Drained the battery by mistake- cold weather

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HK_Ace

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Ken Caryl, Colorado
We are at the ski resort and mistakenly left my keys in the ignition (ON position) so this morning the battery is obviously dead. Temps dropped close to 0 degrees. The original Toyota battery has been great and has been starting quickly in these temps the last few days. First time I have done this- got distracted putting on a windshield ice cover thingy.

Have I killed the battery? Should I just get a new one form somewhere after getting a jump or will driving around on the highway revive this battery? The battery has been excellent but is probably 5-6 years old. It is one of the originally Toyota batteries before they switched to Tru-Start or whatever...certainly not getting one of those.

If I need a new battery, I have Walmart 30 mins away and probably a few auto shops too. If I were near a Sears, I'd get a nice DieHard.
 
I used to work at a ski resort - all of them have starter trolleys for customers who do this. Ask at the ticket window/customer service or "concierge" if you are at Deer Park.
wink.gif


Just get it started and drive to recharge it. You should still be good - the OE batteries in those can be good for many more years.
 
If you aren't at the "area" parking lot like that with a jump start service handy, just getting a neighbor with cables to jump you will likely take care of you. If you jump it, the pattern (if you don't know it) is "dead car, dead lead" (that is how I learned it as a kid). Meaning: Put the negative lead of the dead car side of the circuit to ground (not the battery). So black lead on your car's end goes to engine, frame, etc. This protects both vehicles.

http://www.halfords.com/advice/motoring/how-to-guides/how-to-jump-start-a-car-guide-video

If we are talking about the 4Runner, I think those have quality 130amp Denso alternators and driving it a bit will get a solid charge back up.
 
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I'd try charge it up or have it jumped (if you have an external charger, that would be ideal) and see how it runs. If you left it discharged for a long period of time, I think that would do more damage to the battery.


At 5-6 years old, it might be a good idea to get a new one anyway, but I wouldn't go out of your way to do it at this point. And definitely drive it for as long as you can to charge it back up if you can't get it on a charger.
 
At 0 degrees I would make sure that the battery electrolyte is not frozen before you try to jump it or charge it. You don't want to risk a battery explosion trying to charge a frozen battery. If it is frozen I would just get a new one.
 
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No driving will never get the battery where it needs to be, you will need to charge it properly if you want any chance of it lasting to its full potential.

Just draining a flooded lead acid down that low one time is very detrimental to its life/cca. Might be a good idea to just replace it honestly or invest in a quality charger like a Pro Logix or Noco.
 
As long as the battery was not left uncharged for too long (24 hours seems to get you into the "Kill zone") it will likely work for awhile yet.

But......A ten year old battery has to be near its expected (Or unexpected, for that matter) life. I would replace it when I got home.
 
You would think carmakers would install a "leave key ON without engine running for more than an hour cutoff relay" to save batteries and the computer from getting fried,but alas,they can think of everything else.....
 
They used to make batteries that had a reserve battery built in, kill the main battery, flip the switch and the reserve was enough to start the car. Guess they didn't sell enough of them as I haven't seen them mentioned in years.

Anyway, you don't need an expensive charger, even a cheap 2 amp charger will do the job, you just have to wait several hours for it to charge back up again.

And yes, you should wear safety googles when jumping a battery, a surprising number of them do end up exploding.

And having it drained like that will shorten the life of the battery, but it's not totally dead yet, could go one for a little while longer. If you're really worried, have it charged up and then take it to an auto parts store. They will usually test the battery for free. They'll do a load test and see if it's good or not.
 
For first part, yes, you can ask staff for jump start or from a kindly stranger. Someone will help you.

For the second question, it depends.
I've done the same, and the battery may be wounded and never work to full capacity again. It is difficult to tell unless you go get it load tested.

And even then, if you hook it up to a very good multistage charger with all the bells and whistles and microprocessor doodads to revive batteries and it gets back and reads as full, and seems like it's fine; next time if you leave the keys on, so only 15min drains it so it cannot start, versus a new battery which could still start even if on for several hours (but not days).

Currently does the battery have some charge left (dim dash lights?) or completely flat? IF it's completely flat, definitely replace. If it has some charge, it's not strictly necessary to get a new battery.

You'll be able to make it home, if you're super careful not to tax the battery again like leaving the lights on after shutting off engine. If you're paranoid, get a set of jumper cables or one of the new Li-ion convenient jump packs instead of a new battery, and keep that in your trunk when you're on your trip. Then you can shop for batteries at your leisure at home for the battery of your choice, and not fear a dead battery.

