Uh oh, its Cali to Wisconsin run time again!!

[V-Robb]

Time for the bi-annual run to Wisconson, which this year will be done in the Seven again. Haven't pulled the car out for a couple months, so I expected the battery to be flat and needing a charge. This time, however the battery - an Odyssey drycell as recommended by many members here - not only won't hold a charge but is basically dead: after many hours on the charger it held only 0.3VDC...!! Luckily I still have the original battery which I pulled out a few years back, and before hooking it up to charge it still held 11VDC so it should work.
It's been charging overnight and I'm about to see how it all went, but here's the punchline: We're scheduled to leave early this coming Thursday morning. Yeah, I know, I know, I should have been getting the car ready earlier but due to circumstances beyond my control (read work) I could only get working on her yesterday.
Anyway, has anyone ever seen an Odyssey battery completely die and become useless like mine has? Did I just let it get too flat and ruin it? I'll have to check it out when I have a mo'.

Robert

[GWise]

Yes - it's a well known issue that Odyssey batteries do not like to be discharged completely. It's not a bad idea to install a trickle charger.

Enjoy your trip! Sounds like a great experience.

[V-Robb]

Hmmm, checking the buzz on the 'net is showing much grumblings regarding Odyssey batteries over the last few years, with speculation that something has changed with the quality/manufacturing etc... I bought mine just a few years ago so it's just in the timeframe that the complaints started. Read many reports of older Odyssey's getting fully discharged but still able to come back to life, too.
Harummph!

[V-Robb]

Bah, old original battery isn't cutting it either... Gonna have to head over to pep boys and grab something I can fit in there. This is getting dicey!

[Doug Liedblad]

Rob

See the technical manual on this page: http://www.odysseybatteries.com/files.htm

See page 12 about deep discharge recovery. I have also read that storing them fully charged is no problem, storing them partially charged can cause premature failure.

I'm on my 2nd Odyssey but only because the first one was 7-8 years old and I wanted a bit larger one.

Note that if deeply discharged you need to charge at 6 Amps +. A trickle charge won't do it. They need the current.

Doug

[V-Robb]

New battery did the trick. After a bite I'll top off the coolant and such, check hose clamps etc, and head out for a quick blat along mulholland for a shakedown.

[slomove]

Good luck with the trip! Not to mention fun.....I am jealous.

I swapped the 11 year old odyssey in my car a few years ago thinking it might be the cause of starting problems but it was not.
So this battery is now on trailer duty, running the inside lights, winch and emergency brake. I charge it maybe every 6 months and it is still doing fine.

[Elv15]

Mine died a similar death. It turns out the ECU on my car (MBE 967) has a small load even when the car is off. Either a battery master switch or a trickle charger will prevent it from discharging.

Have a great trip! FYI, typically when touring in the seven we use dry bags strapped to the roll bar as our luggage. Cheap and easy.

[Roll a 7]

My original died and was replaced under warranty @ no charge. I then put in a master cutoff and that did the trick. It never dies, no matter how long it sits.

[escondidoron]

I don't have any experience with Odyssey batteries but we do have a '94 Miata. It came from the factory with a small application specific size AGM battery in the trunk. After 18 years and 200k miles it is still working. Although it's starting to get a little weak on cold mornings!

[Roll a 7]

Where in the Badger state will you be visiting? Grew up (to the degree that I did?) just over that river to the west.

[V-Robb]

hey gang,
k here's the update: Same as last time, we'll be staying in Brillion, bout a half hour south of Green Bay. Took the Seven into work Monday to get some more road time before we head out, and before I could grasp what was happening in order to slow down/pull over the right front wing flew off in the middle of the freeway! Goner...
So a few panicked emails later Chris at Sevens/Elans had a new, albiet black, wing overnighted to me which arrived yesterday and was hastily but securely (hopefully) attached to the car last night...

So now that I'm home from work I will take the Seven out to see how the new wing does. I'm pretty sure it'll hold, but the original ones were trimmed a good 6-8mm around the perimeter for more tire clearance. So while the new wing does clear the tire, it does so just barely!

How's that for an auspicious run up to the ride? I'm hoping that THESE are all the problems I'm going to run into on the ride. What are the odds?

[Doug Liedblad]

It will run fine without the wings, just a few more rocks to watch out for. Pebbles really.

Gert ran that way for months.

[Mondo]

Your lucky it didn't come off and do damage to your car (or you). Just take pics of your car/trip from the drivers side;)

[slomove]

It will run fine without the wings, just a few more rocks to watch out for. Pebbles really.

Gert ran that way for months.

Yeah, no problem. The funny thing is, I had way fewer rocks in the cockpit without the wings. I believe when the wheels are open, the tire slings rocks around randomly and most of them just miss the car. But when the wing is on, the rocks can only escape below the front wing or mud flap, blast the rear wing or exhaust and bounce off into the cockpit or they are ejected forward and then sometimes make it onto the nose/bonnet/cockpit. Well, at least that is my highly scientific theory.

But I put the wings back on nonetheless. Just looks better and makes for a much drier drive in rain. Only this time I made the wings stays from thick wall 4130 alloy tube, not stainless.