Advice regards battery

sassy_one

Hi all.


At present I am in the middle of getting a replacement battery.
My question is however, is there anything anyone can recommend for a lot of stop/starting?

I often start my car anything from 2-15 times in one day.
And with the head lights on as it's getting dark earlier, the battery is taking a big hit daily.

I am thinking that even with a new battery it's only going to last another year due to the amount of load I have placing it under.

Hintza

Get the biggest battery that you can get in the box.

sassy_one

Hintza wrote: »

Get the biggest battery that you can get in the box.

That's what I did last time, it's quite abit bigger than the standard recommended Bosch battery that was fitted when I brought it.

The one I put in, only just fit with not a inch of room to move and the height just cleared the closure of the bonnet.

Not 100% sure till I take the current one out, but believe it's a 70-80 AMP battery, when Ford state only 60 AMP's are required.

I often find that as the day/evening goes by the battery is getting flatter, hence by the next day it fails to start and is so flat the clock always resets itself.

Wondering if I could get hold of a higher amp battery but same size? or is that going to bigger, if I'm thinking correct?

Hammyman

sassy-one wrote: »

I often start my car anything from 2-15 times in one day.
And with the head lights on as it's getting dark earlier, the battery is taking a big hit daily.

I am thinking that even with a new battery it's only going to last another year due to the amount of load I have placing it under.

Your battery isn't being killed, its merely losing the ability to start the car due to you not replacing the charge that was drawn when starting up. Giving it a decent charge periodically would solve all your woes.

There's a really simple and cheap solution to this. Once a week, take the car on a 30 mile run OUT OF TOWN.

Another option is to get a trickle charger and leave the battery charging up overnight once a fortnight or so.

sassy_one

Hammyman wrote: »

Your battery isn't being killed, its merely losing the ability to start the car due to you not replacing the charge that was drawn when starting up. Giving it a decent charge periodically would solve all your woes.

There's a really simple and cheap solution to this. Once a week, take the car on a 30 mile run OUT OF TOWN.

Another option is to get a trickle charger and leave the battery charging up overnight once a fortnight or so.

Well earlier today I started the car, which it did and let it idle after going out and coming back, at 2000 Revs for 10 minutes - hoping that would have put some charge in now and will see what it does tomorrow.

I will try what you say and see if that improves things.


Thanks

ariba10

Is this the first time you have replaced the battery on this car?

If it is not, it would be worth getting the charging system checked.

Most modern car charging systems should be able to cope with a reasonable amount of short journeys

sassy_one

ariba10 wrote: »

Is this the first time you have replaced the battery on this car?

If it is not, it would be worth getting the charging system checked.

Most modern car charging systems should be able to cope with a reasonable amount of short journeys

I have changed the battery once.
The battery that was in there when I brought the car was a Bosch.

After having the car about 2-3 years it started not holding a charge and leaving it overnight it would be flat the next day.

Replaced the battery last year, but only had problems recently due to the dark nights coming in and having to run head lights more often and heating.

Last time before recently had any problems the AA came out and jumped started it and did some tests on the charging system which found it was charging at teh correct rate and under load too.
So unsure.

I will try seeing if a charge once a week helps then see what to do next.
However, I do now have a spare car battery that I have had a while that is on charge so should I get any problems again I jump start it off that till I see if charging it once a week helps/replacing it.

andygb

I still have the original battery in my ten year old Mondeo, and it has never needed charging.
I would go for a Motaquip or Varta heavy duty.

josiebabie

Leaving it idling at 2000 rpm won't give it enough, contrary to popular belief. You need to give the car a long run. I deal with this issue a lot as a lot of my customers have "toy cars"

sassy_one

andygb wrote: »

I still have the original battery in my ten year old Mondeo, and it has never needed charging.
I would go for a Motaquip or Varta heavy duty.

Wondering if the V6 model uses more current?

Unsure, but yeah I will go for a well known good make if above fails

Gloomendoom

Lead acid batteries love being used but, as been said it doesn't matter how big the battery is, if you take out more than you put back in, it will eventually fail.

Trickle charging it overnight should solve your problems.