Battery Maintenance

SteveJW

Controversial Reply
1996 Mazda 323f
Stands outside all week, started up once a week to go to the local shops, round trip of three miles
Never lets me down, so how does that work
Starter hardly turns the engine before it fires up, high output alternator ????
Old Ford Cortina, even when everything was in tip top order, how slow the starter turned over the engine
As to batteries lasting longer 20 years ago, I don't think so, most people had an home charger

Guess the Mazda will now throw a fit and fail to start :-) :rotfl:

Carrot007

Terry98 wrote: »

It's petrol and it's serviced every 1-2 years. I only do about 3000 miles a year and quite a few short journeys of about 10 miles in total each trip.

Sounds like you should be servicing it twice a year and charging the battery regularly to me.

facade

Paradigm wrote: »

How do they make a "designed to fail sooner" battery?

Less lead in the plates for one thing.

Pick up a starter battery, and a leisure battery of the same capacity (that is designed for 70-80% discharge) and you will feel the difference.


Also there are "improvements" in separator technology and construction......

Strider590

Paradigm wrote: »

How do they make a "designed to fail sooner" battery?

facade wrote: »

Less lead in the plates for one thing.

Pick up a starter battery, and a leisure battery of the same capacity (that is designed for 70-80% discharge) and you will feel the difference.


Also there are "improvements" in separator technology and construction......

Lets also not forget that they're now "maintenance free", the technology hasn't really changed and they still need topping up, but now they're designed to stop you doing so.

savemoney

I do about same amount of miles and have a smart chargers which I use a couple of times a year. I have a plug that connects directly to the battery so its just a case of plugging charger in my outside electrical socket and connect the charger to the plug on battery.

I only do a long trip once a month and my car also turns off engine when I stop so I have to disabled that at night although thankfully don't do much night driving but I also have auto lights which come on quite easily this time of year

Strider590

^^ The thing with lights/heaters/etc causing battery issues is a bit of a myth, most cars charge the battery at a rate of around 4amps, most modern car alternators are capable of kicking out at least 90amps, none of your electrical equipment drains the battery once the engine is running because the alternator powers everything.

The truth is that lead acid batteries really hate cold temperatures, cold actually reduces the effective capacity, so much so that one of the specs a battery has "CCA" or cold cranking amps, refers to how much current the battery is capable of kicking out at 0 degrees celsius without the voltage dropping below 7.2volts.

This idea that having lights/heaters/wipers on causes battery failures is probably something that spread as gossip from an over simplification used by roadside assistance technicians to help make dumb drivers feel less dumb.

Mr.Generous

I had a look at my battery the other day, it has a stated rating of 70ah , so if it charged at 4ah and was completely flat it would take ... many hours. I realise they dont achieve full power and is probably never totally flat, but equally does the charger give a genuine 4ah charge?

My car doesn't get much use and I had to do a 12 hour charge once last winter, I expect to do the same at some point this year. It cranks slower when its pretty much flat. Car is a 59 plate so getting on a bit. Serviced annually by me using 0-40 oil so thin from cold for easier starting, it is the correct oil for the car before anyone starts shouting!

Terry98

AdrianC wrote: »

Is the starter spinning the engine, which is then failing to fire?
Or is the starter not spinning the engine?

At the moment all is ok. I am just trying to insure I do not get a dead battery out of the blue like the last time just over two years ago.

From some of the excellent advice given on this thread it looks like:

I need to get the car serviced once a year

I need to charge the battery. How often? I have a basic charger. Will that suffice?

Do longer runs more often. How long is a good run?

This is the battery I have at the moment http://www.halfords.com/motoring/bulbs-blades-batteries/car-batteries/halfords-calcium-battery-hcb063-4-yr-guarantee The car is a 2004 1.8 Mondeo.

For all the hassle it caused last time I was thinking of buying a new battery and keeping it 'just in case' but I might have to get a new car first:rotfl::rotfl:

missile

Batteries do not suddenly fail "out of the blue".

AdrianC

Terry98 wrote: »

For all the hassle it caused last time I was thinking of buying a new battery and keeping it 'just in case'

Pointless. One thing batteries REALLY don't like is standing around unused, discharged. If and when you need one, you can just order one online and get it next working day. A cheap unbranded 063 is not much more than £25 delivered.