Well, like in similar situations played out in movies, I should start with the not-so-good news so that this entry would end with better & more welcomed news.
Ok...the new battery for my ole junk. After installation that day, the car started instantly aand it worked fine when we went out to run some errands in town. After that, the car was left idle for the rest of the day & night.
The next morning, bright & early, me went to the car & pressed the "On/Off" button on my car alarm to open the driver's door. Nothing happened. Total silence. Thought maybe the problem was my alarm remote control. Tried with that of my other half. Same silence. Oh No! Don't tell me the battery is all dead again...
Yup, true enough. I opened the driver's door manually & the alarm did not go off! Bad sign. Put the key into the ignition switch & turned it to the Acc. position. No lights on the instrument panel...not even the clock was working! Really bad news! Popped up the hood & used my multimeter to check on the battery voltage...only abt 2V...battery is dead! Truly dead!!
Somehow, I had a feeling in my guts that probably one of my recent added "gadgets" might be the root cause of the battery draining off. So me removed the VS unit. Guess what I saw? A wet patch underneath the unit. 1 or more of the capacitors must have leaked! That probably resulted in a short circuit and killed the battery.
No choice now but to make a call to my friendly neighbour, Mr C. Used his car to jumpstart my ole junk once more. However, when the car was running after a successful start, me tested the CD cum radio player. Discovered that the output was intermittently off...something must be wrong with the amplifier unit. On checking, the remote cable was kinda loose. Tightened it. Same difference! The amplifier on/off red LED was seen to be going off & on. Figured the amp must also be faulty. Disconnected its power source & speaker connections and re-connected the original ones. The playback was instantly great & continuous...albeit with less Oomph...
With that done, it was felt that the root causes of the battery drain had been solved. So off me went to the shop where the new batt was purchased. It was confirmed there that my car alternator appears to be working fine but the batt was FLAT. That batt was kindly replaced w/o any hesitation! That's great after-sales service!!
Well, we took the car out for a similar test run like before. Ran a few errands. So far so good. In the late afternoon, me tested the car again. Instant start. Voltage looked fine on the multimeter. Just now, after dinner, me took the car out for a night test...with lights, aircon & CD Player on. Still looking good. Finally a check on the voltage. Abt 12V.
The final test would be tomorrow morning! If my ole junk can start normally, it would be just beyond words to describe my feelings after all that has happened. Wish me luck...
Now for the better news...hehe...
Simple. My "shingles" appear to be much improved. Pls see pic below.
Pain is gone. Just a slight discomfort. Redness & "bumps" are still around tho. No formation of expected "blisters". Felt the HZvirus was stopped in time b4 they went "wild"...haha! Our fmly doc gave me the med for another 3 days, with assurances that I would be ok soon. Marks, however, would remain for some time tho.So, if all goes well...namely my car batt & my "shingles"...we would be able to share our grandaughter, KL's Bday on 22nd Jan.!! Let's keep our fingers tightly crossed for that to come true. A few prayers, perhaps? Should know for sure in abt 3 days...
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