Battery short

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2012: Battery short
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ronnie Wehba on Friday, December 21, 2012 - 06:59 pm:

was charging my battery last nite,my charger showed a internal short 2 in a row 3 weeks apart the young kid said my car had a computer problem, and i asked him if he could show me on his puter a car using a 6 volt battery anyway the manager came over and decided it was due to shelf life?? hoping maybe this is the missing problem i hav. now just asking,,,is there any way my car can short out a battery??


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Floyd Voie - Chehalis, Washington on Friday, December 21, 2012 - 07:54 pm:

Ronnie,
How old is your battery? How often is it charged?
Yes, shelf life can happen. A battery can sulfate causing an internal short.
Best if not using the car that often or if you have an extra battery sitting around to use a battery tender.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Peter Claverie on Friday, December 21, 2012 - 08:01 pm:

Generally speaking, a cell will develop an internal short because of one of two reasons -- One, the plates buckle enough to crunch through the insulators between them and touch, or Two, sediment builds up in the bottom of the chamber high enough to short the plates together.

In the old days, you could rather easily disconnect a cell and lift it out, and perform repairs. That was, in fact, a pretty standard part of the service provided by most auto shops.

Today's batteries are not so easily taken apart. And, dealing with the acid is not something most shops want to do anyway. It's considered a "replace, don't fix" part.

Yes, your car CAN short out a battery. This will happen if your charging system is set too high, and has a cutout rather than a regulator. This can "boil" a battery, and cause the plates to buckle.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Floyd Voie - Chehalis, Washington on Friday, December 21, 2012 - 08:01 pm:

"can my car short out a battery?"
Yes, you can have a short that can damage the battery. Do you have a meter or test light? What does your ammeter in the dash show?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ronnie Wehba on Friday, December 21, 2012 - 08:56 pm:

cannot find any short,, have a disconnect that is used after a drive ammeter shows about 5-6 lines discharge when running dont know if it works or not but until the last 2 batterys shorted it never moved.yes have both meter and light


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Garnet on Saturday, December 22, 2012 - 01:13 am:

Ron, if this is in a Model T - get rid of the battery disconnect switch. It's only purpose in life is to cause expensive repairs for you.

Your best bet is to first determine if the short is before or after the disconnect switch. Open the switch and see of the short is gone. Use a meter to see if there's any difference in DC voltage at the battery terminals. If you still have a short with your battery disconnect switch open, that narrows your problem area to between the battery and the switch. You should be able to find that easy ... any broken insulation on your battery cables??

If the short goes away with the disconnect switch open then the short is between the switch and the wiring terminal block on your firewall or the generator cutout.

Here's one possibility:

If you ran your engine on Magneto with the battery disconnect switch open you could have damaged the generator and the cutout contacts could be welded closed. This would leave a permanent drain on the battery when your disconnect switch is closed. With the engine off, disconnect the wire at the generator cutout that goes to the battery. This is the only place you'll ever hear me tell you to use black tape on something, but just so you don't create any unwanted sparks near your carburetor temporarily wrap a bit of tape around that eyelet. Check to see if the short is gone. If it is then congratulations - you need to buy a new generator and cutout! Install the new items AFTER you have thrown the disconnect switch in the garbage can. If it doesn't get rid of the short then yer gonna have to check every wire for bare spots. Better yet, install a new wiring harness and do it careful and right the first time.

For the heck of it, check your ignition switch for any wires that are loose or have moved and are touching something that they should not be touching - like your BAT wire touching the MAG terminal ... this is pretty much the worst of the bad things that can happen without burning down the garage or the Model T.

Again, get rid of the disconnect switch - it's just sucker bait from the dealers that ends up making you buy things you didn't need in the first place.

Garnet


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mike Garrison on Saturday, December 22, 2012 - 02:08 am:

Next time buy one that's not short. I always thought batteries were real close in size. especially the 6 volt.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Wayne Sheldon, Grass Valley, CA on Saturday, December 22, 2012 - 03:06 pm:

A blown generator is one of the expensive repairs that can be caused by many of the "disconnect" switches. A false sense of security is another common problem. The one on a car I bought years ago made contact when it was supposed to be off a couple times before I removed it (due to cable tension). I keep the battery connections clean and the cable clamps only snug. I can pull the cable off the battery when I want it off for fire concerns and have never had one work off when I was running the car.

Now might be a good time for my occasional reminder that, although fairly rare, shorted batteries can sometimes explode with about the power of an M-80. It happened to me in my old modern pickup daily driver. Fortunately for me, it blew up under the closed hood. The whole truck jumped and when I opened the hood there were pieces of battery and battery acid all over the engine compartment. It is not something you want to experience up close and personal. Under certain conditions, a shorted battery can ignite the hydrogen by-products inside the battery.

Work carefully, and do enjoy the holidays! W2


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mike Garrison on Saturday, December 22, 2012 - 03:49 pm:

We had a neighbor that had a battery blow up. Parts of his face were skin grafts and the rest was scars. His name was Clarence but us kids called him "The Mole" because he looked like the character from the Dick Tracy comic strip. Once he came to our house with a Johnny Cash album. It was the first time I ever heard Johnny Cash sing. I was fascinated by his voice.


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