Battery question...

[Jamie]

I have been lurking around here for quite a while. This will be my second post. Thanks in advance for all the help.

Anyway.... I have been experiencing some electrical problems as of late with my 94. It all started when the manual high idle control the previous owner had retrofitted failed for me. The set up loosely resembles the way the diagram in the tech section recommends.

I now have a question regarding batteries. It is quite cold here this weekend, - 35 degrees celsius!! I had the batteries on a trickle charge all weekend, and the block heater energized for the weekend. I took the batteries out of the truck this evening and load tested the, well both of them failed. The batteries appear to be relatively new and had worked perfectly up to this point.

My question is this.... What can cause two batteries to fail simultaneously? No the batteries had not been frozen and yes I did check the levels. At no point did I take them completely down.

Any input is appreciated.

 

[pat_da_man]

what kind of batteries? with that type of cold i would expect some possible problems but i'm no expert. the walmart batts i originally bought for my truck cause they were cheap, sucked. now have different ones which give me way more power.

 

[Jamie]

The batteries are one thousand cranking amp exide batteries. I am wondering what could cause them to fail simultaneoulsy with little or no warning. Batteries typically fail gradually rather than acutely.

 

[suv7734]

Jamie,

You indicated that you had a trickle charger no? Was there anything in the truck drawing any juice while they were charging especially given some of the other problems you've been having? With a trickle charger (usually about 2A) any draw may have been enough to stop or slow the battery charge. Also if one of the batteries is 'shot' then it could affect the charging rate of both if they are connected together. Similarly if you replace one battery in a two battery system it is recommended to replace both so one isn't drawing down/off the other. Can you find a date tag on the batteries? They are usually required for warranty and have the little pop off circles to indicate month and year.