Crap crap crap

I saw TreeSap’s boyfriend at work today. He seemed his normal hyper-talkative slightly off self so I have no idea what’s going on there. Work was just a madhouse today. Seriously, there was no reason for it.

On the way home the battery light on my dash lit up. Not good. I’m not sure what’s going on though – I haven’t lost the alternator belt, and the voltage gauge (right above the battery light) was reading smack in the middle of the "Normal" range. I did however turn everything the hell off, just in case. GPS, radio, A/C fan (the compressor wasn’t on), the accessory power cords in my 12V outlets were pulled out (they have LEDs on them) and even the cruise control. I didn’t know what was going on with the electrical system and I was six or so miles from home.

Fortunately I have, left over from my days in Florida, a fully automatic Sears battery charger. I had a bad alternator in the Corsica I was driving at the time and was trying to save up money. Hard to do if you can’t get to work, so every night I hauled my battery into my apartment and charged it up. When I hooked it up the meter was reading 75% charge, so I wasn’t too bad off, and the green "Fully Charged" LED is now lit so I’m good to go. I’m going to leave it hooked up though so it can trickle-charge all night. I’m not sure what kind of electrical demands my car has while the engine is shut off and there is not a key in the ignition. I left all the optional stuff unplugged, but I really don’t want to take any chances. I’m going to have the guys in the back check the battery tomorrow at work, and if it’s just a bad battery I’ll go ahead and replace it. If the alternator is bad I’m well and truly screwed. The only think I can do at that point is a) not make *any* unnecessary trips and b) buy a solar panel charger and let the battery trickle charge in the parking lot all day while I’m at work.

Crap.

And now suddenly I can’t even get a price for a battery online. I know they can’t ship one to me, but in this situation I’d like to be able to comparison shop without using the car. Grrrr. Stupid heads.