battery charging

123oleary

hi all, my car wouldnt start yesterday due to a flat battery. i put the battery on charge for about 6 hours and the car then started . i took the car for a drive for about 20 miles at 40-70 mph. is this enough to fully recharge the battery? i usually only use the car once a week to go to work in which is about 4 miles each way. is such a short trip recharging the battery as much as i am flattening it when starting the engine? the battery is 10 months old

zeon999

Na that journey is not long enough to keep charging your battery, the question of wether 6 hours is enough to charge your battery I would say no but it depends on the charger, but most home battery chargers are 24 hour chargers.

My advise would be to start using the car more make sure once a week you go for a good size journy somewhere, not sure where you must have somewhere you can go but this will do the whole car some good cos sort runs like your doing is bad for near enough every part on your car. Really bad for batteries exhuasts and engine parts.

vaio

4 miles isn’t enough to charge it particularly on cold dark days. Either trickle charge occasionally or take it for a longer run

vansboy

It does sound like the battery isn't quite up to the job. Ask the garage/store where you bought it to to check it for you. They should be able to do this with it on the car.

They'll possibly test the alternator at the same time, to see if it's charging properly.

& yes, I'll agree, batteries do like to be used, to have a long life!

VB

goldspanners

a lot of car spares shops will offer free battery load test ing,this is the easiest and most accurate way of testing your battery.
as others have said,4 miles ones a week isnt that good for it,especially in the winter when its cold and dark.
if your battery is 10 months old you may still have warranty on this.you will need a reciept though.

harveybobbles

So the car gets driven 8 miles a week? this is just not enough to keep a battery working fine! By the time you've thrown the central locking, turned the ignition on, fuel pump and all the other bits that sap power, then start the thing on a cold morning, have the heated screens on, heater on full blast, wipers a few times, then drive 4 miles and turn the poor thing off then no wonder the battery has collapsed lol!

cyclonebri1

harveybobbles wrote: »

So the car gets driven 8 miles a week? this is just not enough to keep a battery working fine! By the time you've thrown the central locking, turned the ignition on, fuel pump and all the other bits that sap power, then start the thing on a cold morning, have the heated screens on, heater on full blast, wipers a few times, then drive 4 miles and turn the poor thing off then no wonder the battery has collapsed lol!

It could actually have done just that, especially if it was a budget battery. Take it back to another motor factor to be tested, and then even if it tests oK take it back to where you got it from. Some places just don't seem to know how to test a battery.

Don't tell them how you use the car, they don't need to know.

Wig

You might save money overall if you got rid of the car and paid for taxi/bus (assuming you can't walk or ride a bike to work).

It's your individual choice to have a car - of course - am just saying what I would do if I were you (on the facts as presented) you should think about the cost of
Depreciation of the car value,
Tax,
Insurance,
MOT and repairs.

Tozer

I have a little sports car that gets tucked away for the winter in a garage. It is on a trickle charger - about £30 and keeps the battery in perfect condition. Note - it is different to a simple charger which should not be left on all the time.

If you garage your car, it may be a good investment and takes seconds to install / uninstall. If you leave the car outside, a solar battery charge puts about 2w (on a bright day) into the battery. This may be enough to just keep it topped up.

123oleary

thanks for the answers all, how far do i have to drive the car in one trip to charge the battery to make up for the starting load etc i don't put the flat battery down to a fault , i know its the lack of use thats flattening it i just wondered how often and far i have to drive to keep the battery charged up, i know short trips take a lot out of the battery

Tozer

I think it depends on all sorts of circumstances - cold outside air temperature decreases battery performance. Also, what sort of equipment do you have 'on' in the car whilst on the drive. Imobiliser? Alarm? All constitute a drain.

If you want reliability, you should be assuming that you are doing (from a full battery) 30 miles at least per week in my view. But a battery discharging is not linear - i.e. it does not go down 5% each week till flat. As soon as it drops below the requisite voltage, it will not turn the starter motor.