Battery and Fuel saving

[cwa]

I had a big problem yesterday with my Auto when I was driving with a Big traffic JAM. I was shutting the engine during the stops (5-10 minutes) as traffic was not moving at all. I did not aware that my Battery had a problem and finally I could not start the engine. I got road side support after half an hour and they were able to do the jump start. Finally I had to replace the Battery.

My point is , If I did not stop the engine, this would not have happen. Therefore we have to be extra careful on Battery and health of the Car if we are to do hypermiling and any other fuel saving methods.

Finally would hypermiling will cause lower charging of the Battery? Specially if we do not increase the RPM and either stopping or running on Idle?

Regards

CWA

[brucepick]

Sorry to hear about your troubles.
I don't blame you for shutting down the engine in heavy stalled traffic, but you have to be able to restart!

Its hard - or impossible - to give a simple answer to your question.
Of course lots of restarting without enough run time would leave you with a dead battery eventually. However the question is, how much run time is needed for each restart? With batteries and alternators coming in all sizes and batteries losing their ability to hold a charge, there are too many variables.

But a good answer would be to get a voltmeter for your dash. Should be pretty easy to install if you or a friend are even slightly skilled with electrical stuff. Once installed, you will see the usual pattern of voltage for your battery and would get some warning if the voltage isn't up to it's usual level for any given situation.

Might be a good idea if you plan on lots of restarts.

Also check if replacing the starter is expensive on your car. Parts + labor. Usually it's not a biggie but on my car installation is a pain. If you do lots of restarts you might use up the starter's lifespan, even though "hot" restarts are somewhat less taxing than cold ones.

[Erdrick]

A member of gassavers.org once said that it isn't the multiple starts that kills a starter, but rather long cranking times. So, don't kill your starter in the winter trying to force your engine to turn over when it doesn't want to. Just take the day off!!! haha...

I actually had battery problems after adding a CD player to my car. It came without speakers or a radio, so I had to do it all myself. I assume that the car was thus not built to support the load that a sound system would place on the alternator and battery. I had my company buy me a new battery, only to find that I was still having intermittant problems. Taking out the CD player fixed everything.

I'd say to get a decent battery, and just carry a cheapy with you for backup. You could also hook two up in parallel.

[trebuchet03]

Bugger :/ At least help came shortly

Of course, fuel saving tips list faq:

6. Maintenance

But I agree with Bruce - there's a lot of variables... Too many to draw such a specific conclusion :/ Your best bet is to monitor battery health so you'll know when something goes wonky

[GasSavers_BIBI]

Your battery died cause it had to died, it may just had died in a week if you had not stop and restart, but all those time you did save gas shutting off the engine for 5-10min instead of burning fuel, because a battery is a renewable thing (we recycled them), but petrole do not.

And a battery is cheap, a gallon coast 3 to 4 dollars, and the price of the battery wont get higher in 20 years, but the gallon of gas will....

[cwa]

Thank you Brucepick And Edrick for kind and good advice. I think these will help many of Us.

Recently I got the Supermid from Yoshi and it was the only addition. I do not think it will consume much power. (Yoshi can give the consumption indications?) I had original CD/Radio and I was not running it at that time. However I was running with AC/FAN at that time as outside was very hot. That must have been one reason.



Having a spare Jumpstart facility would always a good thing and I am planning have one.

THank you again

CWA

[kamesama980]

electric cooling fans are generally very high current draw...25-40 amps. that, plus the start to running time ratio, plus an older battery and yes, these things happen.

If your CD player/radio is causing electrical problems either A. you need to check your grounding points, B. get someone to fix the wiring done wrong, or C. redo teh stereo so it's done right and doesn't kill the electrical system

[GasSavers_Ryland]

How old was your old battery? most batteries will last 4-5 years.
Lead acid batteries like to be charged and stay that way, the longer they sit discharged, the shorter their overall life will be.
I try not to use my starter if possible, bump starting in the driveway, I also try to do things like turn off my head lights as soon as possible when pulling in to the driveway, lowering the load on the battery while the engine is still running, insted of turning the engine off, then turning the lights off.

[Rick Rae]

Originally Posted by Erdrick

I actually had battery problems after adding a CD player to my car... I assume that the car was... not built to support the load that a sound system would place on the alternator and battery... Taking out the CD player fixed everything.

The power draw for a CD player (radio, cassette, DVD, MP3, whatever) is negligible in a car's scheme of things. We're talking a few amps.

Of course if what you had included a 500 watt amp that could rattle the windows of the car three lanes over, all bets are off. But as CET with a TV/radio endorsement and a lot of experience with car stereos, my guess is one or more of your CD player, installation, or car had a problem.

Rick

[ffvben]

batteries are made for starting. you can remove your battery with it running and the car will run without the battery. new batteries seem to crank forever but the older ones might only crank 3-4xs until it needs a jump. also the starter could be getting old and have a high draw to kill the battery quicker.