With the A/C going and the traffic standing still, my battery meter dropped down to 1 and 2 bars. This gave rise to a question that hadn't occurred to me....can the battery lose all its power and if so, what happens then. I sat there in heavy traffic on a hot afternoon wondering about turning off the a/c, etc. to conserve battery power. Should I have "gunned" the engine? Fortunately, the accident ahead of me cleared and I never had to find out if my concrn was a valid one. But next time.......? Just curious
I've had that happen a couple times in similar circumstances. Don't worry about it, once the battery gets to a certain state the engine will kick on to charge it up. The guage we see isn't really from 0-100% of the battery state of charge, it's something like 40-80%. So it wasn't really as low as you thought.
As long as you DON'T leave it in neutral, it'll take care of itself. The engine will come on to recharge around 2 bars (methinks it's the border between 2 bars and 1 bar... IOW, just before it drops to 1 bar, the engine will come on to recharge).
Thanks for the info and reassurance...I guess i was just about at that point when traffic began to move.
And don't shut off the A/C. The battery system uses cabin air to cool itself. Shutting off the A/C on a hot day can hurt, not help, fuel economy.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(richard schumacher @ Jul 25 2007, 04:31 PM) [snapback]484988[/snapback]</div> I second that! The batteries like to be cool on hot days and warm on cold days. So be comfortable.
