[Electical -- Batteries] Car Quest "Power Pack"

[Liger Zero]

Ok... My wife had a serious illness not that long ago we thought she was "finished" but she's bounced back... Hooray!

She insists on working working working as she hates being useless. This is both good and bad but mostly good.

So I have this old 1994 Chrysler Town And Country POS with the Extensive Decay Trim Package and Electric Everything. I do mean everything. If Chrysler engineers had a way to make it light up, heat up, play a tone or otherwise interface with the electrical system this van has it.

We're talking electric key-fob warmers, tire heaters, light-up windshield wiper blades, musical transmission shifter, programmable ash-tray... you name it. (yes I'm being silly but you get the point.)

Problem is... Old Van is Old. Somewhere there is a Battery Eating Short. Sometimes the battery will stay charged for days at a time... other times you drive 10 miles park come back to the van and it is dead.

Alternator is fine. Battery is new. Charging system checks out according to the factory manual I have.

Well one of the things the Wife Unit does is she runs errands for the shop using the Chrysler POS van. Rather than rip out all the electrical do-das I invested in a jump-box. My thinking is if she gets stranded she can jump the battery using the jump-box and get back to the shop and I'll put the van on the Big Charger.


The jump box I purchased is identical to that one above. It's the one my mechanic uses when he goes out to save the Wife Unit.


My question is the care and feeding of this wonderful device. Can I bring it in and leave it plugged into the 110 overnight every night and bring it out to the van when the van departs for the day? Or does leaving it plugged in and charging all the time "kill" this sort of battery.

It's a sealed lead-acid battery according to the manual... which is vague on the long term care.

No big deal if I can't. I understand it'll hold a jump-charge for several weeks if not months between uses. Just wondering how to prolong it's usefulness.


Oh and I ain't replacing the van until it fails inspection. It only has 300,000 miles on it and it runs fine otherwise.

[Black_Moons]

If you really wanna know how to best treat that battery, Check the 12v outlet socket while its charging, It should be 13.6 to 13.8v once fully charged, And idealy never exceed 13.8v midcharge, assuming its a trickle charger. If it does stay in that voltage range, you can (And would be best off) leaving it pluged in 24/7.

If it exceeds 13.8v but below 14.4v, its doing cycle charges and should only really be charged after some discharge has occured or it may overcharge it. (Takes awhile after initial connection for it to detect a fully charged battery) If it stays at 14.4v after full charge it WILL quickly ruin the battery if left on.

If it never gets above 13.6v its likey to not fully charge the battery.

[Liger Zero]

Ok this I can check with the vom later.

Thanks for the information, sir.

[The Artful Bodger]

My jump starter pack has a "12v charge" cable with a cigarette lighter plug on it. I have never tried it but if yours has that you could leave it plugged in to a socket that is only alive while the van is running. That would save having to put it in the van each morning!

[Liger Zero]

This one does as well.

Problem is I don't want the Battery Eating Short to discharge the jump-pack as well leaving it unable to restart the van should the need arise.



The real reason I got this thing is I know how machines work. If you invest in a special repair/workaround and keep it handy you'll never ever need it. Following that logic now that I have the jump-box the van will never ever need a jump-start again. Ever.

[Evan]

Valve regulated sealed lead acid batteries will hold a charge for years. Some of the ones I have are rated for 80% charge after two years storage. Don't charge it unless it has been run down.

[Liger Zero]

Another question: Can I get more than one jump out of this per charge or does it need to recharge after each use... or is that one of those "it depends..." questions?

[Evan]

One jump start isn't going to use much power unless there is a lot of cranking going on. It won't hurt to top it up but don't leave it on charge. Leaving them on charge will eventually dry them out and kill them.

Incidentally, if you have some sealed gel cell or VRLA batteries that seem to be losing charge then pry the cover off the top and you will find a set of rubber caps on the cell fill openings. Those are the "valves" and they can be pulled off and water added. Replace the caps and recharge the battery for a couple of days. Quite often this will rescue a dying battery.

[Liger Zero]

I tend to leave battery rejuvenation to my friend across town.

He's got a side business going where he works magic on all sorts of batteries including gel-packs and some sorts of lithium batteries...

He builds replacement-equivalent packs too! I picked up a VERY old Mac laptop with the crudest display for giggles. $10. The battery was NiCad and totally shot. He made a rechargeable lithium pack for it for $10 now I have a toy laptop to amuse myself with. He also built a long-life rechargeable for my ancient AAA-powered Palm Organizer that I still use.


At the moment he's out of town doing his Real Job otherwise I'd be bugging him with questions about my jump-box.

[saltmine]

We had a number of these vans when I was a fleet mechanic....maybe not as "well appointed" as yours, but they did posess some of the same traits...

One thing that created unending misery with electrical problems was the bundle of fusable links that pass over the drivers' side inner fender in the engine compartment. That, and Chrysler's game of creating "mystery grounds" all over the vehicle.

Don't rule out a fusable link because battery or charging voltage is correct (or close to it). Many times, I've seen what looks like perfectly normal wiring, only to open the harness and find more corrosion than a shipyard or more fungus growing in there than a commercial mushroom farm.

We had one Dodge Caravan that seemed to be doomed to endless service calls, at all hours of the day & night due to an intermittent no-start condition.
When it got so bad that the dopers downtown wouldn't try to steal it anymore, I decided to take action. (my boss was a "die hard" Dodge fanatic, so junking it was out of the question). Once I cut open the harness, I discovered a mass of open circuits and cross-linked shorts and grounds.
A few hours cutting out the "cancer" and replacing it with plain old automotive wire, the van would start and run instantly for the remaining time before we finally put it up for auction. As far as I know, it's probably still running out there, somewhere.