Can we run on just one battery?

[Midnite]

For what it's worth, my 1st gen (with its one battery) had no idea it was cold outside last winter. It was generally between 10 - 15 deg. F in the mornings, with the coldest being 4 deg. F as measured at my front door.



Just for fun I even tried starting it without giving the heater grid a chance to cycle--it ran pretty rough, but it fired on the first crank of the starter! The battery that's in it is what was there when I bought the truck in Sep. 2000. It's just some Exide generic special.



That was actually pretty warm for us for the winter here in Anchorage--we normally get a stretch of cold in Jan or Feb down to -20 F. I have a perverse wish that we have a very cold winter this coming one just so I can see how the truck does.



Mike

 

[jjohnson1177]

It's been my experiance that factory Mopar batterys are short lived at best, then they always choose to quit working at the worst time. These trucks work fine with one large battery.

 

[Max340]

Re: Electricity 101

Originally posted by Mill Rat

One more thing, transformers won't work with DC current, Must be AC.

Better not tell anyone with an ignition coil about that. The car might come to a stop if it knew it wasn't supposed to work.

 

[Doc Tinker]

This 24v stuff reminded me of the highway coaches I used to work on. Everything ran on 24v, except the engines of coarse (those were diesel ).



There was a time when money was in short supply, the company started buying 12v sealed beams. I never found out if the guy ordering the parts knew he was buying 12v bulbs for a 24v system, but some of the mechanics were just throwing them in and sending the coaches out, just to have them right back with burnt out bulbs again. Sure was a mess. We ended up rewiring the systems just so we could use the 12v bulbs. In one of the early rewiring attempts, one mechanics hung wiring on the outside of the coach to the headlights and decided that was good enough. That bus really looked cool with icecicles hanging on all that wiring.



Doc

 

[drag racer]

Re: Re: Electricity 101

Originally posted by Max340





Better not tell anyone with an ignition coil about that. The car might come to a stop if it knew it wasn't supposed to work.

Max340, good catch. MillRat is correct from a general viewpoint - only "alternating" current can achieve the transformer effect, but you caught on to the nuance of what "alternating" means.



The reason that transformers (in this case, the automotive ignition coil) can work with direct current is that when DC is switched on and off rapidly, or pulsed as it is known, it behaves exactly as the positive half of an AC wave. In the old days, the "switching" was done by the breaker points, followed later by a Hall Effect device in electronic ignition systems, and now by a computer in the case of the modern coil on plug systems.

 

[Bad340fish]

99% of batteries that blow up when you fire up are caused by LOW WATER! you guys need to keep on top of those things. Batteries creat alot of Gas and when the water gets below the top of the plates they can spark. Spark+gas=BOOM .



When battery shopping for anything else but an Optima make sure the caps are removable. Optima is the only true maitenence free battery. If its a standard lead acid battery without removable caps its just Maintanence Impossible lol.



Had a group 31 blow up on the chargers when I was working in Interstates Warehouse... WOW LOUD had battery parts stuck in the beams on the cieling..... TALL buidling also. I don't know what makes them blow up on the charger sometimes... we always fill them first.

Clark

 

[TomGolden]

HVAC has had only a single Red top Optima since at least December 2000 when I first met him in person, and likely long before that. His is a 1999 Cummins if I remember correctly. His is on the drivers side, as he had to make rom for all those turbo mods he's done.



Tom

 

[Shelby Griggs]

Originally posted by Bad340fish

Optima is the only true maitenence free battery. If its a standard lead acid battery without removable caps its just Maintanence Impossible lol. Clark

Clark,



What about the AC Delco Freedom batteries? My GM car came with one in 1989, and I made something like 7 or 8 years on the original, and then replaced with same. That one ended up having a bad cell in less than two years, but I have been several years now on the second replacement. In the car, anyway these seem to work good, and appear to be completely sealed. I have never cleaned the terminals in almost 13 years and they have not needed it either. 213K on the car now. To be honest I have thought of putting those in the Ram when the OEM's die.



Shelby

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

QUOTE:



"Better not tell anyone with an ignition coil about that. The car might come to a stop if it knew it wasn't supposed to work.



UMMmmm - only reason the ignition coil "transformer" operated in earlier ignitions was because the primary source voltage was SWITCHED rapidly by the distributor points - providing a PULSED voltage/current much like an AC source - been MANY ignition coils burnt out when owners left the ignition on but the engine not running to run the accessories. when the points were CLOSED, running constant DC thru the ignition coil and ruining it, They're not meant to be operated for extended periods with CONSTANT DC applied!

 

[Bad340fish]

Cooler Climates

You live in a cooler climate than around here. I guess I was speaking more of the HOT areas like where I am from. The heat is hell on batteries. . especialy when you don't keep them full of water.



Delco makes a very good battery. The worst problem I see with them is the positive post leaking and/or coming out on the side post batteries. I would say %40 or so of the Delco cores I pick up have leaking or missing posts.



The side post is just a bad design IMHO. Nothing but trouble. The ONLY thing I like about them is that I can get 14 of them on my dolly lol.



I wouldn't hesitate at all putting Delcos in your ram if I were you.



Just my . 02

Clark

 

[Shelby Griggs]

Clark,



Thanks for the advice. I have never had a side post problem with the Delco's I have owned, very interesting. Are the Delco's truly sealed up, or is there a PITA way to open and add water?



Shelby

 

[Bad340fish]

Nope

I opened one for the hell of it one time. It gave me hell!! Once the top is off you would have to glue it back on. They are not truly sealed. . they are vented on the side of the lid somewhere.



You ought to try to open an Optima. . WOW we did it to one at work. . it involved screwdrivers a hammer and a forklift lol.

Clark