Battery life

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I replaced my starting battery in March with a Super Start from O’Rileys. The Bosch it replaced lasted about 3 years. I invested in a batteryMINDer and hook it up at least once a month or when I know the car will be sitting.

It’s heat + lack of charge that kills batteries, as the heat accelerates sulfation.
 
FYI:
Had a Deka (EastPenn) in my Woodmizer sawmill last 12 years.
Bought two Cat heavy equipment batteries for my 1997 Ford 7.3. East Penn makes them.
Always check the manufacture date and voltage. Old batteries can be sulphated and will never last to their full potential.
 
Quality Lead-Acid batteries have a predictable and steady decline in capacity.

In fact, the decline starts quite quickly, and at two years, a quality car battery WILL NOT achieve 90% of original NEW capacity.

Interestingly enough, in the aviation world, Lead-Acid batteries are "sandbagged" (hiding the strength) at a rating LOWER than original capacity. That way, they can pass the load test and "last" 3 years. Example: a 40AH battery will produce as much as 50AH when new, 42+AH when one year old and just over 36AH at year 2 (36AH being 90% of 40AH) . This allows use till year 3, at which point, the battery will fail the capacity check. EVERY SINGLE TIME.

Your 9 year old car battery may start your car just fine, but it's a shadow of it's former self. Sulfation on the plates happens no matter what and is related to both time and cycles. There are no ways to prevent it. Fewer discharge cycles can extend a batteries life in time.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Cujet
Sulfation on the plates happens no matter what and is related to both time and cycles. There are no ways to prevent it.


There may be no way to prevent it, but there are proven ways to remove it. If you use a good desulfator you can actually see the results by looking inside the battery caps.
 
When sulfation happens the battery capacity is diminished and the flow of electrons through the hardened sulfate material is slowed. Desulfating knocks the hard sulfate off. But also takes whatever lead the sulfur reacted with to form the sulfate. This collects on the bottom of the cell.
 
Sulfate on can only be partially removed via pulse chargers or chemical means. Neither are capable of restoring new capacity.
 
Originally Posted By: Cujet
Sulfate on can only be partially removed via pulse chargers or chemical means. Neither are capable of restoring new capacity.


But it can easily make your battery last a long, long time, and repair one that doesn't have enough power to start your car.

Just like your example with air planes, car batteries are oversized. Most gas engines don't have more than a 1.5kw starter motor. Thats 125 amps at 12 volts. Round it up to 200 amps for cable loss and bigger motors. A lawn mower battery has 200 cranking amps. Most car batteries range from 500-900 cranking amps...which is way more than you ever need.

The old school lead acid style jumper packs usually have a 17 amp hour lead acid battery inside...and it's more than enough to start a big V8. Now you can start a diesel with a few little lithium batteries...
 
Originally Posted By: mk378
The battery and tires that come with a new car are usually the cheapest the manufacturer can find. They only need to get it out of the showroom.


Do you really believe that?
 
When I bought my 94 Nissan in 2007. It still had the factory battery. It appeared to start the truck fine, but the first real cold day we had here, it left me stranded in an empty parking lot. That sucked. Ever since I always test them before each winter and replace if they're not perfect. I replaced it with an ACDelco unit that lasted until a couple years ago. I seem to have good luck with their batteries.

Getting stuck somewhere is just not worth it to me.
 
Originally Posted By: Cujet
Sulfate on can only be partially removed via pulse chargers or chemical means. Neither are capable of restoring new capacity.


I don’t know where the point of no return is regarding sulfation, but the frequency charging method that batteryMINDer uses is very effective. I would say that if you catch the sulfation before any of it flakes off and falls to the bottom of the cell, you can recover capacity.

I wish I had a workshop, this would be fun to test.
 
Originally Posted By: OilFilters
For those that don't know, this is the desulphator (desulfator?) I was talking about:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/263409984949

I have one like this installed on my Jeep. Chargers with a desulphation mode are nice, but it only works when they are hooked up and it is a long slow process. Something like this is full time, though it does cause some extra current draw when the ignition is off. My Jeep has an Exide battery in it that was there when I bought it 2 years ago. I can't find a date sticker on it, age unknown. It seemed a little weak and this last January struggled to turn over in the cold weather. I attached one of these and it has been working great, although the weather is warmer now. This is in the hot humid south in a Cherokee with a really hot engine bay that really cooks the battery. I thought I would need a new battery by now but it seems to be working better than ever. Battery has to be at least 3 years old, if not more.

