Expected life of a car battery?

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Laney760

PS. Funny enough the previous Bosch Silver didn't last that long either but I had put that down to the fact that I'd ended up storing it from new for a couple of years immediately after purchase due to a change in circumstances!

Don't mention that when you try to take it back (assuming it's still under warranty) as the first thing they'll do is try to reject the claim. If batteries are stored for any length of time, they need charging every few months to prevent sulphation.

If you end up having to buy another battery and have a trickle charger, all isn't necessarily lost though. Set it up somewhere you can keep an eye on it and fit one of these to it with the trickle charger :

http://extralifepulse.com/pages/extr...terypulse.html

If you charge for 4 days on trickle then turn the charger off (but leave it connected holding the desulphator terminals on the battery terminals), leave it 4-6 days then switch the charger back on and repeat this cycle for a few months (3-4 usually does it) there's a very good chance of recovering your Bosch battery. So far i've recovered 3 out of 4 sulphated batteries, 2 very successfully that are now in regular service. The third i'm still not convinced about but it's serving a useful purpose in my shed on low loads so not too worried at the moment.

They're also sold on ebay but you pay extra for the P&P on ebay!

[Laney760]

Dave, it was the previous battery which was stored, not this one, that one came from eBay, not ECP. My plan when I return home from Wiltshire is to put the Bosch on a trickle charge and I am going to order one of the Lucas lead acid to arrive after I get home.

[Laird Scooby]

Sounds like a good plan Ellie and sorry i misunderstood which battery had been stored!

My experience with the seller of the lead-acid battery is you place the order today, it is despatched tomorrow by 24 hour courier and arrives the day after, might be a bit different at the moment because of the holiday period and bank holidays etc.

[827Roverman]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Half the problem Ellie is that the Bosch Silver is Silver-Calcium technology. Without going into great detail, they normally need a higher charging voltage than the alternators on cars 20+ years old develop.
Many people are lucky and the battery performs quite well for a few years then the lack of voltage to charge it means it starts sulphating as Clan suggested although he was suggesting shorter journeys on a plain lead-acid battery. Your longer journeys have probably been the saviour that prolonged the life of it.

See how you get on with your receipt and ECP, if you get no joy, treat yourself (and your car!) to one of these :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HB096-Lea...v/192434766703

It's the heavy duty version of what i suspect you have (027), fits nicely in the battery tray but more importantly, is plain lead-acid so is better matched to your alternator than a silver-calcium or calcium technology battery will be. They're fine for cars made after about 2000 with alternators that charge at a higher voltage and often have stop-start systems fitted but sadly not much good for our older cars.

Another member on here David aka 827roverman had similar troubles with his 940 and a Halfrauds supplied silver calcium battery (their own brand if memory serves, believed to be made by Bosch) and when he took it back and had it changed to a normal lead-acid battery his problems disappeared :

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/ba...ee-950618.html

That's the battery he now has, problem solved until recently when he was using the car less and had a piece of kit connected that was drawing an excessive amount of current.

Out of those two batteries i'd go for the ebay one for the extra capacity, i've had batteries from the same people without any problems except the last one which was a "cosmetic battery"* which turned out to be a calcium one. I added something to increase the charging voltage and problem solved.

Plenty of options out there but avoid anything that has "Silver" or "Calcium" on it.

* Cosmetic battery - sold cheap as labels have been removed due to minor damage like scratches or been fitted and returned because there was another problem on the vehicle and the terminals are scuffed - could be an option if Xmas has wiped you out and ECP don't honour the warranty for whatever reason.

Take Dave's advice, get the Lucas battery , I'm also investing in a 10w solar panel to keep things topped up, David.

[wrinkles]

7 years and still going strong Varta battery.

[Dannydude]

At this time of the year (as it's colder), all of those older tired batteries will throw up a low battery warning. Try this web site, they have so many brands to choose from. I got my 096 and AUX9 AGM VARTA's from them at a very accommodating price.

https://www.tayna.co.uk/

On a P3 model, reset the BMS Counter to zero days using VIDA/Dice or watch this You Tube video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu9z5m78Szw

Happy Volvo driving!

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Dannydude

At this time of the year (as it's colder), all of those older tired batteries will throw up a low battery warning. Try this web site, they have so many brands to choose from. I got my 096 and AUX9 AGM VARTA's from them at a very accommodating price.

https://www.tayna.co.uk/

On a P3 model, reset the BMS Counter to zero days using VIDA/Dice or watch this You Tube video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu9z5m78Szw

Happy Volvo driving!

Comparing like with like :

https://www.tayna.co.uk/car-batteries/lucas/lc096/

the one already linked to further up works out cheaper. Only by a couple of quid including delivery granted but still cheaper.

[jpliddy]

Originally Posted by wrinkles

7 years and still going strong Varta battery.

hi has this thread been raised before ?any way here we go .
got car in setptember 1999 battery replaced 2001 .VARTA BATTERY
replaced battery 2008 .VARTA battery
replaced battery 2017 VARTA battery
so up to date see how this one lasts cost £87 less £9 for old battery at scrap yard !
its good we all have different opinions . car is the 940 .TDI .auto . unless something not set up on these engines correctly ,timing out or glow plugs failing
this engine is renowned for starting 1st turn of the key .on time every time
so battery is not over worked on start up ever!

[Bonefishblues]

Originally Posted by 827Roverman

Take Dave's advice, get the Lucas battery , I'm also investing in a 10w solar panel to keep things topped up, David.

Tell more please - esp as I am sorning one vehicle in winter and one in summer. I'd thought about this via a OBD-port kit, but didn't get around to it before I covered the C70.

This one, in fact:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154205536086

Worth doing?

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Bonefishblues

Tell more please - esp as I am sorning one vehicle in winter and one in summer. I'd thought about this via a OBD-port kit, but didn't get around to it before I covered the C70.

This one, in fact:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154205536086

Worth doing?

Very doubtful with that one - there is no indication of what power output it is.

That means you have no idea if it will cover your needs or not.

However, this one is a known quantity :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AA-4-8W-X...y/184168474667

However, bear in mind that at this time of the year there is at best 6 hours of daylight (never mind sunlight!) so for practical purposes you can say at best it's a 1.2W panel which is 0.1A of current (spread over 24 hours) assuming there is enough light (from the sun) to produce this much.

Average current drain to cover ECUs, alarm, radio memory etc is generally 40-50mA or 0.04-0.05A so the 4.8W unit will probably cover what you need, assuming we get enough sunny days (about 50%) to give the necessary output.

It doesn't come with the OBD lead though.