Again. 
(No :smack: 'cause I’m too tired.)
Any of my co-workers would give me a boost, but I was working super-late today, so they’re all gone, and there’s nobody else in the industrial complex here. AMA says it’s “hours” 'till the guy with the battery in the truck gets here, so… hello hours of bleary web surfing.
Hmm. I’m starting to think I’m better off walking out to a bus-stop, if they’re still running.
Also, I can’t believe there are no spare power supplies around that I could convert in to trickle chargers. I must bring in some old hardware tomorrow.
I think that was the phone!
Go get it!
I did! It was the AMA guy, who told me that car batteries aren’t meant to last more than 5 years.
I’m not sure if the 10 minute drive home was enough to recharge it, but since I only live 1 block away from a car battery sales outlet, I should be able to sort something out tomorrow. 
Is AMA the Canadian equivalent to AAA?
We had one that lasted 7 years. Lucky the cops and a tow truck were there when it decided to croak!
Hey, my first time linking directly to a single post!
No. Well, perhaps there’s an auto service organization named AMA but the AAA equivalent is CAA. And they have reciprocity with AAA members (we found this out the hard way!).
What’s AMA?
The OP’s in Edmonton, so it looks like the AMA is the Alberta Motor Association, the provincial branch of the CAA: http://www.ama.ab.ca/cps/rde/xchg/ama
Sounds like you need a portable jump starter
Handy for when you find yourself alone in the parking lot with a dead battery.
Install a relay that only allows the seat heater to work when the car is on. You need to do that when you install aftermarket rear defoggers too. I know this.
My car is a 1996 model, which I bought in 1998. I changed the battery for the first time in early 2007.
It hadn’t died, but the car was in for other work and the guys tested it when the car was off and said it was only about 25% charged or something like that and he didn’t think I should keep it too much longer “just in case”. He was shocked to find out that it was a 10-11 year old battery (I know it wasn’t changed in 1998 because I was getting the work done at the dealership who sold it, and they had no record of it either).
My husband’s company has 24-hour on-site security, and they have a portable booster in their office, as well as cables in the security truck. You should suggest something like this for your company. Heck, my previous company also hired out a crew to shovel cars out of the lot when they are snowed in at the end of the work day. Gotta be prepared in Montreal winters!
We actually boosted another employee last weekend, who didn’t know that security could have helped him, and who was freezing his ass off in -25C weather+wind waiting for someone to come along on a Sunday and help him!
I’d get someone to check the wiring to your cigarette lighter. Every car I’ve ever driven was built so that the cigarette lighter was only powered when the ignition was at least in the “accessories” position. The only way that the seat heater should flatten the battery would be if the car was left with the keys in and switched to “accessories” or “on”.
If the battery was flat and the keys weren’t in the car I would suspect that the battery finally gave up the ghost and it had nothing to do with the seat heater.
I seem to recall that my 1980-something F-150 would power something through the cigarette lighter even if the keys were out of the ignition. I would always have to consciously unplug things before leaving the truck or else the battery would die.
ETA: Maybe it is only a feature of newer automobiles?
Both my GMC Yukon Denali and Ford Lincoln Towncar have full 12V DC in all accessory plugs even with the car off.
The vehicles that I am familiar with have all had the cigarette lighter activated via the ignition to prevent battery discharge when the keys are out.
Accessory outlets to me are those that are generally wired to a secondary battery as in 4WDs to power fridges etc. without discharging the main (starting) battery.
Maybe we just do things differently in Oz.
That’s the ideal set up. Not many people have it. I did in one vehicle for camping purposes.
I second this. every care should have one but you have to make sure it is charge every once and a while :smack:.
