I have a battery cut-off switch installed in my car. I just turn the switch on after a month and the car fires right up like i just put it in storage the day before. I have never removed the battery out of any of my cars through out the years that i have stored them over the winter and never had any problems starting the car in the spring, except for one car because the battery needed replacement before i stored it. All of my cars were stored in a non-heated garage. Throw a battery cut-off switch on your car and call it a day. Mark V On Tuesday, March 16, 2004, at 10:31 AM, Rod Dillman wrote: > David, Is there any downside (to the car) in removing the battery > from the DMC and storing the battery as you suggest during the winter > months? > > David Teitelbaum <jtrealty@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Doing a cranking test (using the starter as a load test) is a quick > and "dirty" test. It is dependant on too many variables though like a > bad starter, dirty or loose connections, low compression, to name a > few. The light test is a little better but can be meaningless if you > take the results from another kind of car and compare them to the > Delorean. It is not difficult to have a battery load tested. First > charge it up slowly ( 2-5 amps for 2 days). Next take it to Sears or > any large chain and they will test it on a load tester for free. They > do this to try to sell you a new battery. In most cases if you bring > an old battery in and suspect it to be bad it probably is. Don't waste > testing anything over 5 years old. The "dirty little secret" in > batteries is that although you can still use a battery after it is 5 > years old it generally has less than 50% of it's life left. This means > there is no reserve and should be replaced. A battery cannot be > properly load tested if it is less than 1/2 charged or has less than > 50% capacity. Batteries in cars that are not used regularly age even > faster because of the deeper discharge cycles they see by usually > being allowed to go dead over the winter for extended periods of time. > I keep batteries on my cars healthy by removing them from the cars, > placing on a wooden surface, and charging them with a trickle (float) > charger 1 day every month when the car is not in use. Even with that > care 5-6 years is pushing it. An alternator that either doesn't keep a > battery fully charged or one that overcharges a battery will kill the > battery faster. A little known fact is that you can have an alternator > with a blown diode or 2 that still charges the battery. This is very > bad though because not only is the alternator not able to fully charge > the battery but it is now impressing an A/C voltage on the battery and > that will kill the battery quicker than sh-t. It is just good practice > to check the ENTIRE charging system when you change a battery so you > know the new battery will get to live a long time. > David Teitelbaum > vin 10757 > > > > -- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "John Hervey" wrote: >> Dave, Using the starter as a load is smart way of checking the > battery. Here >> is some additional information from a local GM expert that writes > the books >> on battery and charging systems and teaches around the country. >> I took his 1/2 day course and it was wonderful. >> > > > > > > To address comments privately to the moderating team, please address: > moderators@xxxxxxxxxxx > > For more info on the list, tech articles, cars for sale see > www.dmcnews.com > > To search the archives or view files, log in at > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > Do you Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Mail - More reliable, more storage, less spam > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > To address comments privately to the moderating team, please address: > moderators@xxxxxxxxxxx > > For more info on the list, tech articles, cars for sale see > www.dmcnews.com > > To search the archives or view files, log in at > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > Come see all of my Photo's at my Website's http://photos.yahoo.com/snextime http://www.exoticrides.com/galleries/showgallery.php?ppuser=57 To address comments privately to the moderating team, please address: moderators@xxxxxxxxxxx For more info on the list, tech articles, cars for sale see www.dmcnews.com To search the archives or view files, log in at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: dmcnews-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/