Battery Creep. Humor, depression and success.

[North American Sojourner]

Absolutely awesome story! Thank you for the laugh and bit of education!

Thanks Shahn. I appreciate that.
[Zim

 

[North American Sojourner]

I couldn't get my 82 Jeep CJ8 started after installing a new motor. Cleaned the +/- battery terminals, bought and installed a new solenoid, had the starter tested, drank several beers, howled at the moon...still no starting. My buddy walked in, took one look and suggested (among other things that I remove my head...) I clean the new paint out of the ground cable mounting hole in the new engine. Holy crap, a miracle!!! It started. So yes, clean grounds are important.

"Howled at the Mood." I should have tried that. LOL. I actually appreciate guys that can walk in and solve a problem like that. It's fun and educating too.
Zim

 

[North American Sojourner]

A humorous and educational journey with a happy ending. Snowflake washers saved the day! Thank you for the laughs.
Now if you have an issue with camera lens creep, that I can remedy…

Now since that's what I do the most now, tell me about that. Love photography.
Zim

 

[North American Sojourner]

The most common cause of a battery that drains fast on a laptop is an old battery that needs replacing. Also, your battery could drain quickly when running resource-heavy programs or when the battery settings are not optimized. Peripherals can also contribute to this problem.

Yes. So what I did with my battery was assume. LOL. I did a "drive by" on my battery instead of testing it. I mean after all, what could go wrong? Ahahahahahahahahahahha
Zim

 

[ZombieCat]

A humorous and educational journey with a happy ending. Snowflake washers saved the day! Thank you for the laughs.
Now if you have an issue with camera lens creep, that I can remedy…

Now since that's what I do the most now, tell me about that. Love photography.
Zim

If you have a DSLR camera and use extendable zoom lenses, particularly heavy ones, the mechanics holding the lens in place can loosen. This results in the lens extending/opening while you’re carrying the assembled camera unit. It’s annoying because the whole thing lengthens, becoming cumbersome. It also exposes your lens unit to more dust. It’s called lens creep. Since I hike a LOT in dirty environments with my camera at the ready, it’s an issue.
There’s not an easy way to tighten it, so I picked up the trick of using a wide rubber band designed to hold the lens in place. They’re inexpensive and available on Amazon.

 

[North American Sojourner]

If you have a DSLR camera and use extendable zoom lenses, particularly heavy ones, the mechanics holding the lens in place can loosen. This results in the lens extending/opening while you’re carrying the assembled camera unit. It’s annoying because the whole thing lengthens, becoming cumbersome. It also exposes your lens unit to more dust. It’s called lens creep. Since I hike a LOT in dirty environments with my camera at the ready, it’s an issue.
There’s not an easy way to tighten it, so I picked up the trick of using a wide rubber band designed to hold the lens in place. They’re inexpensive and available on Amazon.

Cool. Thanks for that tip. I have one zoom for now and considering a 200-600 soon.
Zim

 

[ZombieCat]

If you have a DSLR camera and use extendable zoom lenses, particularly heavy ones, the mechanics holding the lens in place can loosen. This results in the lens extending/opening while you’re carrying the assembled camera unit. It’s annoying because the whole thing lengthens, becoming cumbersome. It also exposes your lens unit to more dust. It’s called lens creep. Since I hike a LOT in dirty environments with my camera at the ready, it’s an issue.
There’s not an easy way to tighten it, so I picked up the trick of using a wide rubber band designed to hold the lens in place. They’re inexpensive and available on Amazon.

Cool. Thanks for that tip. I have one zoom for now and considering a 200-600 soon.
Zim

That’s a sweet lens! The heaviest I’ll hike with is my 100-400mm. I have an SLR, making that combo about 5.5 lbs. Add a wide angle for landscapes, field cleaning kit, spare batteries, filters, water, food, small med kit, clothing, yadda, yadda - and my day pack pushes 20 lbs. Oh, the price we pay for our vices, huh?

 

[ZombieCat]

I’d prefer to use a 600mm lens with a tripod. Bet you’ll get some great shots! I may step up to that level one day. The picture below is with the 400mm. The details are super sharp, good glass is worth the $$$.

