Back in April I blew the motor on the race car, so it came off the trailer and got parked for a few months. While it was parked, I had the battery disconnected.

After a rebuild, I went to start the car and found that the battery was *very* weak (couldn't start the car). It's just a little 13 lb gel cell, so I can't blame it.

My guess is that I'm not fully charging the battery on track (ignition draws a lot, and I have a majorly underdriven alternator).

So, here is my solution for the future:



This is a little solar cell that ships with all new VW's coming from Germany (to keep their faulty electrical systems from draining the battery).

Specs:

3.2 watts
170 mAmps
18.8V


The acutions range from $10-20 so these little guys are cheap, and my understanding is tat they are better than more expensive harbor freight offerings.

My garage has windows, so it looks like I'll be trickle charging the battery between events. It makes me feel safer than a plug in unit.

Scott

 

very nice!

I've looked at the HF units but didn't think they looked very well made... I may have to try getting one of these though.

Christian, who hates dead batterys with a passion

 

They come with all new VWs, and most dealerships just stockpile these after delivering a car to their customers. So if you know anyone who works @ a dealership, they could probably get you a 100 for free. Then you can pawn it off to the H-T'ers.

 

Nice !

 

So is this built into new VWs (like in the roof), or just something you can throw in the glovebox and stick on the window when you need it?


Modified by SpiceyRice at 1:04 PM 7/9/2004

 

Faulty electrical system? How do you figure?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mityVR6 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Faulty electrical system? How do you figure?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Oh i can figure. maybe VW's less than perfect history.

Exibit A:
this study was done after 3 years/ 48000 mi. survey:

and while the resuls may not be concrete. It is a consideration to make

hahhah LAnd ROver is last!!!! I use to work in parts-its true they are terrible. Its probably not good that I have the part#'s for Head gasket repair memorized for DI DII RR 88-2002

 

Very cool find

 

my dealership i work at use to have a vw dealership adjacent to it. i took like 15 of them and sold them

 

On my race car, I just un hook the negative terminal when I am not using the car. I have been using the same generic gel cel from a riding lawn mower for 4 years.

Scott

 

I've had one of those for years. In my garage. In a box. Maybe I should start using it before I kill another battery.

I think hondas have the cig plug disconnected from the battery, until the ignition switch is on. VW's dont?

 

LOL I was with a friend when she picked up her new Jetta Wolfsburg and one of those was in the back. She had no clue what it was, so she gave it to me. Works like a charm on the project car.

 

There is a way to hardwire the cigarete outlets to the battery so that they work when the keys aren't in it. My freind did this to his teg since he never had time to charge his phone, and he worked at bestbuy as a system installer, so he knew what he was doing. I belive its just cut the hot wire going to the plug, then wire it up to an always on wire.

 

Yup, in my Hondas if I tried to use that thing in the cig plug it would do absolutely nothing for my battery.... Your cars might be similar. I'll probably rewire my cig plug.

 

Yeah most Honda's power outlet aren't "Hot". All three of the Mazda's I owned had "Hot" power outlets.

 

My Toyota has a switched out let too, but that doesn't stop me from using a $5 radio shack cigaratte lighter plug wired straight to the battery terminals.

It's not a hard problem to solve. In my case, the underdriven alternator doesn't fully charge the battery on track so I HAVE to recharge it between events, even if it is disconnected (not that it runs down when it stays connected, the electrical system on my 31 year old Toyota still works great).

Scott