Re: Battery education

["James H. Nazarian, Ph.D." <microdoc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Tpcutter@xxxxxxx wrote:

> In a message dated 12/17/03 6:22:11 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> ABSDoug2@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:
>   Ok, all this battery talk has me still wondering; why is there a 6A/V
> option on my charger?
> Because some vehicles, notably a few garden tractors and off-road
> motorcycles, use 6 Volt systems.

A number of older cars including many British cars like MGA's and MGB's
were equipped with a pair of 6-volt batteries connected in series. For that
reason, some car collectors still utilize the 6 volt setting found on some
battery chargers. The most widely accepted rationale for this dual battery
setup was to distribute weight more evenly on the chassis. One battery was
located behind the driver seat, the other behind the passenger seat in a
compartment just forward of the rear axle. In reality what this all
accomplished was to double the number of cable connections between the
starter and the batteries, thus increasing the opportunities for voltage
losses and bad connections between the rear mounted batteries and the front
mounted engine. Most MG owners who actually expect to be able to start and
drive their cars have converted them to a single 12 volt battery.

I have heard that the engineer who designed this clever configuration later
went to work for BMW after MG production ceased in 1979. His initial
assignment included choosing the locations for the oilhead's battery.  =8^O

Yep. That's what I heard!!!  ;^))

Jim
microdoc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
'99 R1100RT '98 R1200C
BMW MOA, RA, ABC

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