Jim - Vince Dooley always seemed like a pretty humble gentleman from most of the interviews I saw of him when he was coaching.

I hope Tennessee kicks their a$$ too! With Mom's family being from the Knoxville area, and Dad's family being from SE Tennessee, I've always been a Vol's fan. Monty will just have to get over it.

 

Yes, she comes through a pretty significant surgery and is doing better than expected only to get kicked in the teeth by this damn reaction to the vaccines. Poor gal can't catch a break! Thanks for the compliment on her work on the bathrooms. Nice that you were able to get out for a drive in the old truck. I feel the same way, it is like therapy. I'm still hoping to get the car out today for awhile, and then maybe one last time on November 12th when there is a display only charity event at one of the two VA Hospitals here in StL. That will definitely be the end of the season for me.

 

As a Vandy man, I would prefer it if Georgia and Tennessee would come to a gentlemen's agreement and both lose.

 

Koda, My dear departed mother graduated from Peabody

 

Well $hit, my 4-4-2 has finally given me a problem to be dealt with. Went out to start it up to go to the trunk & treat car show, took the battery maintainer off which was showing green, turned the key and da, da da, da, da, da. You know the sound, when there's not enough juice to turn it over! I'm thinking what the hell??? Put multi-amp setting charger on it and turned it to the 50 amp starter setting for a couple minutes and it fired right up. Putting out slightly over 14 volts at 900 rpms. Let it run about 10 minutes, turn it off, go to restart and nothing. Pulled the battery and ran it up to O'Rielleys just a few miles down the street. The charge on it was too low to even check it. They have it on their system charging right now to see if it will even take enough charge to test? More to come. Needless to say, I ain't going to a car event today. What is blowing my mind is the battery maintainer was showing green???

 

Chris - Sorry to hear of your troubles. Sometimes these things are blatantly in your face - battery is dead (possibly) for WHATEVER reason. It quickly/rapidly discharged when you hit START w/ the IGN - or not. It doesn't take much to discharge a weak battery. Anything below 12.0V is hit or miss (see chart below). Even if the Battery Tender was maintaining voltage - was it maintaining 12.6V or about 12.0V - there is a HUGE difference - basically 50% of the output capacity is lost below 12.0V.

Good time to check each (-) & (+) battery terminals/connections esp. the (-) wires and connections. Often times with a weak ground connection it's very possible to discharge 1.0V from the battery and you're now in the Schmitz.

I can't recall if my Battery Tender regulates & maintains @ 12.0V or 12.6V. Again, HUGE delta in the 0.6V range relative to capacity/output.

Good Luck...

 

Drained the water heater. Made a huge mess water everywhere. Eh...sometimes it's part of the routine. Removed the heating elements. Getting ready to install new heating elements. Was on the scaffolding and finished caulking to be painted. Beautiful weather...I should be riding instead of working. Oh well....Oh yeah...the new PS pump is on its way from RA, supposed to be here Wednesday.

 

Adding to the above, if there is a bad cell it can charge to the correct voltage but have no capacity. The tender wold think everything is fine, but ryinig to start the engine would drain that cell immediately.

 

Indeed, that's brilliant. Good call, Kenneth.

 

Chris,

The day I was having lunch with John , his bride, Mike and his Mom. I decided to drive the Vista. It's also on a battery tender. Fired right up Stopped at O'Riley's on the way up [can't remember what for] and the battery was dead as a hammer. Got a new one right then and there

The long and short of it is Get a new one ya don't want to get stranded or be late to lunch

 

I am not a fan of battery tenders. I will put a battery charger on seldom used cars for a long while before use.

How old is this battery?

 

Chris, I'll add my non professional advice: Buy a new battery. You're welcome.

 

A woman of taste. The Peabody College is a nice facility. I made it 90% of the way through my time at Vanderbilt without setting foot on it, as I was 1: an engineering student, and our academic halls were on the other end of campus, and 2: I lived in the one men's dorm on campus, and, like several other such small dorms, it enabled me to miss residing on Peabody my sophomore year, as that is to where that group of undesirables gets banished unless you are in such a small dorm. I resided in Tolman Hall for all years but my freshman year as it was recently renovated, central to most things, closest to the food, and pretty quiet (being a men's dorm). My theory on the latter was to party elsewhere, that way you could leave when you wanted, not have to clean up a mess, and be able to sleep without a racket. That worked most of the time.

 

I've never used a Battery Tender on a car. I use them on motorcycles.
I suspect Ralph is now the owner of a brand new automotive battery.

 

New H2O heater heating elements installed, no leaks, hot water is at temperature. Got more painting done up on the scaffolding. I lived in a dormitory twice - USAF basic training Lackland AFB (San Antonio, TX) - more like a large hospice; and, USAF technical training @ Sheppard Air Force Base (Wichita Falls, TX) - that was a real dormitory. Happy I never had to reside in a college dormitory.

 

Hi everyone.

