Car Batteries - How often do your replace them?

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Hmm, what to write...
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#2428608 28-Feb-2020 09:26

wife has a 2010 BMW with original battery still installed. This car has BMW regenerative braking (using the alternator) and is still working fine

I have 2005 BMW original Varta battery still installed still going fine

I believe that batteries available locally (Exide, Century) are just inferior... It is just a feeling., no proof mind you

Matthew

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#2428651 28-Feb-2020 10:18

Just replaced my Colorado battery, almost 6 years to the day too!

They are consumable and i do alot of shortish trips, was happy with anything over 5 years

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#2428670 28-Feb-2020 10:56

I have a "Subaru" branded battery in my old Subie...the battery's just on 14 years old.

One reason I think it's survived so long is the car's an easy starter.

I've always just had to touch the key for it to start - maybe 1/2 a second of cranking. So the battery's never been heavily loaded or deeply discharged.
Plus it's a 550 CCA battery for a 2 l engine - and the starter motor's on top of the engine - not down in the road spray, crud and grime where connections get corroded.

allio

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#2428827 28-Feb-2020 14:01

Our Honda Jazz was a worst-case scenario for battery health - a tiny battery (330 CCA) in a car that only did a few thousand ks a year and often sat for a couple of weeks between drives. Before I invested in a Ctek charger and ended the insanity, it devoured a Honda battery (1 year, but wasn't new when I got the car), AA battery (1 year), Bosch (1.5 years) and Supercharge Gold (2.5 years). So I recommend Supercharge (and a Ctek charger if you mostly do short trips).

mdooher

Hmm, what to write...
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#2428831 28-Feb-2020 14:06

I wonder if it is actually the physically larger batteries that are lasting longer? My everlasting BMW batteries are the size of a small car...hmmm

Matthew

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#2428895 28-Feb-2020 14:59

mdooher:

I wonder if it is actually the physically larger batteries that are lasting longer? My everlasting BMW batteries are the size of a small car...hmmm

Yep but mainly the 'CCA' rating...higher the better.

tripper1000

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#2430020 2-Mar-2020 11:52

The manufacturers know pretty well how long a battery will last if it is ignored and sets the warranty accordingly.

For the layman, the warranty period is the best black and white indicator as to the quality of a battery.

CCA is not in and of itself an indicator of how long a battery will last. If you go up to a larger CCA the battery isn't working as hard to start the car, so consequently doesn't wear out at fast and lasts longer. However you increase the peak amps through the starter motor so if the car isn't over-engineered to cope with that (eg BMW), it is a trade-off as it causes more wear and tear there. (current is opposed by back EMF which is created only when the starter is spinning, and initial (0 RPM) inrush current is limited only by the wiring resistance and battery CCA/internal impedance). Conversely don't be a cheap skate and think you're saving money by putting a smaller CCA battery in - you'll just be hammering it to death every time you start the car.

Sulfating: You can extend the life of your battery by looking after it - for instance recharging it from the mains if you should accidentally flatten it , and also periodically giving it a top off charge as others have said. The reason is that lead-acid batteries age rapidly when flat or only partially charged.

Water: Batteries consume water. Checking the water level and only topping up with distilled water. Be aware that maintenance free batteries are not exactly maintenance free - it is more accurate to call them un-maintainable.

If you nurture a 3 year wty battery from new, you should be able to get up to 5 years out of it - it's too late to start looking after it once it gives trouble.

Modern cars shut off the alternator to conserve fuel - this means that while old cars never really did a great job as absorption or float charging properly, modern cars don't do it at all and can continuously leave the batteries partially charged, harming battery longevity. Some OEM's can disable this feature on request - for instance in the Ford Ranger for tradies who run lots of 12v accessories/inverters etc.

Japanese imports generally come with higher quality batteries than the standard grade domestic batteries. We have better quality available but kiwi's are generally cheap skates and won't pay double for the good ones. If you buy from the dealer you don't necessarily get the good batteries. Most dealers in NZ sell domestically sourced standard grade batteries.

