Reply to thread

Help Support Chevy Spark EV Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Message

Once you get the 12V topped up, you could do a 'Cap Check' and see how long it will power the headlights and flashers while monitoring it with a digital multimeter.
It should take a long time to gradually drop to 10V. Don't take it lower than that.

That's where the 'RC' number comes from on car batteries. It's rated in minutes at 'a steady 20 Amp load down to 10.5 V'. (I think...)

But then, if you manually turn on the headlights without powering up the car will they 'Auto-turn off' to protect the 12V battery?
Your battery should not have discharged to 'dead'. Suspicion #1. Start shopping now.

Old school lead acid batteries can go bad quickly once they throw in the towel and on these little EV S-Boxes there is no warning because we never put a load on them by cranking an engine starter.
Sometimes they just suddenly die..... They are electro-chemical devices after all. They all die eventually.

<blockquote data-quote="NORTON" data-source="post: 20533" data-attributes="member: 626">Once you get the 12V topped up, you could do a &#039;Cap Check&#039; and see how long it will power the headlights and flashers while monitoring it with a digital multimeter. It should take a long time to gradually drop to 10V. Don&#039;t take it lower than that.That&#039;s where the &#039;RC&#039; number comes from on car batteries. It&#039;s rated in minutes at &#039;a steady 20 Amp load down to 10.5 V&#039;. (I think...)But then, if you manually turn on the headlights without powering up the car will they &#039;Auto-turn off&#039; to protect the 12V battery?Your battery should not have discharged to &#039;dead&#039;. Suspicion&nbsp; #1.&nbsp; Start shopping now.&nbsp; Old school lead acid batteries can go bad quickly once they throw in the towel and on these little EV S-Boxes there is no warning because we never put a load on them by cranking an engine starter.Sometimes they just suddenly die..... They are electro-chemical devices after all. They all die eventually.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="NORTON, post: 20533, member: 626"] Once you get the 12V topped up, you could do a 'Cap Check' and see how long it will power the headlights and flashers while monitoring it with a digital multimeter. It should take a long time to gradually drop to 10V. Don't take it lower than that. That's where the 'RC' number comes from on car batteries. It's rated in minutes at 'a steady 20 Amp load down to 10.5 V'. (I think...) But then, if you manually turn on the headlights without powering up the car will they 'Auto-turn off' to protect the 12V battery? Your battery should not have discharged to 'dead'. Suspicion #1. Start shopping now. Old school lead acid batteries can go bad quickly once they throw in the towel and on these little EV S-Boxes there is no warning because we never put a load on them by cranking an engine starter. Sometimes they just suddenly die..... They are electro-chemical devices after all. They all die eventually. [/QUOTE]

Verification