battery problems?

[Rabbit on Roids]

haha, i knew it was gonna be your grounds 

[parkdog]

haha my hat goes off to you sir. but i kinda think my battery could be upgraded to a bigger one when i start it in the -15 or lower it has alittle trouble starting but will start. the battery is 738ca and 590cca

[Rabbit on Roids]

all my batteries in my diesels are 1000ca or bigger, at least 800 or so cca. always spins mine up just fine.

[8v-of-fury]

Ah (Ampere-Hours) tells you how much power a battery will store.  The current multiplied by time in hours gives you the Ampere-Hours (Ah).  So a current of 1 (one) amp for 1 (one) hour would be one Ah (Amp-Hour).

  Batteries that are utilized for Gasoline engines like SLI (Starting-Lighting-Ignition) batteries are not rated in AH but rather in the CCA (cold-cranking amps), due to the fact that they are designed only for use in starting the engine, once the engine has started they should not be used.  

  The reasoning is that deeply discharging this type of battery will Greatly reduce its life.  Also it will have statements such as 5 hour rate or 15 hour rate, this means that the battery will discharge perpetually over 5 or 15 hours, and the AH (amp-hour) capacity is a measurement of how much it puts out before reaching 100% DOD (Depth of Discharge).  The DOD is how much of the available charge is used compared to 100% (or 1.75 volts per cell, or 7.2 volts for 12 volt battery).

  The RC (Reserve Capacity) is generally used on deep cycle batteries.  The RC is the number of Minutes a battery can manage a useful voltage (1.75 volts per cell).  When using a system with heavy load requirements the Reserve Capacity (RC) is a more useful measurement.  AH equals RCx.60 (Minutes vs. Hours)

  MCA (marine cranking amps) basically is the same as CA (cranking amps) which is the measurment of how many amps the battery will put out for 30 seconds at 32 degrees F, before the voltage drops below 1.2 volts Per Cell.  The CCA (Cold Cranking Amps) of a battery is much more important at cold temperatures because the CCA is measured at Zero (0) degrees F, versus 32 degrees F for MCA and CA.  

I think proper diesel batteries are measured in Ah as to how much power can be taken from the battery for the first however, instead of being able to provide a big spike of energy for starting.. you know?

To run the gp's, and then the big draw of a diesel starter.

[clbanman]

I'm getting in this late but just wanted to add a couple comments from what I have noticed and recent battery problems I have had.   

With diesels there is a big difference between starting and cranking.   

If your car doesn't start, put the battery on a charger overnight.  If it fires up then the battery may be OK.  The next test would be to charge it and let it sit overnight and then see if it will start.  If it does,  I would suspect that your charging system is not up to par.

What happened to me is that my battery would crank the engine for 1-2 minutes without starting.   It would gradually slow down to the point where I would recognize it wouldn't fire and I had to get a boost.   It didn't happen 100% of the time, and there was no direct correlation to ambient temperatures.  Sometimes it would fire on a cold day, sometimes it was really slow on a warmer day.   The way things were going, I suspected my glowplugs.   Last Friday it finally got to the point that I had to call CAA for a boost to get home.    I replaced my battery, and it fired within a few revolutions.   Sat over the weekend, fired up instantly this morning.  White smoke to beat all, so I may still have glow plug issues, but.....

A co-worker had a battery that wouldn't start his diesel any longer.   He took it out and put it in a gasser.   6 years later it still fires up the gasser every time.   

Most battery load testers are scaled for gasser requirements.  The battery I pulled out of my car tested marginal but OK but it won't fire up my diesel.    I suspect either internal circuit problems in the battery or it's just too worn down for a diesel.   

It's amazing how much difference a good battery will make for starting.   

BTW, if you get a boost and it fires right up, that is the difference between a good battery and an inadequate one, even if it does crank the engine.

[parkdog]

yeah its been starting everyday now since i sanded/cleaned the grounds now to get my tach to work it will work once in a while could this also be from a battery/connection problem i noticed one day i  moved the connections around on the positive side of the battery and the tach worked all day long then the next day it just went back to how it sits over the red line. like it bottoms out or whatever.

[Rabbit on Roids]

might be a funky w signal from the alt...

[mtrans]

I just check my 100 Ah battery by puting load of 5 A (1/20 part) and till the min recomended 10.8 V it`s take 4.5 hour so my bat is 22 Ah ONLY.So by book I shall put 1 A (1/100) till 15 V when again to drop till 10.8 v  I am interesting to see will it last,today`s battery  last max 4 winter on short distance mainly.Your exprience?