Solar BA-7 Digital Battery and System Tester

[SGT_OKINAWA]

Hey folks, it's me SGT Okinawa, been gone for a while, and so busy, well had a little fun today, got in the car, went to start it and 'click' nothing.

Whoa I said... dead batteries (Yes I have two in my car, go check the stereo install thread over there>> HOW TO - Car Audio Build so anyhow...

'click'

well I turned the key off, paused, deep breath and went to start again, and whoa!!....

KEY WOULD NOT TURN (boom05) I mean not at all, it was LOCKED!

Foot on brake,
Yes in PARK
bla bla bla...

Gurrr, don't even go down that simple path, pa-lease.

I was not going to break it off, but boy not budging at all !

No 4 way Flashers either, no juice at all, NONE, dome lights NOT WORKING!

So I think, batteries are dead, holy crap, two optima batt toast in a 15 min drive?? No freaking way!

So I called a friend, come jump start the car, hooked up cables, Zooom! Started right up, no problem.... when he did the jump start, nothing out of the blue, just hook up, I sat in my car and turned it over, no problem.

What the? I checked my battery monitors, (Long story, it's a car audio thing) shows both bats are at 13.5 and 13.6 what the.....they are fine.

So I go over to the base gas station, they run a charging test, the alternator is charging fine, batteries are fine, I shut off and turn on the car 10 Times! All fine...what the???

Then I Goggled (While at work, so don't have the link) FOB, MAZDA 5, WILL NOT START, .... so I found one little blurb, it could be that my FOB (Car key card thing, (I have no car keys) just google Premacy FOB, you'll see.) may be low battery OR some freaky reason it did not register with the car security system...so...

What happens when someone tries to steal a Mazda 5, steps please?

Note: The radio, clock all reset, like there was ZERO Juice, like I'd taken the cable off the battery post because again, emergency 4 way flashers did not work when the KEY WOULD NOT BUDGE.

Is this what happens when someone tries to steal a 5 / Premacy? No juice at all? And everything resets???

Sorry my story runs wild, but I got little time to post and edit.

Peace!(rei)

So, for suture use....is this worth it????

Solar BA-7 Digital Battery and System Tester

Anyone think this is a good deal? (help)

Peace!(rei)

 

[ljmattox]

Wild story!

Don't really have an opinion on the battery system tester, don't own one or have looked for one.

I do have a Luddite view of keyless start stuff in general, formed during our CX-7 demo drives. I'm distrustful of the whole setup...wireless awareness allows car behavior of some type. Spooky.

I was just getting used to throttles not controlled by real cables.

Fortunately, I never got used to cars with cable brakes, or likely I'd distrust hydraulics

Key: Small metal device, inserted in dash, turn to start the engine. Turn off to stop the engine. Take it with you when you leave. Bring it back when you want to start the engine again. Small. Reliable. Doesn't need batteries. Operation not affected if magnetized / demagnetized / traumatized / water-soaked. Slippery slope of embedded chips in expensive-to-replace keys to prevent theft (GM cars circa 2000 or so) to things we have now.

Most recently the Mazda6 loaner we had, opens when it "senses" your presence, locks when you walk away. Starts by pressing a button. Fob stays in your pocket. Weird.

{Cue curmudgeon voice} Some of this stuff is too smart for its own good!

 

[SGT_OKINAWA]

I hear ya... (burnout)

UPDATE:

I think everything is okay, and culprit may be my cell phone and the FOB battery, (Still does not explain why the car rest it self, radio went back to factory settings, etc.)

I think my cell phone being in the same pocket overpowers the FOB signal. MAYBE.

Still keeping an eye on it. Will update as needed.

Thanks for all the readers of my drama.

Peace!(rei)