Next, I’m going to write what I’ve learned about batteries that I didn’t now before. Or at least didn’t know in any detail. I’ll probably be wrong on most counts, but that is why I’m posting it. Self-taught is a dying art despite so much that tells us the guy who went to trade school will never improve anything because he’s learned the “right” way to do it. Besides, what kind of man would make a mistake while learning and try to cover it up? Why is everybody looking at me?
“Car” batteries are all cheaply built and they don’t like being discharged. Obvious? To some, but why do they eventually go bad? It seems they are engineered to be fully charged up and only supply a surge of power when the starter is cranked. Once the engine is running, the alternator supplies slightly over 12 volts to keep the auto electric running and to top off the battery. Everybody is happy. But suppose the alternator cannot supply enough juice to keep that battery topped up? That is what I experimented with.
I found there are three causes. One, the alternator isn’t putting out enough power. Two, the battery itself is bad (often caused by the next point). Three, and this is the important one, the auto owner adds some doodads, like a huge stereo system, some sex lights, or even a trailer. Then even if the battery and alternator are good, they can’t keep up with all the extras and the battery slowly dies until it won’t start the car.
This isn’t as evident as you’d think. As you cruise along with all the electrical working, the alternator is still putting out 13.7 volts (the correct setting to charge a 12 volts battery) and your gauge shows everything is kosher. But then I found out that gauge doesn’t measure the battery, just the alternator. The battery could be slowly dying because the said volts doesn’t have enough “push” to operate everything and stay topped up. Shown here is a setup I’ve learned to measure the actual battery performance. The 4.8 volts tells me this battery is bad. Even on the charger, there is not enough juice going through it to recharge.
This is big business from cheap materials, so don’t expect much to change. I now kind of smile when somebody says that lead-acid batteries are rechargeable. Some new cars now feature electronic steering and braking, that is, it is electric and not hydraulic. Airplanes use this as fly-by-wire, and apparently cars will soon have to switch to a 45 volt system.
The club meeting was less than a half hour as there is no new business and the camper wagon is taking all my time. Everybody is shaky on solar power and nobody has done anything with it. I told you good information was hard to come by. I don’t blame anyone for not picking up the technology. This is a sample panel which I purchased from the club at cost ($30) so I can test my theory of how to make this thing charge a 12 volt battery. If I had not read past the sales blurb, I would have connected this directly to a battery like all the youTubers and boiled my expensive batteries.
It is slated for testing this weekend and if it works well enough, is destined to operate the sidecar lights. Isn’t it strange how progress works? A Russian sidecar from a different era hanging onto a Japanese motorcycle thirty years newer about to receive a state of the art lighting system using an Italian battery design from the 18th century united with a solar panel manufactured in India. But other than that, the sidecar is authentic.
Music. I watched some “bass solos” on the Internet. If you were to watch me solo, you’d see my style is thoroughly different. Bass solo to me means play the bass like it was a bass. Too much gimmickry is at serious odds with what I do. I don’t thumb, pop, chord, strum, or do lead riffs, I actually play bass and get the crowd going with that. I’m not saying the guys to solo by changing the bass into something else are wrong, but most of them aren’t playing bass. Here’s a fantastic musician playing a solo on the bass as opposed to doing a bass solo. But I don’t hear him playing any bass. When that happens, the crowd applauds, but they don’t sing along.
[Author's note: Another thing I don't think is right about bass soloists is that they always play some super-fast passages that (unless it was a specialized bass recording) are never from any currently popular music. All my solos are songs my entire generation would recognize instantly.]
But I do fake it when necessary. The batteries are demo models, empty plastic cases.
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