I do have it securely zip tied where it cannot contact anything due to the open circuit board design, and it's plugged into a 3 amp fuse for extra safety. Something like this might be better since it's totally encapsulated:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/332384837638

I have no affiliation with these sellers or products, I just use them and swear by them. It's nice that you can actually hear it working.


I have never heard of these before but you now have me interested. Would it be beneficial to get one for my wife's 2017 Impala that mainly sees short city type driving of less than 20 kms per day, especially during the winter?

Also, my wife mentioned to me today about GM having a battery deal/sale for its employees. I am not 100% sure of the cost of a new battery for her car but I believe I can get a new one of these for around $50 to $70 dollars or so she says.
My thinking is, if her car doesn't need a battery for another 3 to 5 or longer years, is this really a good idea having a battery sitting around that long?
 
Originally Posted By: irv
Originally Posted By: OilFilters
For those that don't know, this is the desulphator (desulfator?) I was talking about:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/263409984949

I have one like this installed on my Jeep. Chargers with a desulphation mode are nice, but it only works when they are hooked up and it is a long slow process. Something like this is full time, though it does cause some extra current draw when the ignition is off. My Jeep has an Exide battery in it that was there when I bought it 2 years ago. I can't find a date sticker on it, age unknown. It seemed a little weak and this last January struggled to turn over in the cold weather. I attached one of these and it has been working great, although the weather is warmer now. This is in the hot humid south in a Cherokee with a really hot engine bay that really cooks the battery. I thought I would need a new battery by now but it seems to be working better than ever. Battery has to be at least 3 years old, if not more.

I do have it securely zip tied where it cannot contact anything due to the open circuit board design, and it's plugged into a 3 amp fuse for extra safety. Something like this might be better since it's totally encapsulated:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/332384837638

I have no affiliation with these sellers or products, I just use them and swear by them. It's nice that you can actually hear it working.


I have never heard of these before but you now have me interested. Would it be beneficial to get one for my wife's 2017 Impala that mainly sees short city type driving of less than 20 kms per day, especially during the winter?

Also, my wife mentioned to me today about GM having a battery deal/sale for its employees. I am not 100% sure of the cost of a new battery for her car but I believe I can get a new one of these for around $50 to $70 dollars or so she says.
My thinking is, if her car doesn't need a battery for another 3 to 5 or longer years, is this really a good idea having a battery sitting around that long?

Your wife’s car needs an overnight trickle charge once or twice a month to extend its life. The key to extending a lead acid battery lifespan is keeping it at 100% charge. Short trips don’t allow for the battery to accept a full charge. The desulfator won’t hurt anything, but that battery really needs a full overnight charge.
 
Originally Posted By: SilverFusion2010
Originally Posted By: irv
Originally Posted By: OilFilters
For those that don't know, this is the desulphator (desulfator?) I was talking about:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/263409984949

I have one like this installed on my Jeep. Chargers with a desulphation mode are nice, but it only works when they are hooked up and it is a long slow process. Something like this is full time, though it does cause some extra current draw when the ignition is off. My Jeep has an Exide battery in it that was there when I bought it 2 years ago. I can't find a date sticker on it, age unknown. It seemed a little weak and this last January struggled to turn over in the cold weather. I attached one of these and it has been working great, although the weather is warmer now. This is in the hot humid south in a Cherokee with a really hot engine bay that really cooks the battery. I thought I would need a new battery by now but it seems to be working better than ever. Battery has to be at least 3 years old, if not more.

I do have it securely zip tied where it cannot contact anything due to the open circuit board design, and it's plugged into a 3 amp fuse for extra safety. Something like this might be better since it's totally encapsulated:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/332384837638

I have no affiliation with these sellers or products, I just use them and swear by them. It's nice that you can actually hear it working.


