The Car Battery Story

Our COLD spell is easing it's way down as far as Texas! I heard on the news they have snow and what for them, is real cold weather. They also have a power outage that affects thousands of homes, but officials were saying that it will take a couple of days before their crews can get out to fix that. Oh dear! They are having a rough time of it!

Well, this week our temperature have begun creeping up by about 2-4 degrees each day. Right now it is only -22 C. it may get even less cold by the afternoon. The forecast is for just -15 C tomorrow, and all the way up to 0 C on Sunday! Yippee! Spring is around the corner!

So what has been happening at my place? My Car battery has been the problem.

I recalled last week, about Tuesday, that the CAA Battery man that gave me a boost a couple of weeks before had said it would be wise to start the car and run it a few minutes at least once a week or the battery would drain down too low.

I went out to try starting the car. Yep, the battery was dead. So I plugged my long orange cord in from the house to the car. I tried again the next day. Hmm... The radio came on, but the car did not start. The battery made just a small moan.

On Wednesday my friend Verna advised on the phone that I should get a trickle charger like her husband has. That can keep the battery alive.

"Oh!" I said right away. "I have one of those! I remember Tom giving me his a number of years before he even got sick." So I went out that evening and checked in the trunk. Sure enough! I found this small blue metal box with cords attached and clamps at the end of the cords. I opened the hood, hoping to hook it up right away.

Oh-oh! I remembered that the battery for this car is in fact, situated underneath the back seat of the car. But the CAA battery man had understood and found some other posts to attach the clamps for his charger. Only... where were they? I had not paid enough attention.

I closed the hood and went back inside. I didn't need the car immediately, so it didn't seem fair to call the CAA for emergency service. But Gary would likely know. If no one else appeared to help me find the posts in the next day or two I would call Gary.

Well, I got busy with my indoor agendas. Then at noon on Saturday, Gary showed up at my door unannounced. I greeted him gladly and told him of my battery situation. He had plenty of experience with batteries and knew they could easily be wasted if not handled right.

Gary decided that the best plan was to get the battery itself out from under the back seat and bring it indoors, and the trickle charger too. This took him a while, so I went inside and made a late lunch for us. He brought in his tool box from the truck, and spread them on the mat in the kitchen to hunt for the right wrenches and sockets. He had to make several trips to the car but finally brought it in, and got the charger hooked up. He said to leave it alone and he'd be back by evening. After lunch he went to see his friend Tyler and ask for tester to gauge the amps in the battery.

He didn't come back until last evening evening. (He gets distracted if someone else needs his help, or he's having a good visit; reminds me of my Dad). But the battery was registering 13 amps when 12 was good, so he put it back into the car and plugged in the long orange cord again.

I went out after breakfast this morning to start the car and see if it was working. It started immediately! So now I'm planning a shopping and errands run for later this afternoon!

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