Doubling Up On The Battery

Life Cars & Motorcycles
1

1998 (IIRC) Honda Accord.

Battery it came with won’t charge above 9V. I don’t want to buy a new one (at least not yet) because it isn’t my car and it has other potential issues that need test driving to evaluate.

I have 2 smaller (re) tired ex-Skywing batteries which won’t both fit in the (passenger side) battery box. The alternator is on the other side of the engine compartment. Removing an L-shaped brace (3 bolts) probably weakened the wing a bit but gave me a big enough flat inner-wing surface to take the second battery, wired + to the alternator B post right next to it, and – to a 10mm bolt on an engine mounting which itself already had an earth wire running to the wing. This battery is tied down with rope, using a chopstick as a Spanish Windlass handle.

Dash lights up with either battery used alone. Havn’t tried to start it yet.

Potential issues include:

SS Jubilee clips with a coil of wire inside them as battery clamps, since the posts are smaller. These may not make a good enough connection.

Don’t like that earth much and may try and arrange something heftier.

Weak batteries (though I could jump start with the Skywing live battery)

Second battery is a bit uncomfortably close to the aircon belt but I could take that off.

Have I missed any obvious gotchas?

2

Positive of the second battery should ideally be on the starter motor, not the alternator. I shouldn’t have thought it makes that much of a difference though as it’s all connected. You are assuming the rest of the grounds and wiring are in good shape though. Just keep an eye out for smoking/red hot grounds.

9V with a second battery in parallel might not be enough for the coil packs to generate a strong enough spark though, and some relays/capacitors might not function correctly.

3

I’m using two ex-Skywing batteries which both have 12 and a bit volts but not much capacity, and one of them seems to have a fairly high self-discharge rate.

Havn’t tried using the 9V and probably wont bother. Got it started on second attempt using jump leads off the Skywing battery and jumpering bat+ direct to starter solenoid (so ignition switch resistance MIGHT be a factor). It wouldn’t quite restart on the key without the jump leads, even after warming up for 10 mins or so.

Since disconnecting jump leads while the engine is running might bugger up the alternator, I’ll need to improve contacts a bit, and might have to install the “live” Skywing battery in place of the weaker retired one

https://www.driveaccord.net/attachments/img_3754-jpg.527763/

https://www.driveaccord.net/attachments/img_3753-jpg.527764/

4

For those readers whom the suspense has not already killed, The Final Installment.

Owner got tired of me messing around with it and took it back, probably to his “mechanic friend” to get a new battery installed. (All Taiwanese seem to have “mechanic friends” who they well-meaningly but irritatingly try and hook you up with as soon as you lift a bonnet)

Fair enough, since I’m not going to buy the car, though losing my two old batteries and the extra cabling (which came from a mysteriously engineless Toyota Camry abandoned on campus) was mildly annoying…

My understanding is its been untaxed for too long and can’t now be re-registered anyway, but that might be incorrect. Its very hard to get straight consistent answers from the Taiwan DMV on such questions, especially if you don’t speak Mandarin.

His problem is he owes more back tax on it than its disposal value, so I dunno what he’s planning to do with it.

Perhaps the most comfortable car I’ve driven, but not really my kind of thing, I wasn’t going to scrap the Skywing, girlfriend didn’t want it, and it had a few faults, though nothing major AFAIK

Check engine light with an Insufficient EGR flow flashing light code. This didn’t respond to a BIG cleaning of the EGR path, which was completely clogged

Generally not much rust but it has two matching corrosion holes in the sills near the rear jacking points. I applied a bit of rust treatment but the sills should probably have been sprayed internally.

Brake fluid was liquid rust. Replaced and flushed, though the fluid reservoir has A LOT of pockets and was hard to clean completely.

Rear drivers side brake hose seemed to be collapsed (wouldn’t flush) and should be replaced. Havn’t had a chance to test drive it since but I’d expect the brake either won’t work or will bind.

Rusty brake disks cleaned. Rims and hubs rust treated.

Sun damaged paintwork

Two tyres with slow leaks

Not much IOW. Would be a shame to scrap it.

I’ll give the owner the list when I see him but he won’t be interested. I also still have the wing-reinforcing bracket I removed, probably ditto.

So here endeth my Honda Accord Experience. Mildly interesting, but overall a bit of a waste of time.

5

What’s the problem with buying a new battery? They are not expensive.

6

It costs money.

Not my car. Honda one probably IS expensive (to me, anyway, though I havn;t priced one) since its quite big, and it wouldn’t fit in the Skywing,.

Plus I was mildly curious to see if the dual battery thing could be done.