Automobile Troubles and How to Remedy Them; A Practical Book for Automobile Owners, Drivers, Repairmen, Intending Purchasers, and All Those Interested, Directly or Indirectly, in Automobiles (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1909. Excerpt: ... tery. If the two readings differ, internal resistance has been set up, probably due to a faulty connection on the bridge piece which connects the negative pole of one cell with the positive pole of the other. This can generally be ascertained by attempting to move the bridge piece relatively to the cell, and if it is not quite rigid, it may be taken for granted that good metallic connection is not being made. Each fully charged cell should give off a voltage of 2.2, and the resultant voltage should be at least 4.4. In charging, the golden rule is--charge slowly, uniformly, and at frequent intervals. Fast charging leads to buckling and short circuiting of the plates. Slow charging at frequent intervals, before the voltage has dropped too low, improves a battery. It is, therefore, advisable to keep two batteries, and alternate them frequently, charging up the one not in use, while the one in use is being drawn upon. As regards the running out of either a dry battery or an accumulator, in case a fully-charged spare one is not carried, and sufficient voltage cannot be obtained to run the engine, it is often possible to run on two run-out accumulators each of 4 volt capacity if they are coupled up in series; that is to say, the switch should be disconnected and the wires from each pole of the switch should be connected together so as to give a complete circuit. The ground wire should be connected to the negative terminal of one accumulator; the positive terminal of this accumulator should be connected to the negative terminal of the other, and the positive terminal of the second accumulator should be connected direct to the electric ignition mechanism. In this way, an increased voltage can be obtained, and although the batteries may each show less than 4 volts...