>I was driving my wife's car with her as passenger. For reasons which seemed
>good at the time I entered the local supermarket carpark entrance at a speed
>which caused substantial kerthunk / grounding / scraping action, probably
>with pretty sparks. This is a very deep and sharp entrance dip across a road
>camber. I would do the same thing again in the same circumstances but would
>try to avoid the circumstances occurring again :-) . (The man signalling a
>left turn presumably into the supermarket which putatively gave me the right
>of way in NZ, didn't seem to be slowing and I decided he MAY have been
>signalling for the corner some 50+ metres past the entrance. I decided that
>my wife (on impact side) didn't want to find out who was right).
>
>Anyway - car negotiated the bump with a loud shrieking of tortured wife
>(understandably enough) and we drove otherwise sedately to a parking place.
>On return to the car it was electrically dead. Very slightest whiff of 12v
>at battery terminals which vanished under any load.
>
>Conclusion:  Battery had suffered an internal stress break at some point
>internally. Can supply under 100 mA on full short circuit. I have had this
>happen long ago (15 years+ ?) but then not as far as I can recall due to any
>major impact.
>
>Is this sort of failure usual?
>
>

> (understandably enough) and we drove otherwise sedately to a parking place.
> On return to the car it was electrically dead. Very slightest whiff of 12v
> at battery terminals which vanished under any load.
>
> Conclusion:  Battery had suffered an internal stress break at some point
> internally. Can supply under 100 mA on full short circuit. I have had this
> happen long ago (15 years+ ?) but then not as far as I can recall due to any
> major impact.
>
> Is this sort of failure usual?
>

> I was driving my wife's car with her as passenger. For reasons which seemed
> good at the time I entered the local supermarket carpark entrance at a
> speed
> which caused substantial kerthunk / grounding / scraping action, probably
> with pretty sparks. This is a very deep and sharp entrance dip across a
> road
> camber. I would do the same thing again in the same circumstances but would
> try to avoid the circumstances occurring again :-) . (The man signalling
> a
> left turn presumably into the supermarket which putatively gave me the
> right
> of way in NZ, didn't seem to be slowing and I decided he MAY have been
> signalling for the corner some 50+ metres past the entrance. I decided
> that
> my wife (on impact side) didn't want to find out who was right).
>
> Anyway - car negotiated the bump with a loud shrieking of tortured wife
> (understandably enough) and we drove otherwise sedately to a parking place.
> On return to the car it was electrically dead. Very slightest whiff of
> 12v
> at battery terminals which vanished under any load.
>
> Conclusion:  Battery had suffered an internal stress break at some point
> internally. Can supply under 100 mA on full short circuit. I have had this
> happen long ago (15 years+ ?) but then not as far as I can recall due to
> any
> major impact.
>
> Is this sort of failure usual?
>
> What do they do to preserve batteries in eg rally cars?
>
> In whoever's opinion - If this battery was still in warranty (it's not)
> would I be justified in making a warranty claim?
>
>
>
>         Russell McMahon
>
> --
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> At 04:05 PM 12/30/2003 -0500, Bob Japundza wrote:
>
> >It would only be a problem if you were having trouble starting the car
> and kept on trying or you wouldn't be able to run as long if your alternator
> failed and you were out in the boonies.  The dry-cell battery does a better
> job at cranking, and I suspect it is due to its lower internal resistance.
>
> My unswitched accessories feed through a #4, if that's a hint.. :)
> http://www.dvanhorn.org/HamRadio/Index.php
>
> My parked, powered down drain, is <1A though.
>
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>From: Nate Duehr <spamBeGonenatespamBeGoneNATETECH.COM>
>Reply-To: pic microcontroller discussion list <TakeThisOuTPICLISTEraseMEspam_OUTMITVMA.MIT.EDU>
>To: RemoveMEPICLISTTakeThisOuTMITVMA.MIT.EDU
>Subject: Re: [EE]: Interesting automotive battery falure
>Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2003 11:52:56 -0700
>
>On Saturday 27 December 2003 10:10 pm, James Cameron wrote:
>
> > Having moved into the outback about four years ago, we go through
> > lots of batteries.  I had a new one today, it had been installed in
> > May. The failure rate appears to relate to high temperatures and
> > vibration on dirt roads.
>
>I would agree with this experience.  I do a lot of 4x4 backcountry
>driving in my Jeep Cherokee and my battery failure rate is twice what
>my wife's is in her Honda Civic.  (She got 6 years out of the original
>manufacturer's battery, I got 3.  We're both on our second
>non-manufacturer OEM batteries now.)  My dad also does a lot of
>backcountry driving and his battery failure rate in his GMC Jimmy has
>been about 3 years to a battery also.
>
>The "one cell shorted, voltage low" also seems to be the most common
>failure for both of us.
>
>I purchased a "off-road/4x4" version of the DieHard brand from Sears
>recently.  I'll let you know in 3 (or more) years how it stands up.
>;-)
>
>Their claim is that it's better suited for off-road activity, looking at
>the case, it appears to be a much more rugged construction, but not
>sure internally how much difference there is.  LOL... hopefully some.
>That or I'm a typical idiot consumer who'll buy anything.  :-)
>
>I would have liked to have tried the Optima brand cylindrical batteries,
>but the battery picked a bad financial time of the year to die, so I
>"splurged" an extra $30 to get the "off-road" DieHard and we'll see how
>she goes...
>
>As a side note, I'm VERY hard on batteries and electrical system
>components.  I have a bunch of Amateur radio transmitters installed or
>not installed at various times of the year, depending on communications
>needs.  All pull high current from the battery system, and I do
>regularly use them with the engine off, so my battery tends to get
>"deep cycled" more than it would in a typical use vehicle.  As a
>comparison, my wife's car has a single transmitter in it and it's
>rarely used except when the vehicle is in motion and the Alternator can
>take up the load it creates.
>
>--
>Nate Duehr, nateEraseME.....natetech.com
>
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