how to prevent

lucylucky

oki1875 wrote: »

Do I have to drive my car more often and for longer distances?

Not at all.

lucylucky

Strider590 wrote: »

Unless your daily mileage goes up, i'd say at the very least give it a half hour run once a week.

Personally I disagree but if the OP is concerned then they should do whatever it takes to put their mind at rest.

lucylucky

Strider590 wrote: »

Yes it's a problem....

Let's say your battery has a 45ah (amp/hour) capacity.

A starter motor can draw anything from around 50amps to 250amps.

Most cars recharge the battery at a rate of 4amps in normal conditions.

Driving for 5-6 miles will not be enough to keep the battery in good health because the current draw to start the car will not be replaced by the cars charging system.
Combine this with wipers, heater, demister, headlights, radio, etc and your barely recharging at all.

It's 10 seconds at 100amps compared to 15 minutes recharging at maybe 1 amp with all the electrics on.

Using the above my mother's car battery should have been flat years ago.:cool:

Strider590

lucylucky wrote: »

Using the above my mother's car battery should have been flat years ago.:cool:

You stated she goes out "at most three times a week" ?

The OP states 5-6 miles every day.
Your mother MIGHT get away with "at most three times a week" and come out of the winter unscathed, but every day during these conditions..... Not good
Personally I would not be allowing my mother to continue this pattern for fear of her one day being stranded. But that's none of my business.

As for your 8 year old battery, they're only designed to last 4 years and normally only guaranteed for 3 years.
I've had one last 7 years before very suddenly giving up one cold frosty morning.

The one on my current car lasted 6 years (2004 registered). When I got my recent new battery fitted I realised that I should have known it was on it's way out several months ago, JUST by how the car sounded at start up.

mikey72

Strider590 wrote: »

You stated she goes out "at most three times a week" ?

The OP states 5-6 miles every day.
Your mother MIGHT get away with "at most three times a week" and come out of the winter unscathed, but every day during these conditions..... Not good
Personally I would not be allowing my mother to continue this pattern for fear of her one day being stranded. But that's none of my business.

As for your 8 year old battery, they're only designed to last 4 years and normally only guaranteed for 3 years.
I've had one last 7 years before very suddenly giving up one cold frosty morning.

The one on my current car lasted 6 years (2004 registered). When I got my recent new battery fitted I realised that I should have known it was on it's way out several months ago, JUST by how the car sounded at start up.

What would you do, take her keys off her?

lucylucky

Strider590 wrote: »

You stated she goes out "at most three times a week" ?

The OP states 5-6 miles every day.
Your mother MIGHT get away with "at most three times a week" and come out of the winter unscathed, but every day during these conditions..... Not good
Personally I would not be allowing my mother to continue this pattern for fear of her one day being stranded. But that's none of my business.

As for your 8 year old battery, they're only designed to last 4 years and normally only guaranteed for 3 years.
I've had one last 7 years before very suddenly giving up one cold frosty morning.

The one on my current car lasted 6 years (2004 registered). When I got my recent new battery fitted I realised that I should have known it was on it's way out several months ago, JUST by how the car sounded at start up.

Well my mother in over 40 years of car ownership has never had a battery problem.

As my current car starts fine then I see no reason to worry, however if this worries the OP then they can do what has already been suggested.

Inactive

Personally, I think that the OP is worrying over nothing.

goldspanners

Inactive wrote: »

Personally, I think that the OP is worrying over nothing.

i'd agree. just use common sense.
my brothr in law and sister and fiancee are terrible with batteries. the one thing i can see that they all do wrong is jump in car,switch headlights on turn on ignition,heater fan up to full (even when cold) and then start the engine.
they're batteries last 3 -4 years tops. it doesn't matter how many times i tell them to stop giving themselves hassle and expense of buying batteries they keep doing it.

the very first thing you do when you get in the car to prolong the life of your battery is start it,then switch anything electric on.
don't put the fan on full blast when the engine hasn't heated up,all your doing is blasting out cold air.
don't put the heated rear screen on if you don't need to (brother in law drives with this on constantly,even in summer for some mad reason) this draws a hell of a lot of power from your battery.
don't leave doors,boot,glove box open for any legth of time if by leaving them open a light comes on.
my battery is now on year 7. it can sit for days not getting used then get used for maybe 3 short journeys a week (around 3 miles) and then 1 or 2 longer runs at the weekend (around 30 miles).

kiwi07

goldspanners wrote: »

i'd agree. just use common sense.
my brothr in law and sister and fiancee are terrible with batteries. the one thing i can see that they all do wrong is jump in car,switch headlights on turn on ignition,heater fan up to full (even when cold) and then start the engine.
they're batteries last 3 -4 years tops. it doesn't matter how many times i tell them to stop giving themselves hassle and expense of buying batteries they keep doing it.

the very first thing you do when you get in the car to prolong the life of your battery is start it,then switch anything electric on.
don't put the fan on full blast when the engine hasn't heated up,all your doing is blasting out cold air.
don't put the heated rear screen on if you don't need to (brother in law drives with this on constantly,even in summer for some mad reason) this draws a hell of a lot of power from your battery.
don't leave doors,boot,glove box open for any legth of time if by leaving them open a light comes on.
my battery is now on year 7. it can sit for days not getting used then get used for maybe 3 short journeys a week (around 3 miles) and then 1 or 2 longer runs at the weekend (around 30 miles).

Thank you for your advice.:)

cyclonebri1

;)Wierd one this lucylucky?, ooops mentioned it again,

Tells me to look up sarcastic in the dictionary then states, "Did I say your post was sarcastic? I think not


You will have to explain, it is actually going over my head, and not by a little, :santa2:

I think the gist of what I said to your post which went something like, "well my battery is 8 years old and is still perfect"......................, was to indicate it could die tommorrow, don't tempt providence, but if you didn't get that or find it offensive it really is over someones head. The average lifespan of an OE should be 6 to 7 year under perfect conditions. You really are lucky lucy, just a tad touchy.;)