Dusterbd13
Dusterbd13 UltraDork
7/30/15 6:38 p.m.

Power up power seats in a junkyard that won't allow booster packs or full size batteries to come in?

Doesn't seem like my cordless sawzall battery would be enough.but maybe?

Hungary Bill
Hungary Bill GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
7/30/15 7:13 p.m.

Man, that's a toughie. I'm going to say you're going to have to find a 12v-ish battery with an amp hour rating sufficient to operate the seat without sucking the battery completely dry when you throw the switch.

I quick google tells me that power seats usually come with a 30 amp fuse. A battery with a 30-amp/hour rating may be what we're after. A 30 amp/hour rating means you'll be able to operate the entire system (30 amps) for one hour. I doubt the chair is going to take 30 amps to move with no one sitting on it. I also doubt you'll be testing it for the entire hour. But this gives us plenty of safety margin, and doesn't introduce much in the way of "variables" should it not work.

On one hand:

  • A Dewalt Sawzall 18v battery looks like it has a 2.4 amp hour rating (so it can operate at 2.4 amps for one hour. I believe that translates into operating at 30 amps for 4.8 minutes but my math bay be off. This is of course assuming the battery is capable of creating enough "push" to sustain 30 amps.

On the other hand:

  • It may only take 5 amps to move an unloaded chair. If you took that same battery and it only took the hypothetical 5 amps to move the chair unloaded, then it should last about half an hour of testing before it died! That's well within my comfort zone for a junkyard test!

If it were me and getting to the junkyard was no problem, I'd take the sawzall battery and give it a try. What's the worst that could happen?

If it were me living back in Hungary and this was the ONE junkyard trip I was going to get for the year and I HAD to get it right, I would find a safer method (wiring the sawzall batteries in series for example)

jstand
jstand HalfDork
7/30/15 7:13 p.m.

Could you get a motorcycle or tractor battery in?

Are you just looking to make sure the motors work, or test the full range of adjustment?

It shouldn't take a large battery to check that the motors work, but longer cycles checking the full range of motion may pose a problem using the battery pack.

Bumboclaat
Bumboclaat Dork
7/30/15 7:14 p.m.

Small gel cell in a toolbox?

Toyman01
Toyman01 GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
7/30/15 7:20 p.m.

Yes, your saw battery will power it up. I use my drill batteries to power up automatic door motors on a regular basis. The battery will handle it.

Streetwiseguy
Streetwiseguy PowerDork
7/30/15 7:21 p.m.

Cordless tool battery, or 6 d cells in series. Then don't sit in the seat while moving it, and don't run both up motors at the same time.

Junkyard_Dog
Junkyard_Dog SuperDork
7/30/15 7:22 p.m.

It's a cell phone charger I swear.

http://themicrostart.com/

Dusterbd13
Dusterbd13 UltraDork
7/30/15 7:23 p.m.

Just want to make sure that the motors and adjustments work. Leather is in perfect shape.

And I do have to move one forward to get the rear bolts out.

The junkyard is 68mi each way. I was near it today for an interview. Will be close tomorrow. After that....

My sawzall battery is a porter cable 18 volt. Non lithium.

Continue guys. Don't want to piss away 80 $ on broken seats.

Hungary Bill
Hungary Bill GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
7/30/15 7:30 p.m.

Go for it. If they don't work then they stay in the yard and nothing is lost.

I don't think a portable 18v battery is going to hurt the 12v seats (didn't know if that was a concern of yours)

Good luck!

ggarrard
ggarrard GRM+ Memberand Reader
7/30/15 7:40 p.m.

I've used my 18v drill battery to check window regulators etc., but the local yard also rents batteries for a couple bucks to those who want to check out components. Might be worth asking if they would have a battery you could borrow

dean1484
dean1484 GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
7/30/15 7:59 p.m.

The yard I go to will test before sale. To make sure things work. Ask if the will come out to the car with a jump box with them to test it and move the seat. They will if they want to sell it.

Hell my yard will flip cars over with the fork truck for me to get at suspension parts. But I have been going there for a very long time.

Vigo
Vigo PowerDork
7/30/15 10:19 p.m.

I would confidently and fearlessly jumper my Ryobi 18v cordless battery for this purpose, and it would work fine.

ssswitch
ssswitch HalfDork
7/30/15 10:51 p.m.

The DeWalt batteries will also serve if you want to do some impromptu welding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bABCvucGATc

(language, but nobody should really be surprised)

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