I have never heard of these before but you now have me interested. Would it be beneficial to get one for my wife's 2017 Impala that mainly sees short city type driving of less than 20 kms per day, especially during the winter?

Also, my wife mentioned to me today about GM having a battery deal/sale for its employees. I am not 100% sure of the cost of a new battery for her car but I believe I can get a new one of these for around $50 to $70 dollars or so she says.
My thinking is, if her car doesn't need a battery for another 3 to 5 or longer years, is this really a good idea having a battery sitting around that long?

Your wife’s car needs an overnight trickle charge once or twice a month to extend its life. The key to extending a lead acid battery lifespan is keeping it at 100% charge. Short trips don’t allow for the battery to accept a full charge. The desulfator won’t hurt anything, but that battery really needs a full overnight charge.


Thanks, SF. I Know these short trips/drives are hard on things like batteries and oil life but I never thought about an overnight/all day type charge before.
I have a Battery Tender, like this one below, that I use for my snowmobile battery once a month that I'll have to use on her car as well.
Now I just have to figure out where her battery is and see if I can get at it?
Thanks for the info.
cheers3.gif

http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/battery-tender-junior-0-75a-maintainer-0111940p.html
 
My last battery in my truck died back in 2016 it was 9 yr old everstart i replaced it with a value power group 65 from walmart in september of that year. Knock on wood with only some topping off in the cell it has always started.
My nova has a no name with a date code of 3/10 in it i just recently filled the cells with water since they were low but it still works fine. I'm going to use it till it dies.
 
All three cars in my signature have Interstate batteries. They have served me well.

Highlander was installed Oct 2006; 240 sedan was installed May 2009. Both show perfect charges still.
240 wagon installed September 2016. Previous Intersate was replaced after 12 years out of caution before a trip to Newfoundland and Labrador.

Sam
 
Many batteries are made in Mexcico where labor is dirt cheap and quality is poor.
........
I have seen bad batteries straight off the shelf or ones that fail within a few years many times.
.........
And it only takes ONE time that the dome light was left on and drained the battery dead, and you now need a new battery.
.........
 
The factory battery in my '09 C300 lasted almost 9 years and just died back on February 28, 2017. Car was purchased by original owner in August 24, 2008 (first offered for sale June 11, 2008). Ended up replacing with another MB battery ($165+tax) because of how long the original lasted.

The battery that is used in this car (94R) is massive and quite heavy - thankfully it had collapsible carrying handles. Lifting the old out and dropping the new in was quite a pain as it sits right up by the firewall behind the strut tower.

Fortunately MB has segregated the battery and some other possibly heat sensitive items from the ultra hot engine bay itself. Imagine a bell shape firewall that attach to the fenders in front of the strut/shock towers with the top of the bell being the actual passenger cabin firewall. The battery is in the passenger side of the bell behind the strut tower, brake master cylinder and some fuse and relay boxes in the drivers side of the bell behind strut tower. Prob keeps some of these components cooler.
 
Panasonic batteries last that long?

Originally Posted By: kschachn
I wish you could buy Panasonic batteries here in the US, both of the ones that came OEM on my cars (my ECHO and my old Mazda) lasted 12 years before requiring replacement.

But the Walmart ones I've bought most recently have been doing well, I can't complain. 7 years so far in my BMW and six in the Accord.
 
New charge strategies favor MPG over battery care; the retailers have dropped the 5-6-7 pro-rated warranties and now only do a 2-3 year full replacement. They've told me its for the same reason.

If I think of it, I'll put my R/C computerized charger on a battery and set it for 5A to 14.4 Volts. On our CRV, it will run this way for 12-16 hours. It will reach 14.4 fairly quickly but then taper amps until they're just a fraction of the 5.0 setting and then quit. The CRV probably has a capacity fo 40AH or so, and the charge cycle ends up totaling around 6500 mAH or so. It stays in the game with more power transferred than I'd expected. That's on a 6 month old AGM.

-m
 
Batteries don't last long these days The families care are lucky to get over 3 years. My wifes 2002 Powerstroke never
has had a battery make it to 3 years, we bought the truck new.
 
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