I think I learned a near-dead battery diagnostic

[thewayne]

Aside from "CHECK THE FLUID LEVELS, YOU MORON!", I remembered something this morning. Yesterday I was venting (in humourous fashion, natch) to this guy and I commented that it sucks that you frequently don't get any warning when your battery is about to go Tango Uniform. If you're skilled and don't mind altering the lines of the interior of your car, you can always install an ammeter and keep an eye on how much currant the battery is drawing, but I noticed something else. I always use the remote entry key fob to unlock my doors, and I remembered the last couple of days that I had to hit it two or three times to get the doors to open. I assumed that I probably needed to replace the battery in the transmitter, but now it's 100% when I go to get in my car.

Something I'll have to try and remember in this tiny little thing that I call my brain.

Comments

[quasar273.livejournal.com]

Hey, I noticed that too, and also thought it was the remote battery. With my car, I often end up adjusting windows after turning off the motor, and that's another good indicator -- they get really slow when the battery's down.

Of course, some o' them fancy high-falutin' cars have battery indicators right there on the dashboard. Wow, what a concept!

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

My dashboard light did nothing, sadly. But power windows are a good indicator as they draw a lot of current.