Keeping Batteries From A Cold Death

[patty]

Alright so i bought two brand new batteries with 500 cca each bought a month ago. the other day i parked at the end of alpha lake which had strong wind constantly blowing colder air around the deli. didnt start the car for about 18 hours then went out side and it was totaly dead (no i didnt leave any lights on, an havnt had THIS problem before) so i jumped it with a volvo c30, didnt work. then tried again with a ford ranger, also didnt work. then put on this battery juicer thing that plugs into the house and your battery and left it for another day. still nothing. so called up BCAA and had the tow truck come to give me a tow, the driver insisted he jump it just to make sure, so we did. fired up right away. guess the vehicle size does matter (ford ranger dude told me it didnt)
anyways im assuming it was just the cold wind off the lake sucking the battery dry. i was thinking ( im aware this sounds retarded) of setting up a small heater or even a hair blow dryer to blow onto my batteries which would plug in with my block heater. would it work?
i also thought about getting a battery blanket but the tow truck drivers said they were jokes. he also informed me that that was his fifth delica he jumped that day!

[bae146]

Why did you get batteries that were so small? I have 800 cca batteries and can start at minus 20. However I am not sure you have a battery problem. Possibly a starter solonoid issue? Did your van make any noises when you turned the key? Did the glow plug relay clik when yoy turned the van on? The more info you give us the better we can help you.....

[Golf Cart]

Patty

Double check that your terminal connections are ducks ass tight. If shouldnt be able to move at all.

[patty]

sure thing.
i didint think it was a battery issue at ther time because all the belts were going and there was noise. figured my fuel line froze or something, but then when he jumped me it fired right up.ill check the terminals for sure. reason i got small batteries was i had a hard time finding two that would fit beside one another, also i read you only need around 1000 cca to start.
would some sort of heat around the battery keep the cold from killing it?
thanks

[loki]

It would also pay to check the connections on the starter.

[skippyalbright]

AS FOR BATTERY BLANKETS THEY ARE THE SHIZAT! FOR 20 BUCKS YOU CAN'T GO WRONG....HAD ONE ON AN OLD NISSAN TRUCK AND IT WOULD CRANK OVER IN MINUS 40 LIKE IT WAS PLUS 20. YOU DON'T NEED CCA'S WHEN BATTERY IS WARM. NO USE IF YOU CAN'T PLUG IN, BUT HIGHLY RECOMMENDED IF YOU CAN. I PUT ONE ON ALL MY VEHICLES NOW.

PHIL

[Schwa]

My van wouldn't start the other morning when I had parked her on Burrard street near the bridge. There was lots of cranking but not a hint of firing, I thought I just didn't purge the veggie oil out of the system enough, usually about 10 seconds of cranking will overcome that problem, but it was also cranking a lot slower than normal as well... It was very cold, right before the snow hit and lots of wind coming up from the bridge, so that certainly played a part in it... gave it a good 30s of cranking, but no go and the battery was sounding tired... I went back inside for a while and warmed up. I was considering getting a ride to Costco for a new battery since it was in a bad position to be jump started and the battery is still Japanese, but when I went back outside to try starting the engine again I gave the pump on the fuel filter a few squeezes and noticed some fuel starting to ooze out of one of the hose-clamp connections. Tightened it up and pumped it again - another connection oozed, tightened that one and pumped some more until it was harder to pump. Tried starting it, but it was cranking too slowly, so I got my sister to come by and I took the battery out of the Delica and charged it with jumper cables on her vehicle for about 10 minutes, then put it back in the Delica and she fired up right away. So what I experienced was an air leak, probably caused by an extreme temperature change (vegtherm) and fuel line shrinkage, along with a less than happy battery. I do have an old battery warmer I could put under mine, but it wouldn't do much good downtown with nowhere to plug in. Normally 1-2 seconds of cranking is all that's needed to get her fired up, even on the coldest of days, so that's why I can probably get away with not replacing the battery just yet -- in the new year I'll be able to budget for that.

[Erebus]

Alright so i bought two brand new batteries with 500 cca each bought a month ago.

500 is really pathetically small. It shouldn't be any effort to get the 24 series batteries with at least 800+ each. You should see if you can return them and exchange for larger capacity. Makes HUGE difference.

[patty]

as stated earlier and in past battery posts it was said no more then 1000 cca is necessary, and that with a dual battery set up both battery cca add up. again i bought small because i was in a bind at the time and i couldnt find two batteries that would fit side by side. checked lordco, napa, canadian tire and wal mart. every one wa slow on stock due to the first cold snap of the year.
anyways iv been running the battery for two long to bring it back now, sure would if i could though. ill check the fuel lines for sure now.
thanks

[madmazda]

Just to let you know that two 500 cca batteries don't add up to 1000cca in the delica because they are wired up in parallel......it would however if they were wired up in series.... this would be bad because you'd up your voltage as well and cause a bad situation...... So I recomend getting a higher cca battery(s)..... and make sure everything is tight and try putting dielectric grease on all your fittings as this keep corossion from forming thus increasing the electricity's ability to flow.....

[loki]

Just to let you know that two 500 cca batteries don't add up to 1000cca in the delica because they are wired up in parallel......it would however if they were wired up in series.... this would be bad because you'd up your voltage as well and cause a bad situation...... So I recomend getting a higher cca battery(s)..... and make sure everything is tight and try putting dielectric grease on all your fittings as this keep corossion from forming thus increasing the electricity's ability to flow.....

sorry but wiring in series doubles volts and not amps, wiring in parallel doubles amps and not volts.

[Erebus]

try putting dielectric grease on all your fittings as this keep corossion from forming thus increasing the electricity's ability to flow.....

Many moons ago, I was told to put Vaseline on the terminals for the same reason. But I could never find out if Vaseline is an insulator or conductor. Can anyone tell me if that would be really good or really bad. (Note that I did so, and my car always started, so it can't be that bad.)

[jessef]

Or you can just throw in a group 34. same size as the 24 but loaded with CCA's

[patty]

interesting, the side mount terminals take up alot of space though? any one know the name off that company in van that buys used batteries?
im dead again, but this time its cozz i left the read gate light on:(

[madmazda]

thanks I always get that one mixed up....lol......

Just to let you know that two 500 cca batteries don't add up to 1000cca in the delica because they are wired up in parallel......it would however if they were wired up in series.... this would be bad because you'd up your voltage as well and cause a bad situation...... So I recomend getting a higher cca battery(s)..... and make sure everything is tight and try putting dielectric grease on all your fittings as this keep corossion from forming thus increasing the electricity's ability to flow.....

sorry but wiring in series doubles volts and not amps, wiring in parallel doubles amps and not volts.