Good to know that a frozen discharged battery isn't necessarily toast. Sent from my iPhone
On Feb 8, 2010, at 10:52 AM, Bob Rentfro <[email protected]> wrote: I've always had good luck with Duralast batteries. Out here, it's the heat that cooks them. I have never had one last less that 6 years in any of my diesels. Bob R On Mon, Feb 8, 2010 at 8:48 AM, Mitch Haley <[email protected]> wrote: Last week, I decided my 300SD's battery was overdue for its semi-annual maintenance, since it had been about 8 months since I last started the car. I went out to the barn to fetch the battery, and found both cables connected to it. Oops. Took it inside, found it to be reading about 3 volts. Not too surprising for a 65 amp hour battery that had been hooked up to a 20mA clock since May or June. Tried to charge it, nothing much happened. Tried two chargers in series, got 290mA at 25V, even a sulfated battery draws better than that. Pulled a cap off, found the cells full of ice. Oh, yeah, discharged batteries freeze at 30 degrees or so, and we've been seeing a lot of 'climate change'. Let it thaw for a couple of days, after which it was willing to draw about 1/2 amp at 16v. 14 hours and about 90-95 Amp-hours later, it was fully charged. I let it sit overnight, and it still read 12.7 volts in the morning. Everything looked clean inside when I had the caps off after the ice melted. As near as I can tell, its in very good condition, takes a high capacity charge and holds it. This battery bears a July 2003 date stamp, I believe I bought it in September 2003. This is the 2nd time I've flattened it, and it has received more than its share of neglect because I haven't driven that car on the road since about 2004. It's the standard Duralast from Autozone, the one that cost $59.99 in 2003 and now costs about $95. I'm glad I paid $60 for the Autozone cheapie instead of $110 for the MBZ battery or $100 for the Interstate Megatron. Mitch. _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
