Quote:
Originally Posted by Formula413
The guy who told me that I should skip shutting it down over and over said that it takes twenty miles of driving to replace the charge used to start the car. I have no idea where he got that statistic, it seems very high to me.
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Typical manufacturer's specifications for starter draw on a medium to large V-8 gas engine are in the range of 100-300 amps at an ambient temperature of xxF. Let's figure a 300 amps at 75F. There's usually no manufacturer's spec. for -30F, but experience would suggest 350-500 amps for a healthy starter. If it's that cold, you might have to crank the engine for longer than normal. Let's say 500 amps for 20 seconds.
500 amps x 20 seconds = 10,000 amp seconds
10,000 amps seconds / 60 seconds per minute = 167 amp minutes.
Least amp rating I found in a quick search for an OEM replacement for you '97 Firebird was 105 Amps. Let's assume wipers, headlights, rear defroster, heater motor and stereo consume 85 of those amps - leaving 30 amps to recharge the battery.
167 amp minutes / 30 amps = 5.6 minutes
Now lets assume more normal weather, warm engine and just stereo and heater fan (so at least 50 charging amps)
((300 amps x 5 seconds) / 60 seconds) 50 amps = 0.5 minutes.