Topic: Battery went down

[Soaring]

I haven't driven my '65 for a few weeks now. and when I went to start it today to go stretch its' legs, the battery was not up to snuff to start it.  I tried to charge it while in the car, but it wouldn't.  I took it out and am charging it on my workbench.  It seems to be charging, so tomorrow we'll see.  The Interstate battery is probably 10 years old, so maybe it is just tired.  Shit happens.   

[Tim175]

10 years? You got a hell of a lot of life out of that thing. Hopefully it will still work

[Soaring]

Yeah, I have always been an Interstate battery guy.  They are very reliable batteries. 

[holdover]

10 years, that is outstanding, I bet there isn't much lead left to convert in that battery, which makes me think about what we did years ago with old batteries, when new ones were really expensive. We would dump out the old acid then flush out the battery with tap water to try to remove the crud that was in the bottom of the case, after flushing it out a few times we would leave it upside down for a few hours then refill it with new acid, which was cheap, in most cases it would work well.

[Soaring]

I remember those days.  I left the battery on my workbench with the charger set at 2 amps all night, and when I put it back in "Ol Yeller" and started it, the engine almost flew out of the engine bay it was turning over so fast.    Since I hadn't driven her for a few weeks, the carburetor was dry, so it took a few revolutions and me pumping the foot feed rapidly to get her going, but she's back to normal now.  I used to have one of those little pocket sized trickle chargers that I would keep hooked up 24-7, but it bit the dust, so I just haven't gotten around to getting another one.  I guess I'll just have to 2 amp the battery every week or so to keep it up to snuff.   I told you guys these "Interstate" brand of batteries were tough.  Sears used to sell a really good battery, but it obviously wasn't made by Sears.  I forget the brand, but it had some deep cells pretty much like a marine battery.

[ouch1]

I have had my Optima "Red-top 34R" in my stang for 10 years now and have not had to get a jump since putting it in. My wife and I have even gone so far as to take my '66 to the drive in and not start it between movies, and it starts right up after the 2nd movie. And that is with an aftermarket CD desk, EQ, 2x platinum tweeters, 2x 4-way 6X9's, 350W sub, 2 farad cap, and an 8" sub-woofer. Our friends were right next to us and they turned off thier stereo since mmine sounded so much better than the stock one in thier '90 F150. LOLz

I have been thinking about mounting a couple in a jumper cart,and charing $5 a jump the next time we go to the drive in. I think I will make back the cost fairly quickly considering there are usually 10-15 cars with dead batterys after the 2nd movie is over. And the owners are scrambling to find a jump.

[Soaring]

Drive -in movie?   I havenen't been to one of those in 40 something years. 

[ouch1]

LOL We have one here in Silicon Valley. It is nice to go to when feeling nostalgic(sp). Plus IMO I have a better sound system in the car than most theaters do, and I don't have to worry about blocking peoples view when I goto the restroom.