Low Battery

Above, the Jeep battery compartment. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

People are finding that cold weather and batteries aren't a good mix. That's one big detriment to electric vehicles.

I had to recharge the Jeep's battery today as it was way down. I intended to drive it to the Flying J this morning to pick up my mail, but it barely cranked. Luckily, I have a battery charger and hooked it up and let it charge for a half day. I hadn't driven the Jeep since last Thursday.

A little while ago, I unhooked the charger and started the Jeep. It fired up right away.

Above, the charging battery. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The M38A1 Willys Jeeps have the battery compartment at the cowling outside of the engine compartment. When these Jeeps were in military service, battery charging was made simple by a plug-in outlet behind the passenger side front wheel on the fender. Since I don't have military plug-in, I had to take the battery compartment cover off and attach the charger directly to the battery.

The weather has been cold here, particularly at night, and that causes problems with vehicle batteries.

After starting the Jeep, I let the engine run for a while. The alternator gauge showed that it was charging fine. We'll see in the next few days. The battery is dated 12/18, so it is only two years old. 

I also fired up the motorhome today to make sure its battery was in good working order. It was.