B8200 battery troubles...

[RBsingl]

thankfully they don’t place these batteries under the driver seat, under the back seat, or in the trunk/frunk

My 2008 Cadillac CTS wasn't bad because it had an access panel in the side of the trunk that pulled off and provided plenty of room to replace the battery. My 2014 ATS has an access door just large enough to disconnect the negative cable in an emergency. Replacing the battery in it requires removing a couple of trunk tie downs, a trim piece, a few additional fasteners, and then pulling loose one side of the trunk liner.

And some people who bought an ATS with a lower trim level and non-folding back seat found out the hard way that if you disconnect the battery cable and then close the trunk, there is no key release for the electric trunk lock and no access from the passenger compartment so the only practical way in is to supply power to the stud on the starter while hoping and praying that the loose positive cable in the trunk isn't touching anything it shouldn't.

I suspect my 2016 Corvette will have limited access to its rear mounted battery and I will find out soon.

I remember replacing the batteries in my 2006 GMC Sierra diesel a couple of years before I traded it in. Easy, wide open access to both batteries so it should have been an easy job and it was until I was finishing up and my fingers slipped and I dropped a nut off the passenger side hold down clamp. There was really only one possible place it could land that was very inaccessible and pinball style the nut bounced around and landed on part of the front axle assembly under the engine. I had to crawl under and feel around to find it but I can't blame the design engineer for that problem.

It reminds me of when you are moving a watering hose, extension cord, or rope and it always manages to snag and hang up on something. But if you were falling off the side of a mountain, the rope you are holding would just cleanly follow you to your doom without snagging on anything

Rodger

 

[Chanceywd]

My 2008 Cadillac CTS wasn't bad because it had an access panel in the side of the trunk that pulled off and provided plenty of room to replace the battery. My 2014 ATS has an access door just large enough to disconnect the negative cable in an emergency. Replacing the battery in it requires removing a couple of trunk tie downs, a trim piece, a few additional fasteners, and then pulling loose one side of the trunk liner.

And some people who bought an ATS with a lower trim level and non-folding back seat found out the hard way that if you disconnect the battery cable and then close the trunk, there is no key release for the electric trunk lock and no access from the passenger compartment so the only practical way in is to supply power to the stud on the starter while hoping and praying that the loose positive cable in the trunk isn't touching anything it shouldn't.

I suspect my 2016 Corvette will have limited access to its rear mounted battery and I will find out soon.

I remember replacing the batteries in my 2006 GMC Sierra diesel a couple of years before I traded it in. Easy, wide open access to both batteries so it should have been an easy job and it was until I was finishing up and my fingers slipped and I dropped a nut off the passenger side hold down clamp. There was really only one possible place it could land that was very inaccessible and pinball style the nut bounced around and landed on part of the front axle assembly under the engine. I had to crawl under and feel around to find it but I can't blame the design engineer for that problem.

It reminds me of when you are moving a watering hose, extension cord, or rope and it always manages to snag and hang up on something. But if you were falling off the side of a mountain, the rope you are holding would just cleanly follow you to your doom without snagging on anything

Rodger

I am trying to put the name on that, isn't it Murphy's law? Where the dragging cord, rope etc always catches? I had it yesterday trying to just pick one bungy cord that wanted to hook and bring a friend along no matter how I turned it. Finally had to set down what I had in the other hand to get it to co-operate.

Bill

 

[RBsingl]

I am trying to put the name on that, isn't it Murphy's law? Where the dragging cord, rope etc always catches? I had it yesterday trying to just pick one bungy cord that wanted to hook and bring a friend along no matter how I turned it. Finally had to set down what I had in the other hand to get it to co-operate.

Bill

Bill,

As a ham radio operator who restores a lot of vintage gear, I am all too familiar with Murphy's law

Murphy also loves to tie knots in power cords while you aren't looking.

Even when Mr. Murphy doesn't create a lot of damage, he loves to cause drama. The ham equipment setup in the attached photo includes a Johnson Desk Kilowatt transmitter which was produced in the early 1950s.

I did a complete restoration of it about 15 years ago and during that time it has only had two failures, one was a crimp in the primary power wiring that failed after decades but the other failure was more exciting. It has four cooling fans and one of them developed a shorted winding creating smoke. The other three fans happily distributed the smoke before the fuse opened. Since the transmitter in its desk configuration is about the size and weight of a motorcycle, you can't just pick it up and carry it outside until it finishes its smoke break.

