From: zebedee@PROBLEM_WITH_INEWS_DOMAIN_FILE (Username Supressed)
Subject: Re: Advice Needed
Newsgroups: alt.autos.mini
Date: 2 Jul 2000 23:09:30 GMT

You seem to have fallen for a very common misconception that a bigger
battery will let you use more electricity.....  Your 4 spotlamps, sound
system and other ongoing power consumption will not be cured by a larger
battery. It will simply last a little bit longer before it is flat.

Think of the battery as a bucket of water.
Your spotlamps etc are a steady leak from the bottom of the bucket.
Your alternator is the tap above the bucket filling it, ideallly keeping
it full.

And your starter motor just pulls out some electricity from the battery
to start the motor since the alternator cannot provide the required
electricity!.

No matter how big the bucket is, if the leak at the bottom loses more than
the tap adds, it will empty. No matter how big your battery is, if your
lights etc draw more current than your alternator provides, the battery
will slowly but surely empty.

And conversely, no matter how big the alternator and the load are, as long
as you turn off all the loads (lights etc) whenever you turn off the
alternator, you still only need a small battery to start a small motor.

My car has a bog standard battery and 1kW of lights. Yes, 1000 Watts of
high beam. And as long as I don't leave the lights on, my battery doesn't
go flat, because my alternator provides enough current when I am using the
lights.

So stick with a good brand of the standard battery and spend some money on
a bigger alternator. If you are in Australia, Bosch apparently now sell a
direct replacement for the standard Lucas units.

Graham.


Will (Tim@Hotmail.com) wrote:
: O.k my 76 Clubman needs a new battery and I need advice to what battery I
: should get because some you can buy are shitty. It has to be a heavy duty
: battery because I've got 4 spotlamps, a fat sound system and other
: electrical devices that need power. So please can some one tell me a make
: and a place to get a really good heavy duty battery for my mini.

: Cheers
: Will




--
  "As the radius of knowledge increases.....

                       So too does the circumference of ignorance"