Temperature really does make a difference. I used to have a chart that showed temp verses capacity but it's buried on my hard drive somewhere. Bottom line - at freezing, you've lost 20% of your battery capacity and the capacity drops as the temperature drops further down. More often than not, with a diesel engine you can do more good with a battery heater than a block heater because you keep the RPMs up and supply more current to the glow plugs. The other answer is to buy the correct battery!!! I've lost count of the times I've gone over to friends with non-starting Mercedes only to find that they have a little battery installed - the one recommended by Wally-World. Some more than once.....
Here's an excerpt from one web site: Temperature Effects on Batteries Battery capacity (how many amp-hours it can hold) is reduced as temperature goes down, and increased as temperature goes up. This is why your car battery dies on a cold winter morning, even though it worked fine the previous afternoon. If your batteries spend part of the year shivering in the cold, the reduced capacity has to be taken into account when sizing the system batteries. The standard rating for batteries is at room temperature - 25 degrees C (about 77 F). At approximately -22 degrees F (-27 C), battery AH capacity drops to 50%. At freezing, capacity is reduced by 20%. Capacity is increased at higher temperatures - at 122 degrees F, battery capacity would be about 12% higher. And my source: http://www.rajkuntwar.com/html/tellmehow/batterybasics.html Thanks, Tom Hargrave www.kegkits.com 256-656-1924 -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Loren Faeth Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 7:58 AM To: Mercedes Discussion List Subject: Re: [MBZ] Was 300E oil, now Batteries and cold When I was in college, I'd keep the battery for my 190Dc inside during the winter. When I needed the car, I'd carry the warm battery out and put it in the car. It helped! At 07:36 AM 11/4/2008, you wrote: >I don't know if they are still available but back when I lived in the cold >North (NY State), we used to install a heater under our car batteries in the >winter. The heater was a mat that sat on the battery tray & the battery sat >on top of the mat. The heater plugged into AC power through an extension >cord. This made a bigger difference than a block heater because a car >battery looses a lot of its capacity as the temperature drops. > >Thanks, >Tom Hargrave >www.kegkits.com >256-656-1924 > >-----Original Message----- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >On Behalf Of Curt Raymond >Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 7:28 AM >To: Mercedes Discussion List; [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: Re: [MBZ] 300E oil question (I almost hate to ask this!) > >At one point when I was living in an apartment with my 240D I'd threatened >to put dual batteries in, theres space under the hood, and put 24v to the >starter for those really cold mornings. Marshall FREAKED... > >He did send me a message once that he liked my battery in the trunk to power >an inverter and thus the block heater... > >-Curt > >--- On Tue, 11/4/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Re: [MBZ] 300E oil question (I almost hate to ask this!) >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], "Mercedes Discussion List" <mercedes@okiebenz.com> >Date: Tuesday, November 4, 2008, 7:26 AM > >My 5hp snow blower convinced me of the goodness of Mobile1. >At 0° it was very difficult to pull start when cold. Once warmed it would >start right up. >I put in Mobile1, Always starts easy. >That's why I ran Delvac1 in my 300SDL for about 100Kmi. >I use Mobile1 in my HHR in respect of it's 10Kmi oil change cycle. >In my PowerChoke, I use Rotella, cheap and starts fine with big duel >batteries. > >Pete > > > -------------- Original message ---------------------- >From: Curt Raymond <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > I've got an old White lawnmower on the farm thats mowed a million >miles and was > > getting really hard to start. Dad blew a rod in our "good" >lawnmower and I had > > to push the old white back into service. I changed it to M1 as a matter of > > > course since I put it in everything. After running for a couple hours the >dammed > > thing started better than it had in years and had noticably more power. I >was > > floored. > > > > >_______________________________________ >http://www.okiebenz.com >For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ >For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG. >Version: 7.5.549 / Virus Database: 270.8.6/1766 - Release Date: 11/4/2008 >8:26 AM > > >No virus found in this outgoing message. >Checked by AVG. >Version: 7.5.549 / Virus Database: 270.8.6/1766 - Release Date: 11/4/2008 >8:26 AM > > > >_______________________________________ >http://www.okiebenz.com >For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ >For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com Loren Faeth _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.549 / Virus Database: 270.8.6/1766 - Release Date: 11/4/2008 8:26 AM No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.549 / Virus Database: 270.8.6/1766 - Release Date: 11/4/2008 8:26 AM _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
