Battery In Trunk = Good!

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I have the original battery from 2006 in my car. I went away on vacation and therefore the car sat outside for 8 days. Today it was 5 degrees Fahrenheit when I went to start the car to clean the snow off of it. Started right up with no problems.

I have a 2011 vehicle in the driveway that needed a new battery as soon as the temperatures dropped this year. That vehicle has the battery in the engine bay.

Heat, not cold, is what apparently kills these things.
 
Not necessarily. The charging system has more to do with battery life than most people know. Also, you are comparing two different vehicles with different batteries. My BMW has the battery under the back seat, and one battery lasted 11 years and I had one that lasted 2 years.
 
Originally Posted By: Bluestream
Not necessarily. The charging system has more to do with battery life than most people know. Also, you are comparing two different vehicles with different batteries. My BMW has the battery under the back seat, and one battery lasted 11 years and I had one that lasted 2 years.


The OEM one lasted 11 years? What brand was the second one?
 
I have to agree. I had a 2001 Pontiac Bonneville that had the engine under the rear seat. It seemed strange at the time, but it was actually a boon for installing car audio, and the batteries tended to last about 8 years before they died.
 
GM thinks so and this was stated as one of the primary reasons the battery is in the floorboard of all GM Lambda platform vehicles (Buick Enclaves, Chevrolet Traverses, GMC Acadias, and Saturn Outlooks). Continued exposure to heat weakens the battery and when the first cold snap happens, it kills the battery due to more force required to spin the engine.

Interstate Battery does too...
 
General rule for ANY battery chemistry: the higher the temperature, the faster it ages... the colder the temperature, the longer it will last. That goes for ANY type of battery, to a point.

Even if you are not using the battery, heat will degrade. Cold preserves.
 
Originally Posted By: NHGUY
Engine under the seat? That sounds like a early Toyota VAN.


It was very convenient having the engine under the seat!

The battery was close to the 2nd row bench seats.

Oh, how I miss that van!
 
Agree. I sold more batteries in the summer than winter when I worked at NAPA. Most "no starts' in winter are from poor battery care, bad cables or bad grounds.
 
Well known that heat is one of the biggest killers of the
ordinary wet lead cell car battery. Many European cars have
insulation blankets around the battery to protect it from direct heat, and they DO work.
 
Well that sure does explain battery failures here in Arizona. Batteries last 2, MAYBE 3 years before they die, tops. Only battery lasting longer than that I know of is my great-uncle's car. He lives in Europe during the summer so the car isn't used in this heat
 
Originally Posted By: antiqueshell
Well known that heat is one of the biggest killers of the
ordinary wet lead cell car battery. Many European cars have
insulation blankets around the battery to protect it from direct heat, and they DO work.


My Jeep came with a bubble wrap type jacket around the battery, presumably for the same purpose.
 
Originally Posted By: oilpsi2high
Originally Posted By: Bluestream
Not necessarily. The charging system has more to do with battery life than most people know. Also, you are comparing two different vehicles with different batteries. My BMW has the battery under the back seat, and one battery lasted 11 years and I had one that lasted 2 years.


The OEM one lasted 11 years? What brand was the second one?


No, OEM (Varta) lasted 2 years. I don't recall the brand of the second one that went 11 years, but I bought it from my fiend who was in the battery business.
 
Originally Posted By: oldhp
Agree. I sold more batteries in the summer than winter when I worked at NAPA. Most "no starts' in winter are from poor battery care, bad cables or bad grounds.


That goes against info I have for my area, where winter is by far the busy season for battery sales. Not much strain on the battery starting an engine in the summer.
 
Originally Posted By: oilpsi2high


Heat, not cold, is what apparently kills these things.



Absolutely. Batteries start ageing from the secomd they are formed. Precisely why small power equipment batteries (and most others back in the day) were shipped dry and the electrolyte is added at first use.

Chemical ageing is indeed a major degradation phenomena, increasing impedance and reducing active material to take part in the electrochemical reaction. Remember that reaction rates double for every 8-10 degrees C, so a hotter battery will have much more rapid degradation than a cooler one.

The other thing that kills lead acid batteries is being undercharged. In climate controlled float service, IPS battery warranties are going up to 15-20 years! An alternator does not do the proper charge profile, so though the energy removed by starting is miniscule, the true state of charge is not perfect, and so they degrade to the point that a 10 year battery is rare, and a 5 year battery is fairly long life even in cooler climates.

Originally Posted By: Bluestream
Originally Posted By: oldhp
Agree. I sold more batteries in the summer than winter when I worked at NAPA. Most "no starts' in winter are from poor battery care, bad cables or bad grounds.


That goes against info I have for my area, where winter is by far the busy season for battery sales. Not much strain on the battery starting an engine in the summer.


That's again because reaction rates are slower in the cold. So you have a trifecta of issues - less volatile fuel in an engine that doesn't want to crank, lower battery voltage due to Gibbs free energy, and slower chemical reactions that don't produce current as readily.

The same cold temps that prevent chemical degradation also prevent electrochemical reaction...
 
Originally Posted By: 2010_FX4
GM thinks so and this was stated as one of the primary reasons the battery is in the floorboard of all GM Lambda platform vehicles (Buick Enclaves, Chevrolet Traverses, GMC Acadias, and Saturn Outlooks). Continued exposure to heat weakens the battery and when the first cold snap happens, it kills the battery due to more force required to spin the engine.

Interstate Battery does too...


That's why they have an integrated ice cooler for their batteries
dR6QjS6.jpg
 
The aircooled bug had the battery under the rear seat. MGBs had two six volts in series in the later years and many an owner who did not own that only put water in ONE. They were also positive ground.
 
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