Switch off lights when parked, can damage car?


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I drive a Subaru, all the lights go out automatically when you shut it off. It's an odd feature, I don't know if it still happens on the new ones. Always a bit disconcerting when I stalled in the middle of the night when I was learning how to drive. :laugh:

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I'm by no means a car expert, but I'll add something to this to further prove that no harm can be done.

 

The electrical system is directly run by the battery.  The only difference between the car being on or off is that the alternator recharges the battery when the car is on.  I also believe the alternator is somewhat dependent on the motor RPM, so the battery will charge faster as the RPMs get higher (to an extent).  Regardless, I believe that's the basics of it.

 

So with that said, turning the lights on or off does nothing except pull a little more current from the battery.  Whether or not the car is on or off makes no difference to anything.  The only way it would affect anything is if the battery was completely dead.  But at that point, you wouldn't have been able to start the car in the first place.

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So with that said, turning the lights on or off does nothing except pull a little more current from the battery.  Whether or not the car is on or off makes no difference to anything.  The only way it would affect anything is if the battery was completely dead.  But at that point, you wouldn't have been able to start the car in the first place.

 

There's the minor issue of cold cranking amps. If you leave your lights and radio and windshield wipers on and try to start your car on a cold (zero degree) day, you might find it won't start. Granted, then you just have to turn them off with the accessory switch and try again, but some people today don't seem to realize that's an issue.

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There's the minor issue of cold cranking amps. If you leave your lights and radio and windshield wipers on and try to start your car on a cold (zero degree) day, you might find it won't start. Granted, then you just have to turn them off with the accessory switch and try again, but some people today don't seem to realize that's an issue.

 

most cars will dim the lights / turn off radio when you start them anyway to get the maximum amps from the battery to crank the engine

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I think i saw it somewhere that if you turn off your headlight while the car is off, the power might overload something. Maybe that is another BS :D

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i think i understand what your boyfriend means. If the car have a light sensor and auto-lights turns the lights on or off automatically when needed... he must be ****ed off when he hopes those smart auto-lights are turning on when it's dark, but no, because girlfriend put the switch in off :)

 

Guys are like that. I also like all my car settings to be the way i left, eheh

I vote for this explanation. It's not that he actually believes it's bad for the car--he's just irritated by an out-dated habit and tried to find an easy way to break it.

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i dont have that problem. I do not have a switch to turn on or off my headlights (I drive a Volvo) they are automated by a sensor on the dashboard :P

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Nope you're not talking crap.

 

He is lying but i can understand him getting frustrated by it. There's absolutely no reason to turn off the light on a car with an auto lights mode. You just force the next person taking it to put the lights back in auto mode again for absolutely no reason. I really hate when someone takes my car and turn off the lights.

 

Well there is always unnecessary wear and tear so technically he's correct but it's most likely she's being annoying by tinkering with settings she shouldn't be touching because they are already in the correct mode

rather than argue with the car owner you should respect their (reasonable) rules when it comes to using their car or buy your own

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