Replies to post #3553 on Cars, etc. (GEARHEAD)

[Id_Jit]

Sheesh Bob, I hope that 8 Gallons was a typo… 8 Quarts? Even that is a lot.
I believe that inordinate water consumption of a lead-acid battery is due to overcharging and/or high heat.

Do you own a digital VOM (Volt Ohm Meter)?
If not, get one!.. Even a cheap one ($20.00 or less) is good enough for everyday use. One caveat… Get one that can measure current up to 10 Amps or so. That spec. isn’t important for this problem, but likely will come in handy in the future for other stuff.

Voltage measurements here are directly on the battery posts, not the terminals.


Shorted Cell?

After your battery bank has sat for a day, give or take, not being charged, measure the Voltage output or across any one battery. You should measure 12.7 Volts or so. If you measure 10.5 Volts or so or lower, one (or more) battery has a shorted cell. If this is the case, the battery with the shorted cell is preventing the charging of the other batteries or discharging them when the charging Voltage/current is removed.

If this Voltage indicates a battery with a shorted cell, then there’s some work to do to isolate the bad one(s). Disconnect the + Voltage leads from all the batteries. Do this very carefully, keeping the wiring separated.
A SHORT CIRCUIT IS *NOT* AN OPTION HERE!

Put a small (10 Amps or less) charger on a battery for say 5 ~ 10 minutes.
Remove the charger and measure the Voltage of the battery. Write down the Voltage. If around 12.7 Volts +/- it’s likely OK. If around 10.x Volts or lower, it may have a shorted cell.
Repeat for the other batteries.
After a few hours, go back and read the Voltages of the batteries again. Write them down. Now you have a beginning of a log of the Voltages.

Isolate any battery that didn’t pop up to the 12.x Voltage range under the low current charging for further testing. Think probably toast here. Note the batteries that dropped back to 10.x Volts after a few hours. Possibly more toast.

For the batteries that were in the 12.x Volt range, recharge each of them with a 2 Amp charger for a day or two. They might be OK; damaged due to their lack of water, but still sorta usable.


Salvage at best:
This process is to hopefully burn off an internal battery short.
For any battery that was in the 10.x Volt range, charge them with your 40 Amp charger while monitoring the Voltage of the battery. If the Voltage soon pops to 12.x Volts or higher, Then charge it for an hour and let it sit for a day or so.
If it stays in the 10.x Volt range for a minute, or monitoring after charging, the Voltage drops back to this range, butter the toast.

There is another extreme method to try, but even the short term outcome is not potentionally good.

Id

[OldAIMGuy]

Hi Bob, I was at Mid-Ohio this weekend and it should be on your list of tracks to drive some time. I first raced there 16 years ago and it is still very much a treat to drive. More like a roller coaster than many of our race tracks, it continually loads and unloads suspension and really works the vehicle dynamics.

Mid-Ohio has 14 turns, just like Road America, but it also is only 2.2 miles long instead of 4. So, imagine packing the same number of turns and elevation change into a track half as long! It's one of the best rhythm tracks ever. Even as short as it is, it allows me to fully exercise 4th gear.

The best lap times I had at M-O in my Jag and in my A-H Sprite were about 2:00 with neither car having an advantage over the other in that regard. The difference was that in the Sprite I could drive it two abreast through many of the turns in the small bore classes. The 2900# Jag required more room on the track!

Even on street compound tires the FFR Cobra managed a 1:51+ as it handles about like the Sprite and weighs about the midpoint between the Sprite and Jag. The FFR Cobras that were there for competition and on 275/40-17 Kumho Victoracer 710s were able to run between 5 and 10 seconds a lap faster than me. That fits well with what I remember about the Sprite. It was 6 seconds a lap faster on race Hoosiers than on BFG Radial TAs with street compound. So, if I ever want to go faster, I guess I could always buy some race tires!!!

I'm glad to hear the new car is being exercised well and is performing up to your expectations. I'd guess that race rubber and higher torque brake pads will make a huge difference. You might want to do one at a time to see how much is gained by each. I'd do the brakes first, personally. You'll still be limited by the adhesion of the tires in the corners and you'll also be limited on threshold braking. But you'll not have any fade issues and should be able to brake a little later. When you switch to race rubber then you'll see the effect. Your best times on the race rubber then can be used as a judgement for when they are geing "tired" so to speak! When they start to show signs of work hardening and too many heat cycles, your lap times will start to fade.

Sorry to hear those batteries have gone off already. Hate to think of the replacement bill. I have a bad alternator on the Jag so haven't been driving. It's stuck on full output. Maybe I should send it to you for your batteries!!!

Best regards, Tom