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tripper1000

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#2430062 2-Mar-2020 12:02

I'm not aware of any lead-acid that has a "chip" in it to limit it's life. That is a laptop battery thing - as a BMS is mandatory in Lithium batteries it is simply to implement such skulduggery there, but automative lead acid batteries have no BMS so it would make them considerably more expensive to implement such a mechanism.

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#2430200 2-Mar-2020 16:12

I'm sure there have been several threads on this.

Our old MX5 (bought as an import in 2008) had a battery date stamped 2004 that lasted until 2019 - so 15 years.

I think that as well as possibly good quality batteries ex Japan, the battery is in the boot so it doesn't get exposed to heat in the engine bay.

The old Nissan Safari I owned for 20 years had two batteries - one on each side of the engine bay. Each time I needed to change the batteries (probably 3 times over that time period), the one on the exhaust manifold side of the engine bay failed first and failed hard - it would be as dead as a doornail (<10v with no load) while the other battery still checked out okay. Not conclusive or scientific, but I suspect that excessive heat may be a significant car battery killer.

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#2431985 3-Mar-2020 16:54

Just replaced the battery on my Pajero, which I bought in 2010. 730CCA so not cheap and it was distress purchase - as in taxi from airport to SCA buy the battery and 10mm spanner and taxi back.

On the positive side the clock now keeps time correctly. Hint for Pajero owners, if that LCD clock panel is getting slow your battery is getting old.

Mike

tripper1000

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#2432398 4-Mar-2020 13:14

MikeAqua: .... it was distress purchase - as in taxi from airport to SCA buy the battery and 10mm spanner and taxi back.

Stink. No jumper leads? Saw a lady in the supermarket with the bonnet up & jumper leads out the other day, so pulled in and had her started in about 60 seconds. Turns out a Leaf can jump start a V8 Falcon no worries.

Edit: Has anyone ever hired a taxi to get a jump-start from it?

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#2432401 4-Mar-2020 13:19

Then there's the 2 types of car battery - the regular ones that require maintainence & the maintenance-free ones. In my experience, the maintenance-free batteries last about as long as a regular battery that you haven't maintained.

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#2432402 4-Mar-2020 13:21

tripper1000:

Stink. No jumper leads? Saw a lady in the supermarket with the bonnet up & jumper leads out the other day, so pulled in and had her started in about 60 seconds.

I helped jump start someone the other day in the supermarket. The number of dirty looks I got from people having to drive around me in the 60 seconds it took to maneuver my vehicle into place to make the leads fit was amazing. Sure I'm blocking some of the tarmac in this huge carpark but surely you can see it's for a good cause (bonnet up, leads hanging out etc).

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#2432463 4-Mar-2020 13:56

Delphinus:

tripper1000:

Stink. No jumper leads? Saw a lady in the supermarket with the bonnet up & jumper leads out the other day, so pulled in and had her started in about 60 seconds.

I helped jump start someone the other day in the supermarket. The number of dirty looks I got from people having to drive around me in the 60 seconds it took to maneuver my vehicle into place to make the leads fit was amazing. Sure I'm blocking some of the tarmac in this huge carpark but surely you can see it's for a good cause (bonnet up, leads hanging out etc).

The small powerbank sized jump packs are amazingly handy for such occasions. Mine comfortably jump starts a 3.0l diesel Ranger when it needs to.

<jk>And if someone gives you dirty looks for daring to help someone out, they are a good size and weight to throw through their windscreen. </jk>

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#2432978 5-Mar-2020 10:23

geoffwnz:

The small powerbank sized jump packs are amazingly handy for such occasions. Mine comfortably jump starts a 3.0l diesel Ranger when it needs to.

Yup, I wouldn't be without mine, it has saved me several times (I used to have a nasty habbit of parking somewhere to play Pokemon Go for half an hour and forgetting to turn my lights of).

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