Twas a beautiful day in the Greater Stockbridge Area. Didn't get anything done. Had a great morning first at Awful house, then went to the airport line room and talked for a long time with some guys, then after that went to Carmax to check out those Tiguans. They were a bust. I'm sort of not sad about that, they were too tall and not enough room. But that still leaves me at square one. Might have to reconsider that Chevy.

Chris I was reading about your battery and I thought, that sounds like a dead cell, and then Kenneth came and stole my thunder. The tender was seeing the surface charge but there was nothing to back it up. I go the same advice for a gas tank once. Just get a new one and don't worry about it.

Norm my Cadillac needs a power steering pump as well. As soon as I dig it out of the mud would you come put it on for me?

My plan for the afternoon was to get the Chevy out of the hangar and get it ready for my neighbor to work on. As I was getting home from the car place Mom called and wanted me to stop at Publix for a couple things. I ended up getting some stuff from the old house over to the new house, if it doesn't rain all day tomorrow I'll work on the Chevy.

Dan the engine in that car is a 350, and I happened to look a little closer at the shift quadrant and the trans is a 3 speed. So I'm guessing a mid-70s car gave up it's 350 and Turbo 350 trans. That's okay with me. If my neighbor has reservations about my car when he's working on it I will give a call to the guy in North Carolina and go check out that green car.

Okay Mom has Dr. Pol on and it's always fun to watch him fist a cow. Have a good evening everyone.

 

Mike - When was your last drug test?

 

Norm, Kenneth, Jim, John, Dan and Mike - Most of you said it, ding, ding, ding, the battery tested out as bad! O'Reilley's wanted $230 without a core charge for an 800cca battery, no thanks! Took the battery back to Walmart where it came from, it is a 34-N, 800cca, 5-year warranty battery. The battery was only 3-years old. Even though I didn't have a receipt, Walmart honored the warranty and prorated the cost of a new one. Would have been $149 plus tax, got a new one for $106 including the tax. Slapped it back in there and car started like a champ! Way too late to make it to the car show, but I knew where a cruise-in was going on so I took the car out between 3:30 and 6:00. No issues!

 

I recall as a very young buck going there to visit Mom's brother and my cousins. They were complaining about the high humidity and we (from the Louisiana swamps) were amazed at the low humidity. That's about all I remember about it.

 

Mike, I offer my apologies for thunder appropriation. It's not often that I can actually offer helpful information and I just couldn't contain myself and blurted it out. I'll try to restrain my enthusiasm in the future.

 

So I don't havta haul so much stuff up to the lake for the Low Country boil next weekend. I'm gonna do an LA turn around and take 2 tables and another cooker up this morning turn aroiund and come home

3 cookers
12 lbs. andouille,
14 lbs. taters
75 half ears of corn
and Thursday picking up
20 lbs shrimp


Then I am DONE

I sure hope the Cast of Spartacus has enough to eat

 

Yesterday I blew leaves all day with a few breaks in-between. It kicked my ***. I am not as young as I think. I guess. Anyway it is DONE- yep. I aint goin back and do it again like most around here. I know more will fall but I am DONE! Last night we went over to friends house for a Michigan v Michigan State game party. I really don't give a rip about football but it was fun. For some reason I got blotto drunk, Ahh it's Ok but I will pay for it today... Like Hank Jr says the hangovers hurt more than they used to.....Going to veg today.

 

Jim - How much time does it take to drive from your home to the lake?

 

Norm, 1 hour 30 minutes door to door

 

Jim - You'd definitely think that'd be enough food, as Ruth would say, it's a "$hit-ton"! Safe travels!

Greg - Glad you had a fun time at your friend's party. I watched the game when I got home from the car cruise. Can't remember how long it's been since I've had "one too many", but I can tell you it doesn't take much anymore for me to have a headache and just feel generally blah the next morning if I have more than 2 or 3 beers. Hope ya don't have too rough a day!

Started raining last night about 2200 and pouring out right now. Temp's probably in the high-40's, and I think it's supposed to rain all day. Monty and I are lounging on the couch by the fire, and Momma and Maggie are still snoozing. I'd probably still be in bed snoozing too if Maggie hadn't stole all my covers and I had gotten cold. It is not easy to pull blankets back out from under a 60-pound cinder block and still not wake up your wife, so it was not worth trying. My wife is finally getting some relief from the itching and getting some rest, so there was no way in hell I was gonna risk waking her up!

Hope you guys have a great day!

 

I spent yesterday afterenoon mowing the grass then putting down rye grass seed. The Bermuda grass goes dormant below 55 degrees, and I gotta keep grass through the winter or else the dogs turn the yard into a dirt field that then turns into a muddy mess. I didn't overseed one year and I paid dearly for that mistake, so never again. If I didn't have a couple of rambunctious canines tear a$$ing around I could let it go dormant and not worry about it.

 

Hi everyone.

Blah here today. It isn't raining now but has been, and will again. Supposed to be nice all week.

