New-York tribune., 1918-02-03
What to Do
When Battery
Fails to "Bat'
Motor Troubles Come When
Current Producer Drops
Out of 300 Class
By II. Clifford Brokaw

bat? There is nothing more annoy.
ing than to have this important part Of
the car drop out Of the 800 class just
when you need it to get back home. In
these days practically every car is
equipped with a storage battery, and
when it goes wrong everything else
about the car is dead also. Since the
battery is called upon to supply Juice
for ignition, lights and for the self
starter. the wise owner will learn what
to do when the battery fails.
Occasionally on car using 8 self
starter system, the battery becomes
discharged and has to be removed from
the car and recharged from an outside
source; or the battery wears out. or a
cell becomes cracked so that it will not
hold the liquid, or something else oc-
ours, making it necessary to remove the
battery for inspection or repairs. When
this happens in the city, usually it is
possible to get the loan of another bat
terry from the man who is repairing the
one taken off from the car.
There are many cases, however,
where removing the battery means lay
ing up the car. This is not at all neces-
sary If the driver knows just what to
do upon taking the battery out. It is
no. safe simply to remove the battery
and run the engine on the magnetic.
Governs Current Output
The battery acts as a governor Of
the output Of current from the gener.
ator and holds it down to safe limit.
Without the battery it would become
excessive and burn out the generator
if the engine is driven at any sort of
speed. Without the battery the cur
rent has no escape, but is confined to
the generator. where it keeps building
up and gaining strength until the wires
in the generator are overheated and
the insulation is burned of. If the
lights are turned on at this time the
current will be so strong that the bulbs
will be burned out Immediately.
Sometimes they burn out from the
same cause when wire drops of the
battery or there is poor connection
between the generator and the battery.
The poor connection prevents the bat
terry from taking the full output Of the
generator, and the voltage builds up
high enough to burn out the lights.
For this reason it is we'll to inspect
the battery connections often and keep
them perfectly clean and free from
verdigris. The terminals of the bat
terry are tapered usually, and one
should be careful to see that they are
drawn up very tight, and that they fit
SO that contact is made on practically
the entire surface.
| have seen cases where the con-
nection was so poor the current would
only keep one or two lights burning.
and if the other lights were turned on
all would be dim, and if the starter
pedal was depressed all the lights
would go out. When this condition ex-
lists there is danger that when the en-
gine is speeded up the lights will grow
excessively bright and then burn out
quickly.
With the Battery Out
If for any reason it is desired to
run the car with the storage battery
removed, the first thing to do is to
lift the brushes so that they do not
make contact with the commutator of
the generator or remove them entirely,
or leave them in place and connect
them together with a heavy piece of
wire. Some systems have the genera
tor and starting motor combined in
one unit. In this case the generator
brushes may be determined by the fact
that they are smaller than the motor
brushes.
If the engine is provided with mag
neto or set of dry cells the engine
may be started nov with crank and
will run on this source Of ignition cur
rent. But care should be taken to
disconnect the light wires or refrain
from turning on the lighting switch.
If the engine is not equipped with a
magnetic or separate dry cell battery
ignition current may be secured by
installing set of six dry cells in
place of the storage battery and con-
meeting them directly to the storage
battery wires. AS the terminals are
of such size and shape as not to fit
dry cell terminals. it will be necessary
TO make connection between the dry
cell terminals and the heavy battery
wires with an extra piece of small
sized wire
With dry cells it is possible to op-
crate the lights for a short time, but if
you have far to go in the dark you
would better use a lantern and drive
slow enough to make sure of safety.
Unlike Storage Battery
1t should he understood, also, that
the dry cell battery does not act the
same in connection with the generator
as the storage battery, and it cannot be
made substitute; one should not leave
the brushes in the generator and cx-
pect the generator to keep the dry cells
charged. The action would be the same
as though no battery were present The
lights, and very likely the generator,
would be burned out.
When installing dry cell battery in
place of the storage battery, the
brushes of the generator should not be
connected together with wire, but
should be lifted or removed, as the
wire connecting the brushes will short
circuit and discharge the dry cells if
no reverse current cutout is provided
in the system. If in doubt, it is best to
remove the brushes.
There are simpler ways Of protecting
individual systems, and if the driver
will take the trouble to learn the
peculiarties of the system on his car
1t may not be necessary to follow these
general instructions
Dry cells are TO he had in almost oil