In buying a new battery, you'll need to evaluate how long the battery has served you, and what are the costs of saving money on a replacement battery versus getting stranded again (plus think about buying a jump pack or jumper cables if you don't already have them).
 
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Would be great to put a nice slow 2A charge on it, if possible.

As said before, ensure not frozen.

Slow charge rate gives it a fuller charge!
 
Originally Posted By: HK_Ace
If I need a new battery, I have Walmart 30 mins away and probably a few auto shops too. If I were near a Sears, I'd get a nice DieHard.


I would go with the Walmart battery over the DieHard. My last DieHard died after a little over 2 years, and a number of other family members have had recent DieHard batteries fail before that. They are not what they used to be!

The Walmart batteries I have used have lasted 5 - 7 years.
 
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Originally Posted By: Oro_O
If you aren't at the "area" parking lot like that with a jump start service handy, just getting a neighbor with cables to jump you will likely take care of you. If you jump it, the pattern (if you don't know it) is "dead car, dead lead" (that is how I learned it as a kid). Meaning: Put the negative lead of the dead car side of the circuit to ground (not the battery). So black lead on your car's end goes to engine, frame, etc. This protects both vehicles.

http://www.halfords.com/advice/motoring/how-to-guides/how-to-jump-start-a-car-guide-video

If we are talking about the 4Runner, I think those have quality 130amp Denso alternators and driving it a bit will get a solid charge back up.


The reason there is a procedure for connecting two vehicles in a jump start, and making the last connection to the vehicle's ground point, is to avoid sparks near the battery, which can cause Hydrogen gas that might be around to combust and possibly lead to a battery explosion.

It's extremely rare, (which is why it's so dangerous; you can do it the "wrong" way all your life and then one day ...). But take it from someone who has seen a battery explosion from this very situation, you don't want battery acid in your eyes.

Wear eye protection when jump-starting a vehicle as well.

There is one more thing ... automotive batteries, although it varies a bit by type, will all have a certain voltage level that if the battery is drained to the point where that voltage is reached, will make the battery inoperable forever (will never hold a charge). I have seen vehicles with off-ignition power drain issues take the battery down to this point (on an Optima RedTop, it's about 9.5V; don't ask how I know).

If that's the case you have no choice but to replace the battery and note that if you shut the vehicle off during your drive back to civilization, it won't start. Could be an issue if you refuel, for example.
 
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Originally Posted By: oldmaninsc
My last DieHard died after a little over 2 years, and a number of other family members have had recent DieHard batteries fail before that. They are not what they used to be!


You should specify that these were their flooded lead acid type batteries and NOT their excellent Platinum/Odyssey AGM batteries.
wink.gif


(Although those are going away very soon I hear.
frown.gif
)
 
Charging a frozen battery might also make it explode in addition to connecting it directly post to post. Most of the time when I see people jump starting, they don't just use a ground on the body away from the battery. The worse ones are the ones who think a nice shower of sparks must mean it's charging right.

As for draining the battery, there are 6 cells in the battery and draining it could kill one of the cells so that it doesn't hold a deep charge. That's why if you charge it up, the voltage might be there, but once you put it under load, the amps aren't. That's why the only way to tell if the battery is still good is to do a load test on it.
 
So I managed to get it started (but took 7-8 mins of waiting) eventually...waited for it to charge slightly. I drive around for 30-40 miles on the highway and it seemed to charge up a bit. Not wanting to take a chance, I broke down and went to a local NAPA and got one of their NAPA brand (Interstate, I believe) batteries- 27F, I believe. I just killed the day messing around instead of playing on the slopes so I ended up getting a bit frustrated and just got a new battery. With my AAA discount, it was around $109.

I am not sure if this is a scam or not, but the NAPA guy tested the battery and said it was at only half the CCAs and not holding charge properly. I did learn an interesting thing- NAPA store employees make commission on what they sell.

Thanks for the information and help. You guys have a lot of in-depth information on things, I must say. I picked up a 2 gauge 20 or 25 foot jumper cable as well, and will keep an eye out for a charger maintainer, in case this happens again. Kinda sad to lose my Panasonic battery.
 
A 2 amp charger is better than nothing if you also know how to read an Ammeter but I'm happy to have my 15 amp pro Logix charger if I ever need to actually charge a dead battery in a reasonable amount of time.

Also I'm not a big fan of 2 amp charging very low batteries, since lead acid can accept quite a lot of amps early on. 2 amps is good for 80%+ charging to full
 
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