battery life

[DannMann99]

anyone know how long a small compact car could run without an alternator, or with an alternator thats putting out minimal charge? of couse i wouldnt have anything electrical running. if you could just tell me the amount of mile you think i could get out of it.
think i have a 4cylinder 2.2l 94 cavalier

[drdisque]

maybe a mile if you fully charged the battery and disconnected all the unnecessary fuses.

[NyChris2004]

depends on how charged ur battery is.. i actually just had that problem with my '89 acura integra, where my alternator was putting out very littlew charge, the only way i could keep the car goin was to be constantly revving the car, especially when it comes to a stop, or ur bat. could jus die out. but if ur just driving without stopping that much u should be able to make it whereveer ur tryin to go, but if ur battery gets real low ur car wont start back up afterwards w/o a jump

[sierrap615]

it really all depends on the car, the battery, and how you drive it. for me i got just over a hour(94 saturn SL2 1.9L DOHC manual trans)

[sracing]

Originally Posted by DannMann99

anyone know how long a small compact car could run without an alternator, or with an alternator thats putting out minimal charge? of couse i wouldnt have anything electrical running. if you could just tell me the amount of mile you think i could get out of it.
think i have a 4cylinder 2.2l 94 cavalier

Don't know the exact size of your battery, but if you only start it once on a full charge and then drive it, (and no other load on the battery) you will get as much as 50 to 200 Miles easily, assuming reasonable speeds. All you would be using is the computer and ignition circuits. They probably total 20 Amp/hours. A 100 a/h battery would then go 5 hours (best case.)

Many road race formula cars do not use do not use charging circuits at all and they run for many hours wihout charge.

(BE sure and pull your head lamp fuse) or it will drastically decrease the run times above.)

Jim
SR Racing