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need help asap.. need to keep powered when removing battery

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Old 06-18-2004, 10:42 AM
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Default need help asap.. need to keep powered when removing battery

I have to remove both my battery and my alternator for load testing because my battery has been going dead, but I CANNOT allow power to be taken away for a second from my car. The climate control head units are faulty in the Riviera, and if the battery is disconnected too many times it fries it. So, I have to connect a nother battery up before disconnecting mine. Will anything bad happen if I connect another battery somewhere else in the car while having mine hooked up? Don't want to have 24 volts going through the car or anything . I'd probably just connect the other battery to my amplifier power wire/ground. not very big wiring should be needed because I won't be starting the car or anything...
just making sure this is o.k. before I do it. thanks!
Old 06-18-2004, 11:18 AM
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Interesting problem....

Connecting two batterys should be ok.....

What about using a cap from a stereo install... I wonder hold long that would last..... 20mins or so...
Enough time to install another battery?
Old 06-18-2004, 11:27 AM
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Jumper cable from another car. This will make it VERY touchy while disconnecting the alternator. Use insulated tools.
Old 06-18-2004, 11:33 AM
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You can connect 10 batteries, and it should still be 12v.
Old 06-18-2004, 03:03 PM
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I ended up using a battery from a lawn mower. Just need something to sustain the memory settings, climate control, etc while I removed the old battery overnight. I'm trying to find shops that will test the battery/alternator. They say their scanners can't do them for some reason. The battery is 980 CA and the alternator is 140 amps. Can't find ANYWHERE to buy a battery for this car except for from GM directly. The alternator I can find, but I don't know if I should go with the AC Delco or the Beck/Arney unit. The AC Delco is actualyl cheaper and has a lifetime warranty though through www.partsamerica.com so I might go with that one.
Old 06-18-2004, 05:25 PM
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Optima Red Top for a battery 'Nuff said. Order one over the web if you have to. It'* probably the last battery you will ever buy.
Old 06-18-2004, 09:26 PM
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Isn't there a device that plugs into your lighter that uses D-cells?
Old 06-18-2004, 09:55 PM
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If that is the Riviera'* oem battery from 97, I would just replace it. But having the alternator load tested on the bench would be worth while.
Old 06-22-2004, 05:34 PM
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Originally Posted by fuddyduddy121
Isn't there a device that plugs into your lighter that uses D-cells?
I have seen some trickle chargers advertised that plug into the cigarette lighter to charge your battery, I think the one your referring to is only suppling a few volts to maintain things like stereo settings, clock, etc, which probably would've worked BTW.
Old 06-22-2004, 09:16 PM
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Originally Posted by fuddyduddy121
Isn't there a device that plugs into your lighter that uses D-cells?
Do you mean something like this? A 9 Volt unit from JC Whitney

http://www.jcwhitney.com/webapp/wcs/...gId=-1&TID=100


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