New car battery

[convertisaab]

Hi cheshired5,

Very intrigued by your statement :-

"Luckily, if you understand enough about a battery's capabilities, maintain a healthy electrical system and make your car a good starter, you can make a battery last a couple of decades easily."

I would be VERY interested to learn what I could do to make my car batteries last that long !!

I also imagine their are plenty of others of the same opinion.

[cheshired5]

Originally Posted by convertisaab

Hi cheshired5,

Very intrigued by your statement :-

"Luckily, if you understand enough about a battery's capabilities, maintain a healthy electrical system and make your car a good starter, you can make a battery last a couple of decades easily."

I would be VERY interested to learn what I could do to make my car batteries last that long !!

I also imagine their are plenty of others of the same opinion.

Hi convertisaab,

If you really want your battery to last the ownership of your car, you first of all need to treat it as a starting battery only in so much that the only drain on the battery is starting the car and the standby current when the car isn't being used.
Remember that if the engine is running, your battery has no load on it.
The general rule for standby current is <50mA and if you click on the link in my signature, there is a detailed video showing how you check your standby current is within spec.

Ref: starting and charging, there are also videos showing how to check your charging system so that your battery is being sufficiently replenished as well as a video covering starter motor operation and testing.
Your car should start within 2 seconds always, regardless of temperature and there are many ways to ensure that your car remains a good starter, pretty much all of which are covered in my videos.
You can increase your battery CCA as much as you like but if you get into the realms of prolonged cranking time, your battery won't last long, period.

If it's not practical or convenient for you to avoid high, engine off battery drains, your battery also won't last regardless of how expensive it so paying extra to up the Ah won't make an appreciable long term difference.

It's no surprise to me that in a thread about replacing batteries, not once has a single voltage measurement or any other test been mentioned.
People just replace batteries like it's a consumable item and the definite cause of starting/electrical issues but there may be an underlying reason as to why the battery needed to be changed prematurely.....yes, to me at least, sub 10 years is premature.

If you are hard on your battery, for much less money than a replacement, you could invest in a smart charger that can safely restore a battery and prolong its life.
I have a video showing how even my puny motorbike battery smart charger restored a totally dead car battery. An extreme example but it shows that a clear 24-48 hours charging once or twice a year may mean you never buy a battery again.

I've bought 1 battery in 27 years of driving and I'm on my 6th 200k mile vehicle so I'm either lucky or maybe there's some truth in the above.

[footman]

I was quoted £102 plus 10% discount from Arnold Clarke Volvo, Stirling.
I am driving original battery on V70 2.4d 2008, i also leave the tailgate open lots because of smelly border collies ,meaning that the tailgate lights are on a lot when stationary.
I didn't bet any tech details about it, but car is in for service in December so will have existing checked.

Footman

[cheshired5]

Originally Posted by footman

i also leave the tailgate open lots because of smelly border collies ,meaning that the tailgate lights are on a lot when stationary.

If you're leaving doors or the tailgate open for any length of time, you could push in the internal catches.
This will trigger the microswitch and the computer will think everything is closed, all courtesy lighting will go out and the battery drain will be reduced significantly.

When you're done, just release the internal catch by operating the door/tailgate handle in the normal way.

[960kg]

Just to help!!.....those considering upgrading to a higher amp battery it is not recommended as the factory fitted item should be used.

The alternator and it`s generating parts are designed to charge the battery that was standard on the motor.

The upgraded battery may never be charged right up due to the not beefed up parts of the alternator to suit.

So your upgraded battery is performing under par and you don`t even know it is?......so therefore a waste of money.

Mercedes use VARTA batteries and i changed mine just 9 months ago after 10 years of it`s use and there was nothing wrong with it at all, so that was a waste also but at least i know this new one will last another 10 years. I have always carried out preventative maintenance.

Some models of Mercedes use two batteries one in the boot for lights ECU etc and the other in the engine compartment for only starting and being mainly auto`s give good turning over capability all the time.

[convertisaab]

Hi cheshired5, sorry for late response. Many thanks for all the info. Will need to digest all of that, and borrow a meter to carry out some checks.

[Tannaton]

Originally Posted by 960kg

Just to help!!.....those considering upgrading to a higher amp battery it is not recommended as the factory fitted item should be used.

The alternator and it`s generating parts are designed to charge the battery that was standard on the motor.

The upgraded battery may never be charged right up due to the not beefed up parts of the alternator to suit.

So your upgraded battery is performing under par and you don`t even know it is?......so therefore a waste of money.

Sorry but I have to disagree with you on this. Most car alternators these days are 60 Amps or more. 100 or even 120 Amp is not uncommon. The current drawn in charging even a totally flat car battery would never be even close to a half of this. A 6 Amp cheap home battery charger from Halfords will charge any car battery - it just takes longer with a larger one.

I do agree that a standard sized battery in good health should be more than enough for any car these days, but there is no issues with charging larger batteries (just ask any caravanner with a split charge relay system...)