Silly to charge a brand new battery?

[dogememe]

Originally Posted by atikovi
An hour of driving will top it off just the same. If your alternator can't handle the wear and tear, start shopping for a new one too.

This.

At the part store I work at we have to charge and test batteries if they sit 6 months. We can do that twice, then after 18 months we have to put the battery in the "reconditioned battery program"... But we don't bother with that because the RBT program is a pain in the you-know-what. We just send them back to the DC as an off-the-shelf warranty at the 18 months.

When it comes to batteries we don't sell much, if a customer is friendly or they ask about manufacturer dates, I'll give them a fresh one. If they're rude, they get the oldest one I can find. All the common sizes get rotated so quickly it's rare to sell one more than 2 months old. Really rare ones we only stock one of, well, it will be fine because it's been sitting less than 6 months anyway.

So you never truly get an old/drained battery. And even if you get one that's been sitting for 5 months, your alternator will charge it just fine. We're not talking completely drained batteries... Just not fully charged.

 

[Eddie]

I always charge a new battery on a taper charger to a full charge.

 

[bbhero]

Originally Posted by dogememe
Originally Posted by atikovi
An hour of driving will top it off just the same. If your alternator can't handle the wear and tear, start shopping for a new one too.

This.

At the part store I work at we have to charge and test batteries if they sit 6 months. We can do that twice, then after 18 months we have to put the battery in the "reconditioned battery program"... But we don't bother with that because the RBT program is a pain in the you-know-what. We just send them back to the DC as an off-the-shelf warranty at the 18 months.

When it comes to batteries we don't sell much, if a customer is friendly or they ask about manufacturer dates, I'll give them a fresh one. If they're rude, they get the oldest one I can find. All the common sizes get rotated so quickly it's rare to sell one more than 2 months old. Really rare ones we only stock one of, well, it will be fine because it's been sitting less than 6 months anyway.

So you never truly get an old/drained battery. And even if you get one that's been sitting for 5 months, your alternator will charge it just fine. We're not talking completely drained batteries... Just not fully charged.



^^^^^^^^

Not true with many, many modern vehicles charging system set ups....Even my car that is 11 years old does not truly charge a battery effectively.... My car does the save the 0.1 mpg gas thing too. My lady's Camry from 1998 actually does charge a battery...

 

[jayjr1105]

Originally Posted by E150GT
Originally Posted by Sayjac
I do it as standard practice. And then as part of maintenance I occasionally put the battery on a maintainer to "top off" during its life. I figure it can't hurt, and easy to do.

I did that to my Panasonic battery that came in my Mazda. Still only lasted 3 years.


The Panasonic that was in my Mazda 3 lasted almost 7 years, but a co-worker had his Panasonic last less than 4 in his Mazda 6. Both were group 35 flooded. Seems those Panasonic's are all over the map with lifespan.

 

[UncleDave]

Originally Posted by jayjr1105
Bought a brand new Interstate 24F from Costco today for my Odyssey. Got it home and immediately threw a Battery Tender on it to "top it off". I did the same thing two weeks ago for my Mazda which also just got a brand new battery. Am I being too OCD or is this a good practice assuming the batteries might be sitting without a float charge for a month or so? I don't drive long trips at least with my car so I wanted to be sure the battery had a good start on life.



This is smart a brand new and fully charged aren't the same thing.

Ive never had a new battery come fully charged, every one of them took more amps.

UD

 

[Gebo]

Just did it last week. I do it to all my new batteries.

 

[Rmay635703]

Originally Posted by spasm3
Better to be sure, will be easier on your alternator.


New batteries may have been sitting on the shelf several months between the factory and your car, a good controlled top off charge desulphates them a bit.

Saves wear on the battery and the car.

I don't always drive very far trip to trip in the winter and actually need to trickle my battery once a week or it starts reading low from abuse.

Well worth a couple pennies to have a longer lasting battery.

 

[blupupher]

Originally Posted by Sayjac
I do it as standard practice. And then as part of maintenance I occasionally put the battery on a maintainer to "top off" during its life. I figure it can't hurt, and easy to do.

I do the same.

 

[bbhero]

Originally Posted by Rmay635703
Originally Posted by spasm3
Better to be sure, will be easier on your alternator.


New batteries may have been sitting on the shelf several months between the factory and your car, a good controlled top off charge desulphates them a bit.

Saves wear on the battery and the car.

I don't always drive very far trip to trip in the winter and actually need to trickle my battery once a week or it starts reading low from abuse.

Well worth a couple pennies to have a longer lasting battery.



Very smart on your part ^^^^^

Especially given how cold it actually gets in areas of Wisconsin away from the waters of the Great Lakes... This last winter it got extremely cold in that area of the country.

 

[CharBaby]

Originally Posted by E150GT
Originally Posted by Sayjac
I do it as standard practice. And then as part of maintenance I occasionally put the battery on a maintainer to "top off" during its life. I figure it can't hurt, and easy to do.

I did that to my Panasonic battery that came in my Mazda. Still only lasted 3 years.


If you're able to check the acid level(removable caps) in the battery and keep the level up, the battery in my experience, will last a really looooooog time. It's the sealed batteries that don't last because you can't check'em.

The battery in the Firebird in my signature is 19 years old.
The marine battery for my backup sump pump is 9 years old.
Check the acid level regularly and keep it above the lead plates. Any water(distilled is prefered) will work.

 

[Luftmasse]

Originally Posted by Wolf359
Originally Posted by atikovi
An hour of driving will top it off just the same. If your alternator can't handle the wear and tear, start shopping for a new one too.


Depends on the car. A lot of newer cars won't fully charge the battery anymore so they can get better CAFE numbers and the batteries die early because they don't get fully charged.


Can you share the link?

 

[Saabist]

In the 1970s I used to install tires and batteries at a retail chain. The batteries were delivered to us "dry charged", the acid came separately and was poured into the batteries just prior to sale or installation.