Ownership Verified: Viper's 2008 Dodge Viper SRT-10 (A 17+ Year Dream Come True!)

Adrian said:
Last time i checked the US was 110v.
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120v nominal +\- 10% people say 110v really mean 120v. Houses have a 4 wire single phase electrical connection that has two 120 one neutral and a ground. Going from 1 120 to another will give you 240v potential. So viper could get 240v to his car, but I doubt he needs to.

Also congrats on the car. This whole thread is amazing. Amazing car and amazing success story of a dream come true.
 
I'll just snag a Battery Tender for the winter. I think it's fine right now though as I'm driving it at least once a week.
 
I'd still buy a new battery.
 
Why? The clock has been working fine this whole time (no loss of power) and that error code is probably old, from when it was sitting for a few months.
 
A new battery is always a good idea on a car that has been sitting like that. All sort of electrical gremlins can surface.
 
Adrian said:
A new battery is always a good idea on a car that has been sitting like that. All sort of electrical gremlins can surface.
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Google says a new battery for my car is about $200. It's not exactly something I want to change on a whim.
 
Viper007Bond said:
Google says a new battery for my car is about $200. It's not exactly something I want to change on a whim.
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Go find the battery production date sticker and tell us what it says. An old battery that doesn't want to charge properly can cause your alternator to fail. That's a bit more expensive than just replacing the battery.
 
Spectre said:
Go find the battery production date sticker and tell us what it says. An old battery that doesn't want to charge properly can cause your alternator to fail. That's a bit more expensive than just replacing the battery.
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Theoretically, yes. I'm not sure if it happens that often though.
 
_HighVoltage_ said:
Theoretically, yes. I'm not sure if it happens that often though.
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It's the number one reason why regulators fail in alternators. It's a lesser but still leading reason why rectifiers fail.

Basically, most alternators cannot survive for prolonged periods at full output. They're just not designed to do that - and a battery that won't charge properly will cause the alternator to think, "Crap, I have a deeply discharged battery here, better pour power to it!" all the time. This causes the regulator and sometimes the rectifier to overheat and fail - in extreme cases, the regulator can melt.

This is why police and emergency vehicles often have different (higher rated - often with larger heat sinks) alternators than their civilian cousins - and many of them mount two alternators, not just for the total load placed on them but so that the load is spread between two alternators instead of just one.

That's also one reason I have a 320A alternator in my XJ6 instead of the more common 130A upgrade - and I don't have a giant stereo.
 
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From a fun experience dealing with the battery in my Honda (admittedly not quite the same as a modern auto battery) once a battery has been damaged from disuse it will remain so.
 
argatoga said:
From a fun experience dealing with the battery in my Honda (admittedly not quite the same as a modern auto battery) once a battery has been damaged from disuse it will remain so.
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Sulfation is sulfation, and unless he has an Optima or one of the newer specialty batteries, his battery is the same tech with the same problems as your Honda.
 
Spectre said:
Sulfation is sulfation, and unless he has an Optima or one of the newer specialty batteries, his battery is the same tech with the same problems as your Honda.
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So does his spill battery acid everywhere when I err... he didn't press in the caps all the way. :p
 
My battery had a faulty cell, which caused the abs and asr computers to not get enough power while starting the car. Of course they're not used then, but it can only escalate.
 
argatoga said:
So does his spill battery acid everywhere when I err... he didn't press in the caps all the way. :p
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No, his is filled at the factory and the caps are put on then. Bike batteries may sit on the shelf for years, so it doesn't make sense to charge them with acid and begin sulfation before they even hit the shelf. Car batteries don't usually sit around long at all.

However, unlike a bike battery his doesn't have an acid vent, so when it starts boiling from more charge than it can absorb, the caps blow off and acid goes everywhere. Lots of 'fun,' ask me how I know. :p
 
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Well I went to go check the battery and I pulled up the trunk carpet, but the panel I have to remove requires an Allen wrench to remove. The battery is buried right behind my rear bumper for weight distribution. It's just slightly above the rear diffuser.

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(Yeah, the little bit of ran I had it in made it get all dirty)
 
Looks like the top plastic of the battery is bulging up or debonding on that corner. I'd go find an allen key right away...
 
Looks like the whole battery has some bulging going on.
 
Adrian said:
Looks like the whole battery has some bulging going on.
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Dunno about that, due to possible camera lens distortion - but the red plastic top is clearly coming away from the black bottom case on the corner.
 
Hmm, alright, I'll check it out.

Meanwhile I've posted new videos in the original post:

[video=youtube;HJ7Up-JrSWQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJ7Up-JrSWQ[/video]


 
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