Do I need to change battery?

adzy77

Hi all, so i've been working from home for a few months now so not using the car as much, just the odd trip to the shop and back, nothing more than 15-20 minutes. I then went to start it over the weekend after a couple of days in the freezing cold and although it started first time, it chugged a little bit and took a good few seconds to finally start.

I checked voltage of the battery the next morning after sitting all day and it was 11.8 at the time and then when starting the car the cranking voltage dropped to around 9 then back up to over 14.

Is it just the cold thats not helping here and if I take it out for a proper driveevery now and then, can I still live with this battery for many more months to come if I keep an eye on it?

Its a stop start model so you are looking at £150+ for a new battery, something I could do without buying at the moment unless really needed.

Grumpy_chap

If the car started first time, what more do you want?

How old is the battery?  If it is near to end of natural life, a planned change can avoid inconvenience.

AdrianC

When you say "it chugged a little bit and took a good few seconds to finally start", do you mean it was turning over slowly, or that it was turning over fine but not firing?

If the latter, then it's not a battery issue.
If the former, then jump start it, or get the battery on a charger. And give it more use.

If this is the first time it's been discharged, it'll probably survive - batteries have a huge headroom of capacity. But the more it gets discharged, the more likely you are to have problems. Stop-start shenanigans will probably be your first indication.

adzy77

Grumpy_chap said:

If the car started first time, what more do you want?

How old is the battery?  If it is near to end of natural life, a planned change can avoid inconvenience.

Just that although it started first time, it did struggle and that just made me wonder. Unsure of how old it is, ive had the car 2 years but not sure how long it was in before that.

Grumpy_chap

How old is the car?

Alfrescodave

Before "chugging" off to buy a new battery, why not get a battery charger and give the battery an occasional boost whilst you're working from home.

adzy77

AdrianC said:

When you say "it chugged a little bit and took a good few seconds to finally start", do you mean it was turning over slowly, or that it was turning over fine but not firing?

If the latter, then it's not a battery issue.
If the former, then jump start it, or get the battery on a charger. And give it more use.

If this is the first time it's been discharged, it'll probably survive - batteries have a huge headroom of capacity. But the more it gets discharged, the more likely you are to have problems. Stop-start shenanigans will probably be your first indication.

It was turning over slowly. I'll get it on a charger.

What will be causing it to discharge, or does that still happen if its sitting there doing nothing?

adzy77

Grumpy_chap said:

How old is the car?

Its just turned 9 years old. Would like to think it already had a new one before I got it, but it could also quite possibly be the original

daveyjp

Take the car on a decent run, 30-40 miles, then check the battery charge level.  If it isn't fully charged it will probably be on its way out.

ECP have some good deals at the moment.  A friend needed a stop start battery and it was coming in at about £150.  ECP new year discounts saw this down to £95.

AdrianC

adzy77 said:

What will be causing it to discharge, or does that still happen if its sitting there doing nothing?

It isn't "doing nothing". The alarm is set. The remote locking is listening for a signal to unlock. ECU memories are powered up.

Then you aren't using it much, so not fully charging it. Vehicles with stop-start tend to have smart alternators which decide how much charge is needed and how much load to put on the engine. They may well charge at a reduced rate initially, to reduce the load on a cold engine. Infrequent short journeys, with lights and wipers and window demisters and heater fan all going...

adzy77

daveyjp said:

Take the car on a decent run, 30-40 miles, then check the battery charge level.  If it isn't fully charged it will probably be on its way out.

ECP have some good deals at the moment.  A friend needed a stop start battery and it was coming in at about £150.  ECP new year discounts saw this down to £95.

Thanks, ill take a look