Monday, March 15, 2010

You ever have one of those days



You plan out a day to get a bunch of things done and nothing seems to go right. There was a time many years back that I would go ballistic from a minor set back. What thick skins we develop with age. Was going to pop down to the store on Saturday for the weeks provisions. Got in my car, turned the key and nothing. Dead battery. Oookey dokey not to let a minor thing like that stop me I keep a jumper battery in the closet. Gee and I never was a boy scout either. Dusted off the battery checked it for juice and it too was dead. Ooo kay. Plugged it in and waited and then remembered that it too would take a good 16 hours to full charge. No biggy I'll just wait for tomorrow.

Next morning the green light is glowing brightly on the rescue battery. I go out hook it up and not even a complete revolution. Must have a bad connection. Move clamps. Move clamps some more. Nothing. Okay back to house to pull out the repair manual. Ball joints, balancing, battery, there it is. Safety precautions, cleaning terminals and types of batteries. Vehicle may have a sealed battery with hydrometer "eye" indicating power level. So my battery has eyes? Okay, hope it didn't see me run that red light last week. And speaking of red lights that's what the eye was - red. Knowing that it was a sealed battery I know when they give up the ghost that's it. Finished, kaput. To make a short story long had a friend run me up to the auto parts store and of course they didn't have the battery I wanted but I found one that would work and all was well. Popped it in when I got home and was off to do errands.


Keep your drums upright and your batteries charged.

8 comments:

BBC said...

Got in my car, turned the key and nothing. Dead battery. Oookey dokey not to let a minor thing like that stop me I keep a jumper battery in the closet.

If you are going to keep a jumper battery in the closet I hope it's a deep cycle battery, with a trickle charger on it.

I suggest that you buy a good battery charger and store it as it will last for many years.

You can get a good one that puts out a 200 amp boost for about a hundred bucks. It'll start your car in about two minutes.

pygalgia said...

You have my sympathy,
but...
I've lived car-free since '96, and it feels good.
Cars break down, and I don't need the aggravation.

Demeur said...

Billy there is a point when a battery is finished. I forgot to mention by the looks of it this was the original battery.

Py how do you get your boats to the river?

BBC said...

Py how do you get your boats to the river?

Bums rides of course. Hell, he lives in Flagstaff, you ever been to Flagstaff?

Not a hell of a lot of any kind of boating there. They go to other areas for their boating.

Randal Graves said...

I used to have this problem all the time until I realized that a 9-volt isn't powerful enough.

amadmike1 said...

I hate all things car repair. I am presently driving a Toyota 4-Runner that has 85K miles and the original battery. I bought one of those portable battery charger thingies just in case :-)

pygalgia said...

My good buddy Sweaterman (who rarely posts to the blog) has an SUV that he rarely uses. I maintain it for him, and use it when I need it. I've also rented trucks when I need to.
So BBC is essentially correct.

pygalgia said...

Added: I also store my boat and gear in his garage, as I live in a tiny downtown apartment, and he has a huge garage.
Also, other people are willing to drive when they get the chance to go on the trips.