On Fri, 11 Feb 2011 04:55:28 -0800, Smitty Two
wrote:

In article ,
Nate Nagel wrote:

On 02/10/2011 11:21 PM, Smitty Two wrote:
In ,
Nate wrote:

2008 Impala.

Hard to believe that the standard "double twist" of the key in the
driver's door doesn't unlock them all.

How would that work if the battery's dead? (I don't know if it does at
all; I usually use the fob and don't remember anything about that in the
manual)

actually have had dead battery in car once when something went bad in
shifter mech and key would not turn past "acc" - drained batt. in a
couple hours

nate

Completely dead, no, but I've never had a battery go so dead that an
accessory item like an electric lock wouldn't work. Usually when someone
says "dead battery" in a car, they mean too weak to supply cranking
current to the starter.

I have. Once I mistakenly installed two burglar alarms in the same
car.

Another time, I think I had a constant load of some kind for a a
month. I tried half-heartedly to find it but before I did, it went
away on its own.

How could I mistakennly install two burglar alarms you might ask. I
thought the second was just an attachment to the first, to radio a
beeper to tell me the alarm had gone off. It turned out to be an
entire alarm with that level of battery drain, but I didnt' notice
that until I started having battery problems.

But for the last 10 or more years, I've used a Battery Buddy, which
disconnects the battery before it discharges too much. They don't
make them anymore but the Battery Brain is very similar. I just open
the hood, press the big red button, and the car will start.

The Battery Brain has a more expensive model that will let you reset
the Brain from inside the car, and will also let you disconnect the
battery when you leave the car, if theft is a concern. I always have
a way of disabling the hood release if I have to leave the car a long
time in one place I don't want to leave it.