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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Seems like not long ago, I was nursing tomato plants through near 100 degree temps.

Luckily, no snow accumulation to speak of. Might get an inch Sun night. The 4x4 works good on my new(to me) truck and it has like new tires but they're commercial tread aka HT aka Highway Tread. That's ok. It seems like any tread pattern just fills up with snow and they become smooth.

It snowed during the day the other day and we had emergency vehicles go past work in the direction I normally go home so I took the interstate instead. First snow of the year, there are always a few accidents. It was no fun driving the little car the 40 miles home that day.

Just went out and started the truck at 9 degrees to see if it would start. Fired right up. We'll see how it does at -7 degrees tomorrow. Wind chill will be -22.

My Ford F-150 and Focus wouldn't start last year when it was less than 20 degrees unless I put the battery charger for a while on to give a boost from 12.7 vdc to over 13 vdc.

Little trick!

Since chargers put out upwards of 14 volts, a freshly charged battery creates a hot battery aka over the 100% for a 12 vdc battery which is 12.7 vdc.(12.0 vdc is actually a dead battery) Charging also warms the battery up which helps.

I wake up an hour before I leave for work so on cold mornings, I can put an old/weak/undersized battery on charge for a while to help make sure the vehicle starts.

12 posted on 01/13/2024 7:11:23 AM PST by Pollard (Hi)
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To: Pollard
I wake up an hour before I leave for work so on cold mornings, I can put an old/weak/undersized battery on charge for a while to help make sure the vehicle starts.

Another thing that can help cold starts in this kind of weather is to hang a drop light (use 100-150 watt incandescent bulb) under the hood before you go to bed - don't forget to turn it on. Just that little bit of heat under the hood can make a world of difference on a cold morning.

46 posted on 01/16/2024 9:45:37 AM PST by Augie
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