ADT accepted my challenge word and didn't dispatch the fire department to the alarm event and a few open windows quickly removed the smoke. I am sure Mr. Murphy had a great chuckle at me running around that morning. At least it was an inexpensive failure and not something in the 2,500 volt power supply side where the exotic smoke is far more expensive.

Rodger

 

[Mark_BX25D]

Many car manufacturers place AGM batteries into a small mostly sealed compartment so they rely upon proper vent hose installation to avoid hydrogen gas buildup in the compartment.

I don't know how long AGM batteries have been around, but BMW and Audi were doing that back in the mid 80s.

 

[RBsingl]

My 2002 Olds Aurora had the battery mounted under the rear seat, that is the first car I owned where the battery wasn't under the hood. It was an easy change in that car, the seat cushion lifted out easily after releasing a couple of catches.

Now with three cars and a pickup, only the pickup has batteries under the hood. I suspect battery life is longer with it away from the underhood heat and it was also done for improved weight balance in these RWD platforms (Cadillac ATS and Chevrolet Camaro both built on GM's Alpha platform) and a Corvette Z06 with its aluminum frame design.

This mounting setup likely improves consumer safety a bit also since each has remote "jump" terminals under the hood and away from any battery produced hydrogen.

Rodger

 

[fried1765]

My 2002 Olds Aurora had the battery mounted under the rear seat, that is the first car I owned where the battery wasn't under the hood. It was an easy change in that car, the seat cushion lifted out easily after releasing a couple of catches.

Now with three cars and a pickup, only the pickup has batteries under the hood. I suspect battery life is longer with it away from the underhood heat and it was also done for improved weight balance in these RWD platforms (Cadillac ATS and Chevrolet Camaro both built on GM's Alpha platform) and a Corvette Z06 with its aluminum frame design.

This mounting setup likely improves consumer safety a bit also since each has remote "jump" terminals under the hood and away from any battery produced hydrogen.

Rodger

My MB E-350 Sedan Sport has the primary battery under the hood, and a (smaller) secondary battery under the trunk floor.
My MB E-320 had ONE battery under the rear seat.
Both RWD cars.
Leave it to MB to come up with an electrical system requiring TWO batteries!

Front tire size is different from rear tire size too!
Why?
Because they can.......and of course maintenance/replacement costs MORE, because tires cannot be rotated !

 

[RBsingl]

Is the secondary battery designed to backup power emergency stuff (airbags, telematics) in an accident? Some cars also have a separate setup for the stop/start engine system.

Many of these designs bring to mind the great British expression, "too clever by half."

Rodger

 

[My Barn]

Hi all,

I accidentally left my key in in 'on' position a couple of weeks ago, and so when i went to mow my lawn last weekend, the battery was predictably dead. This has happened many times over the years, so I did not think much of it. I jumped it from my car, and used the tractor for an hour or so to mow the lawn. Put it away and figured all would be well since running the tractor should charge the battery. Well i went to mow again today and the battery was dead again (like really very dead, the starter doesnt even make noise and only the fuel guage works). Again I jumped it and mowed the lawn for about an hour. After finishing mowing, I put tractor away and killed the engine. I tried starting it again immediately but found it was completely unresponsive. At this point I pulled the battery and hooked it up to my trickle charger, but that just blinked at me suggesting there is a charging error. This battery was brand new as of September 2021 and is a duralast 34-DL. I am now recalling that the previous battery that I replaced with this one did similar things after 3-4 years... am I just using the wrong kind of batteries? Is there something else going on?

Thanks!

Michael

The only battery that will take a full discharge or will fore give you...Is a deep cell battery. The nomenclature of deep cycle batteries comes from the fact that they are designed to be discharged as fully as possible each time they are used, a "deep-cycle" of the battery. Whereas discharging a starting battery fully can decrease the lifetime of the battery, discharging a deep-cycle battery fully is exactly the battery's intended purpose.

 

[lynnmor]

The only battery that will take a full discharge or will fore give you...Is a deep cell battery. The nomenclature of deep cycle batteries comes from the fact that they are designed to be discharged as fully as possible each time they are used, a "deep-cycle" of the battery. Whereas discharging a starting battery fully can decrease the lifetime of the battery, discharging a deep-cycle battery fully is exactly the battery's intended purpose.

Any lead acid battery should be kept charged as fully as possible. One that is sold as a deep cycle will benefit from keeping it fully charged, the only difference from a "starting" battery is that there will be less degradation. Fully discharging any lead acid battery will cause harm.