On Tue, 09 May 2017 11:24:40 +0100, Chris J Dixon
wrote:

T i m wrote:

*Years ago*, Dad bought a portable battery system that consisted of 2
x 6V lead acid batteries in a fibreglass carry case that strapped into
the boot of the car and took power from the car 12V system when the
engine was running.

I am ancient enough to have installed and used a similar system
myself.

There aren't many of us left. ;-)

The caravan was quite advanced, and came with its battery in a
box with an external socket, to match that on the van. You could
then fit a mating connector in the car boot to top up when you
went for a run.

I think there were several such solutions as these things evolved.

You used to be able to fit a simple split charge relay, which is
amongst the methods described he

http://www.12voltplanet.co.uk/split-charging.html

But cars and life seem to have become more complicated these
days.

Car and motorbikes ... and why I keep my kitcar based on a 1978 Ford
Escort and whilst I don't think any of my bikes are quite old enough
to have points, none of them have CAN busses and the like. ;-)

It's funny, we had the 2L GL Sierra Estate for 23 years in the end and
in all that time the only things that failed were a window winder
wheel runner (broke in the icy weather), a brake caliper seized
slightly and the cambelt broke (safe engine and I had replaced in
within the hour).

Oh, the clutch cable snapped but I carried a spare (like you did in
those days) and I changed it at the side of the road using no more
than my Leatherman PST II. ;-)

Not quite so easy to change a concentric hydraulic slave cylinder and
unlike the Rover 218SD or the Meriva, on the Sierra I never had any
issues with the aircon, central locking, immobiliser, the ECU or
electric windows because it didn't have them (and somehow we used it
everywhere for everything) and to have a new key cut cost £5. ;-)

Cheers, T i m