Ack No start this morning. Battery in tank!

[Turbogus]

Charged up with a NAPA Smart Charger while I was at work. Came back and pulled the caps ran specific gravity test 1125 - 1175 KAPUT.

Got my Ohmmeter out and checked the battery cables for cross circuit and I read Ohmage between the OS and NEG terminals removed the winch contact wire and Ohmage was open. Ran Ohmmeter between the POS and NEG winch terminals and ohmage was small - but climbing?!?!

What is up with the climbing reading?

Before I buy and install another battery I'd better address this if it's the sign of a dead short.

Thanks and a lift of the lynch lid for you electrical gurus out there

 

[flatie46]

I had an electrical problem once on a toyota and the battery had an internal short. Didn't get it then don't much get it now unless the plates were some touching inside. Anyway, a new battery fixed it right up. If I knew then what I know now, I'd have ohmed it.
Hey, you don't think lead sulfate that builds up on the plates as the battery discharges is causing the reading your getting. do ya?

 

[Turbogus]

I'm hip to sulfation issues. On my bike I stuck with Yuasa MF batteries with sulfate stop. Kept the same battery for over 7 years on a bike!

I don't know if the 1125 - 1175 specific gravity reading is indicative of an internal short or not.
What really made my head spin was the Ohm reading between the two poles of the winch.
This battery was mfd. two years ago. Go figure NAPA didn't pull the date tabs so they're dubious that I'm trying to hide something. I'm not adverse to getting one of the Johnson Controls batteries at Costco, I believe they manufacture the Optimas as well. This'd explain why the two batteries in 'Easy Bake' my black panel van have lasted for over 7 years now.

 

[Utah_jeepster]

A Ohm reading is a electrical test that tests resistance and continuity.
Any electrical motor will show continuity from one side to the other because the wires wrap around the magnets to energize them then continuously run to the other side or ground.
Now why did your ohm reading climb? Well in short it slowly put enough voltage and small amounts of amps to start to over come the resistance in the wires to allow the amperage to flow. Any electrical motor has a small voltage and amperage in the windings, sitting or sometimes called potential. A small nudge or push such as the micro amperage put out by the volt meter can push this potential into motion.

 

[Turbogus]

Ahhhh Right on! Thanks so much for the clarification Steven, you're a great guy!
I can turn a wrench but sometime electrical mystifies me. I was concerned that it may be a dead short in the winch wiring that led to my battery failure. Whew!

 

[Utah_jeepster]

shhhh..... it was a lucky guess.

 

[Turbogus]

I carefully looked over the terminals and the dielectric grease I had applied to inhibit corrosion had turned the terminals grayish. So I cleaned 'em up and regained continuity. All this not before I purchased a second Johnson Controls (Costco) so I'm going to wire up a secondary battery for the winch, radiator fan and accy. lights. Found a Stinger SGP32 that seems to look somwhat like a battery solenoid.
Given it's close proximity to the batteies and solenoid I wonder if the true ignition source wire can just be connected to the 'switch' side of the starter solenoid?