Fog lamps as back up low beams.

[RUFFSTUFF]

Originally Posted by ellenbetty

With winter coming, and the batteries ending up dead in less than a week, I will have to go out and start each Yaris every other day for at least a 1/2 hour to keep the battery charged. Other wise the dead batteries will freeze. Since it is unsafe to charge a frozen dead battery, I will have to make sure that the batteries do not go dead during this winter.

I'm telling ya... just letting the car idle won't do much for you if the batteries are already having issues. Alternator output (current) at idle can be as low as 10 amps and will increase with rpm. Just idling your car puts the output of your alternator just above "self-sustaining," there will probably not be enough overhead to get a decent charge on your battery. I believe your research to be incorrect. A 1/2 of driving may show some improvement... a 1/2 hour of idling probably not.


You can check this out:
http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/tec...5/article.html

[ellenbetty]

Originally Posted by RUFFSTUFF

I'm telling ya... just letting the car idle won't do much for you if the batteries are already having issues. Alternator output (current) at idle can be as low as 10 amps and will increase with rpm. Just idling your car puts the output of your alternator just above "self-sustaining," there will probably not be enough overhead to get a decent charge on your battery. I believe your research to be incorrect. A 1/2 of driving may show some improvement... a 1/2 hour of idling probably not.


You can check this out:
http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/tec...5/article.html

I tried that link. it does not work.