 

[Two Sheds]

So thought I'd drop some lines on a creepy subject that many of us will be faced with sometime in their life.
This is not about a guy in a alley with a battery. LOL

I retired from the worlds largest canoe club in 2003 and started working on cars and trucks. When I got old I moved into the front office as a service advisor and manager and when I got smart, I went and sold parts. LOL


A week ago I was finishing a winch install on my F250. I fabricated a nice little distribution panel for the winch wiring, and a small fuse box for some lights and other accessories. I had the truck battery disconnected while doing all this work as I've learned over the years things happen, sometimes bad things.
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View attachment 230689
When I finished, I connected the positive cable to the positive battery post, and then the negative battery cable to the negative battery post. The under-hood light came on which was my signal we had power to the vehicle.
I jumped into the driver seat, slammed the key into the go plug and turned it to get going.
And then the fight started.
Nothing. Everything went black. No power, no noise, no bleeding, nadda.
I jump out of the truck, run around to the battery side of the truck and start looking for fire, smoke, blood, dead mice or physical scars of a disaster.
Nothing.
I quickly disconnect the negative cable and start looking at things that may have caused the most horrible incident in my automotive career. A car that would not start. I was devastated.
Then I discovered this.
View attachment 230690
BATTERY CREEP!!!!!!!...............NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So no big deal, cut off the positive terminal, get out the tools and reconstruct the positive side of the harness going to the alternator/starter and power distribution box or "fuse box"
The tools required to do this..................all of them.
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Are we excited yet???

I was not. So rebuilt the the two pos leads and reconnected and still nothing. I start thinking I need to check resistance from the battery to the starter and alternator.
So that happens
View attachment 230695
Everything was good.
I went back and checked the circuit breaker/master fuse below the battery and it looked like garbage so I completely disassembled the part and cleaned all the contact surfaces and put it back together. This time I bypassed the silly twisted up wire that would send panic attacks to my power probe and ohm meter. It looked like ass too.
View attachment 230696 View attachment 230697 View attachment 230698
Reconnected the entire system and nothing.
Not a damn thing.
I am convinced its my circuit breaker that is bad. Power is not getting from the battery to the good parts.
So I drive 29 minutes to my buddies shop and ask him to verify my finding that this part is bad, and he did. Very sketchy. I'm screwed. this part does not exist in the entire Country, or world. I know. I'm a parts guy.
I'm ASE certified A4-C1-P2. I'm a walking bad ass. LMAO.
I get free coffee in the lobby.

I start crying. I have burned up my truck over a $300 cheapass winch.

I take two days off and start thinking of jumping off........................the steps or something that won't break a hip.

My buddy Adam calls and ask how I'm doing. He has heard the rumors. I tell him I'm considering Heroin. He says did you check the battery?

What?

Did you check the battery?

Adam, I'm ASE A4-C1-P2. The battery is a 2020 Interstate 1000CCA bad to the bone, clean, polished black and capable of chucking that starter into the yard dragging the alternator behind it.

Did you check it?

Yeah it's a little low on voltage now after all the non starts.

Charge it and let me know. See ya.

So I pull the battery, and grab my old 65 Series from 2015 and my golf clubs. I need to hit something hard several times and this is a good reason.
Head to my former employer Autozone. Ask the boss to charge it and test it, I'll be on the course. He sends me a text while I'm hitting an approach shot into the 7th hole, a beautiful par 4, 398 yards.

The Battery is Bad

What?

The Battery is Bad

I'd like to stop here and explain some things. I'm a battery expert. I've charged, installed, blown up, caught on fire, thrown, sold and warrantied more batteries than most men have put on socks.
I suffered a heart attack wrapping a pallet of batteries at the store I worked at in 2016.
I know batteries........LMAO.

My Boss at KIA told me you can't fix anything unless you know how it works. I've lived by this rule for many years. I failed to exercise good diag skills for my little project. I failed to test the battery knowing it was a two year battery and it was two years old.
I failed to understand how things work.

$165 later, I'm a happy man. Truck starts, drives, plays music and will eventually take me to beautiful places in the Country.

Some foot notes;
Battery creep is corrosion that may not be visible at the terminal end of a cable, but can be present at the middle of a cable unseen by the eye because it's wrapped in an insulator.
Grounds are more important than anything else. Continuity is everything and if the ground is trash, you don't have continuity.
Put snow flake washers under grounds. Grounds suck even when put on at the factory. Ten years later they will suck even more.
View attachment 230702

That's all I got. Hope you have a nice day and enjoyed the post.
I hated every minute. LOL
Zim

 

[velo47]

this story reminds me of every project I do on my rigs!

 

[North American Sojourner]

this story reminds me of every project I do on my rigs!

I have learned to laugh at myself...............alot. Ahahahahahha
Zim

 

[OcoeeG]

Bravo sir! Thanks for the laugh! We need more posts like this around here!