Kenneth no ill feelings toward your thunder sniping. I'm just glad I even had the right answer.

Chris glad you got the battery figured out. Is your battery in the front or in the trunk W30-style?

Jamesbo safe travels.

It was supposed to be Walmart day but I got over here to late so we're going tomorrow. Mom still hasn't shaken all of what ailed her last week so she called the doctor and he insisted she get into the office first thing Monday. Apparently since I took off early to take her to the doctor before I can do it any time. She may need to get acquainted with the Yellow Cab people.

So since it isn't raining right now, I might go over and work on the car a little. Feels like one of those lazy days.

Have a good day everyone.

 

Thanks Mike, I'm just glad I wasn't out on the road somewhere and have it quit me. I always carry tools with me, but it would have been much more inconvenient. Also good to know, thanks to you guys, that the trickle charger can being showing it's charged, when really it's not. I always thought those things were more diagnostic than they apparently are! My battery is in the front. First time I've had it out in the 3-years I've owned the car.

 

Well, it's been a rough, disturbing, and PIA morning. My wife's online shopping has finally bitten us in the ****. She apparently entered our VISA card on an unsecure site and it has been compromised. I discovered it when I was reviewing our latest statement that ended 26 October. Unscrupulous bastards had posted a total of ~$170 in fraudulent charges in 3 separate transactions. Called and canceled the cards and they're issuing new ones that will take 7 to 10 days to get here, certainly inconvenient, but could have been much worse. Hoping to get the fraudulent charges credited back to our account, but have to pay them for now as it will take anywhere from 30 to 90-days to go through that part of the process. Ugh!!!

 

Well Found another ' Maybe: K-5 in Texas. [ There are a good many in the Lone Star state]

Richard [gearhead78] is gonna go take a peek next week Small world the seller knows Richard [as well as 1/2 of Texas]

Stay tuned

 

The trickle charger was correct, it sensed that the battery was at the appropriate voltage. If you had measured with a DMM you likely would have seen good voltage. The problem is there's no capacity (current capability) behind that voltage, likely due to a high resistance in one or more of the cells. That's why load testing a battery is important as it can show nominal voltage but can't source high current.

As for batteries failing on the road somewhere, that is typically what happens here in the desert. The engine fires up fine, then you get to your destination and when you try to leave you turn the key and get a click. Boom, dead battery. Had that happen to me quite a few times over the years. The brutal summer heat is murder on batteries (imagne what the underhood temperature is when it's 118 in the shade and you've been in stop and go traffic for an hour or more). This causes the average battery life here in the desert to be around 3 years.

 

Mike, are there any senior services in your area that provide transportation for older folks? We have a couple in my neck of the woods. Chris, I had my card compromised a couple of years ago. I found out when my bank notified me of suspicious charges in areas around the country that weren't anywhere near me. They sent an email asking if i had made charges in Seattle, and N.Y. They immediately cancelled my card and refused the charges by the cons.

 

Kenneth is it prudent to just buy a new battery every few years even if it seems fine, just so it doesn't strand you?

I'll make purchases with my credit card that seem normal, then I'll get a call from the Fraud Department of the credit union and ask if the last several charges were me. It usually annoys me but I'm sure glad they are on top of this sort of thing. I call the CU before I go to Australia or if I'll be more than a couple hours away, so they don't turn the card off when they get a distant charge.

Dan I don't think there's any kind of senior rides but I'll look into it that's a good idea. I don't mind calling out to take her somewhere but it gets a little much with work. I don't want to be labeled a troublemaker. I'm also running rather low on time off to take, and overtime has been halted so no building up comp time.

Started raining so I didn't get the car worked on. I did get a few things moved, so today was a success.

 

Mike, I just wait for the battery to fail. The Cutlass hides in the garage through the summer heat so its battery doesn’t fail as often. Installed an Optima Red Top in 2006 and it died last year. The other vehicles have manual transmissions so I just push start them to get back home. I carry jumper cables and tow straps just in case.

 

Kenneth - Thanks, I understand what you're saying. I just thought the trickle chargers were more diagnostic than they apparently are.

 

Which do you have - a trickle charger or a battery tender (maintainer) - big difference. I thought you had a battery tender - which is it?

 

Wow, you bought that Optima battery in 2006 and it just failed in 2021, that's amazing in this day and age! I don't think I would have bought another Walmart battery if they weren't willing to give me the prorated 2/5's credit towards the new one. Hopefully this one lasts longer than the last one.

 

It is a Schumacher 1.5 amp battery tender/maintainer.

 

You began calling it a battery maintainer, then you switched to calling it (them) trickle chargers so you confused me. A trickle charger should NOT be left continuously hooked up to a battery. A battery tender/maintainer can (should) remain continuously hooked up to a battery.

 

Yes, my error, I started using the term "trickle charger" in a generic sense when it really isn't applicable. I have battery maintainers on the 4-4-2, both motorcycles, and a solar powered one on the F150.