to finally pin down and cure for good, got
push-started on a fairly regular basis - Sometimes as often as 4-5 times
in an hour during a 4-8 hour shift when it was earning its keep as a
pizza-mobile. On November 30th of last year, it went through California
smog testing showing less than 1/3 of the allowed emissions for its
testing category - *ACROSS THE BOARD* - and WITHOUT needing to resort to
any of the "fool the machine" tricks or gimmicks to make it happen.

Needless to say, I ain't sweating even a little bit over zapping the cat
with a push start, regardless of the dire warnings that folks like Kaz
keep tossing out.

Absolutely. Continuously dumping raw fuel-charge into a cat is gonna
turn its innards into a heap of fused slag in short order. That would be
one of those things that fall into the "unquestionable fact" category.
The few snorts of fuel-mix it gets from performing a proper (IE, key on,
get to speed, then dump the clutch in second or third) push-start on an
otherwise healthy engine don't amount to a half-assed fart in a
hurricane.

 

Why would anyone care? CCs are useless, enviroterrorist pieces of
shit.

*************************
Dave

 

I just gave you several.

Anyway, a search on line reveals that a 4-cylinder Toyota typically
draws 130-150 amps during starting. Say it draws 150 amps for 15
seconds; that's 37 amp-minutes. The smallest Toyota alternator has an
output of 40 amps. Even assuming a miserable 50% charge efficiency
(70% is more typical) and 10amps to run the accessories, it'll have
the battery topped off within 3 minutes. That's a fast 8 miles...

 

No, it won't, not on a modern car. Because your electrically-actuated
injectors won't fire and your electric fuel pump won't run.

 

If for some reason this device, or other similar devices,
disconnects the power regularly it will reset the vehicle's computer,
the clock and stereo memory/passwords, especially when using
this device with a remote control. The symptom when the ECU
resets is an increase in fuel consumption as the computer relearns
your driving habits. On some vehicles, the tailpipe will puff smoke,
the car will pitch and rock before the computer settles down and
fine tune its fuel map.

Let's compare two products.

PriorityStart! 85USD Inventor unknown, has four issued US
patents and multiple International patents, is a small, computer
chip driven, electro mechanical device with a bi-directional motor
and 10 gear system that delivers 243 to 1 gear drive ratio and
closes with 80 pounds of linear force.

Battery Brain with or without remote. 40-70USD. Battery Brain is
invented in Israel and with personnel working with a manufacturing
team in China. Manufactured and assembled in China and Italy.
Electrical contacts comprise of of a conductor that operates in an
oxygen-free environment and can tolerate high currents.

Battery Buddy. Unknown price. Distributed by Crown Motors
Enterprises Pte Ltd. has a push reset button.

 

Simpler, cheaper alternative:
Common sense. Turn off the stereo and headlights, and shut the door so
the dome light is turned off when the engine isn't running. Cost:
US$0.00. Not encumbered by any patents issued by any jurisdiction.
Available anywhere you happen to be standing. Installation takes
approximately 1.5 seconds or less, and can be performed by anyone with
the intelligence and coordination required to operate a motor vehicle,
using no tools, and with no technical know-how or mechanical experience
required. No moving parts to wear out, break, or otherwise fail. No
electronic parts to be zapped by surges, lightning strikes, or other
misadventures. No resetting of stereo presets/passwords or ECU data. No
remote to lose/malfunction.

 

It was sufficiently 'dead' so that the car would not start. I wouldn't bump
start a car for fun!

 

I just gave you several.

If car batteries were recharged at a 10Amp rate frequently, they wouldn't
last very long. The recharge is more likely limited to 5 or 6Amps, maximum.
2 or 3Amps would be ideal. I know that 10Amp battery chargers are common,
but it wouldn't be a good idea to use them on the same battery on a daily
basis. -Dave

 

Simpler, cheaper alternative:

Well, no kidding. These gadgets are for the rare occasion that someone
FORGETS to turn off lights, or perhaps one door doesn't close
completely, causing the dome light to stay on all night.

You've NEVER had a discharged battery?