RE: 5000CST Euros (use of parking lights)

[Aleksander Mierzwa <alex@matrix.com.pl>]

I think US parking lights are 5W, just like euros. There are also side
markers (3W ?) on US cars. This makes 2 * 5W for parking lights, 2 * 3W for
side markers, 2 * 5W for tail lights and at least 10W for interior lights.
So we've got 36W / 12V = 3A current draw. 
The battery in 5K/100/200 cars has usually 65Ah capacity, so one could
expect it to last about 21 hours with parking lights on. However, if the
battery is more than 2/3 discharged, there probably won't be enough starting
power to start the car. Moreover, the battery loses it's capacity with age
and if you use the car for short trips, it doesn't have a chance to get
fully charged. If your battery was old and/or wasn't fully charged, 8 hours
seems about right. That's why some European cars enable you to left the
parking lights on only one side of the vehicle (you choose with turn signal
switch what side it be, depending on which side of the street you have
parked) with interior lights off. This makes for only 10W = less than 1A
current draw.

Aleksander Mierzwa
Warsaw, Poland
mailto:alex@matrix.com.pl
87 Audi 5000CS turbo (mine)
88 Renault Medallion wagon (mom's)
91 mountain bike (just in case both cars broke at the same time :-)

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Phil Rose [SMTP:pjrose@servtech.com]
> Sent:	Thursday, February 19, 1998 6:01 PM
> To:	quattro@coimbra.ans.net
> Subject:	RE: 5000CST Euros (use of parking lights)
> 
> This raises a question that I've had for a while. I value the feature on
> our Audis (and many European cars) of the headlights turning off when the
> ignition is switched off. When this happens, the "parking lights" remain
> ON--allowing their use as described by Aleksander but also drawing down
> the
> battery-- eventually.
> 
> Now my question: How many hours can the (US version) parking lights burn
> before they'd be expected to seriously discharge a battery (that was
> initially fully charged and in good condition)?
> 
> I'd expect that 12 hrs _ought_ to be safe, although the first time I left
> these lights on (inadvertantly) the battery was killed within about 8 hrs.
> I assumed the battery (or the charging system) wasn't in great condition
> to
> begin with. Any data points out there?
> 
> BTW, is US parking light wattage different than the Euro style?
> 
> Phil Rose		Rochester, NY
> '89 100			pjrose@servtech.com
> 
>