Oh! Sheeeeeeeeesh
Worked on a couple of clients' home computers this evening, finally got the things recovered from worms, virus, killer DVDs, and general Windows problems.
8:30 I called one anxious client and told him I could bring his computer over now - load the car, get in and turn the ignition. Dead silence. Somehow, coming back from the last network crisis I'd accidently turned the lights on and didn't notice in bright daylight.
Well, steep driveway, but very short and entering lots of traffic. Rolled back and poped the clutch. No start. Don't know if the battery was that dead, or I'd forgotten to turn the ignition on (I've done that before).
OK, now I'm stuck across the sidewalk. Driveway too steep to push up, crown of road too steep to push out through heavy Friday evening traffic.
Within extension cord distance, but Battery charger died last year and I've been so busy I hadn't gotten around to getting another. Maybe OSH has chargers - nope, after 9:00, they're closed.
What to do, what to do?
Well, looking through my junk pile I found some dead UPS units. Hauled 'em all inside. Found an old Tripp Lite that still produced 13 volts at the battery terminals. It didn't seem to like the car battery though, and didn't seem to stay stable. Put in a resistor to limit current, but the voltage was still weird.
Weird voltage turned out to be false indications from Fluke multimeter. Its battery was on the very verge of death. With new 9v battery, everything was OK (this is what you call a "bad battery day").
Pulled the resistor at 10.6 volts. At 12.65 volts we have ignition!
Sometimes it's a good thing not to throw stuff away just because it doesn't work any more. Perhaps not often, but sometimes.
