Jump to content

Flat battery :(


Bill

Recommended Posts

Just a quick waffle while waiting for my battery to charge. I’ve been offline for over a week having messed up my PC big time. I downloaded some tecky stuff for my project which stopped it from working so I tried to do a system restore. It took three and a half hours then reported a fault and wouldn’t even start up. There was a high number of lads at the office down with covid so I couldn’t risk going there for help, so I turned it all off and decided to do another jigsaw that I got for Christmas a year ago. Anyway, a week later and now with a stiff neck and bad back from doing the jigsaw, I managed to get the PC fixed so it’s try again time.

Just been for an MRI scan on my dodgy wrist this morning and although it was only my wrist, I had to lie for 20 minutes in the most awkward and uncomfortable positions ever and as a result I’ve now got a pain in my shoulder that’s worse than those in my wrist, neck and back put together.

Fingers crossed I’ll be off to the US on the 10th next month for a bit of a break away with the entire family. It’s been cancelled several times now so hoping it finally gets to happen this time. It’s been so long that a couple of the grandkids have got beards now so I guess not much interest in Micky Mouse. 12.4 volts on charge, better that the original 2.3 volts but still not quite enough.

One of the lads at work who got covid had ended up bad in hospital. Amazingly he along with most of his family had refused the vaccination despite one of his brothers being a doctor. He’s now got pneumonia and also had a stoke while in hospital which is crazy because I’ve always though of him as one of the most sensible and mature members of my staff.

My little Alfa is quite poorly. It’s been in for repair since before Christmas and I think they’re struggling to find the intermittent rough running problem. I can’t complain though I’ve had the car for sixteen years and despite all that gets said about Alfas, it’s never actually broken down. I think it’ll be some kind of electrical issue because while the Italians make nice looking cars, they haven’t got a clue how to design the electronics. My Maserati’s electrical system is just as bad, if the battery isn’t fully charged, half the electronic gadgets stop working. I very often start the car after a couple of weeks only to find the electronic parking brake won’t release, the parking sensors stop working and the fuel filler wont open.

Looking forward to the covid situation getting better so that I can get out a bit more. I haven’t seen some of my normal beer drinking friends since it all kicked off. Fingers crossed the numbers are dropping and so many are saying they’ve had it and it and it was no worse than a cold, so unless things go pear shaped again, this might be what we end up with.

Anyway, enough waffle and 11.7 volts will have to do.

 

Bill 😊

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the update Bill. I hope the holiday works. 

The no worse than a cold thing is because of acquired immunity and not because the effects of the virus have changed, they haven't. There will be more vaccinations to come and we will all need to take them as will all those over 40. I suppose those of us on here know that already but your sad experience tells us that not everyone got the memo. I hope that your colleague makes a good recovery and starts to look after himself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, fingers crossed you get over the pond this time 🤞See the source image

 

 

I also hope your colleague recovers and gets the message out to any of his non vaxed friends to get protected asap . It's totally beyond me why folk don't jab but I suppose some people have their reasons but I for the life of me can't think of one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

At least you have somewhere out of the weather to sort out your battery.

With mine if it goes flat i have to take the damn thing out on the street. (the battery i mean you mucky minded lot)

Biggest problem is where it is situated. Right under the dashboard. can just about reach the terminals with a box spanner and removing the two retaining screws requires a long alan key with a spanner on the end to turn it.

after that it is a matter of bending the cables back out the way and playing a tetris like game to get it out of the space. Easy enough in the warm weather but doing it when there is an arctic wind blowing down your neck and you have lost all feeling in the fingers is a nightmare,as the guy from halfords found out when they offered to fit a new battery some while back. ( i had to lend him my tools as they didn't have anything to get at it.)

If you do manage to get away for a while make the most of it, feet up in the warm sunshine and a nice malt. (don't go to indiana it was snowing there last time i looked)

 

Do hope your colleagues recover as well, it is not nice to have and depends on how your immune system reacts as to what symptoms you get. next door neighbours caught a dose of it when it first started. he was fine, just a few sniffles. His wife spent the whole time really ill in bed. (both had been vaccinated as well but only the first one at that time )

modern technology though can't use it at times can't do without it. My biggest problem was a dodgy left click button on my mouse.. probably overuse as it either gave no click or a double click, a pain when you are trying to highlight a word.........🤪

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No, me neither Latchy. I’ve always maintained you can almost tell the type of person who doesn’t believe that covid’s a genuine problem, either by their chavvy / whacky appearance or by the utter garbage they talk but my work colleague absolutely shoots my theory down. He’s in his late fifties and not in the best of health under normal conditions and I would have thought he’d have been first in the queue for a jab. There are two other younger ones off with it at the moment, both in their late 30s and fully jabbed but reporting very little symptoms.

The battery is a small lead acid unit Sid, similar to those used in burglar alarms so no weather issues for me. I did the same battery trick with Halfords with the Alfa and even with all their tools, it took them a good half an hour to replace it. I once had a problem changing my wiper blades, so I asked Halfords to do it for me for £3. How embarrassing that was, he just pulled them off and clipped the new ones on in under ten seconds. I felt so stupid, but I suppose that makes us even for the battery.

 

 

Bill 😊

Link to comment
Share on other sites

it probably would it is just that the battery is in such an awkward place to get at. it took the guy from hafords five minutes of looking before he asked me where it was.

the engine compartment is very small and nearly everything is tucked under the dash area, i have yet to find the wiper motor as i need to get a fault sorted on that. when it rains and you use the wipers occasionally they will not turn off until you turn the ignition off. probably a bit of water getting in as i have been told all the electric for the speed and intermittent wipe are part of the motor casing. if i could find it i would give it a dose of wd40 and see if that cures it.

i think mine was a friday afternoon , bank holiday special build.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

As I mentioned before, during the last couple of years, I’ve been struggling with some wrist pain in my right hand. I put it down to a repetitive strain injury after all the building work I did when I retired and maybe a bit of old age arthritis. I had some tests done then covid kicked in, so I left it for almost 2 years during which time it got progressively worse.

In the last few weeks though I’ve seen some specialists, had x-rays and scans and it turns out that one of the bones in the bad arm is slightly longer than it should be and is trapping some nerves and tendons. The only solution is that they break the arm and chop 4mm out of the bone which will mean that I’ll be in a plaster cast for a couple of months which is going to make things a tad awkward.

 

Bill 😊

Link to comment
Share on other sites

being a bowler in summer and a domino player in winter gets you to some rough places bill.

went to one place bowling and they had to stop the match because they had run out of fifty pence pieces for the lights. not sure exactly where it was but one of those places that feature on unsolved mysteries type programs.

 

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...