Best value car battery for family car

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#1538145 22-Apr-2016 14:27

I can do a voltage drop test easily. Not really that interested in putting "a bit of life" back in a battery, I'd just buy a new one. I guess the question is should everyone own a $150 car battery charger and condition their battery regularly, or should we just replace car batteries every 5 years instead of every 8 years with the fancy charger?

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#1538155 22-Apr-2016 14:44

If you are going to subject your car to constant short trips or idling heaps with all the stuff running so it never charges fully then yeah, would be a good idea to get one to top it off.

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#1538158 22-Apr-2016 14:51

richms:

If you are going to subject your car to constant short trips or idling heaps with all the stuff running so it never charges fully then yeah, would be a good idea to get one to top it off.

Yesterday after doing a few short trips (multiple sets of 12-14 minutes driving to work at open road speeds, 5 minutes driving to battery store from work) I had the battery tested and it was 100% charged and 100% battery health. That doesn't mesh with what you've said. Seems like the car is keeping it charged just fine - though probably just providing it with current, not doing anything fancy.

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#1538199 22-Apr-2016 15:33

Was that with the lights on, aircon and stereo cranking etc? Because I find that even without an upgraded stereo that idling with all the stuff on is about even with what the alternator makes. When I had the big sounds in my old mazda, I actually had it go flat as I was driving down the open road as I was taking it slow since I was close to the demerits limit.

Its a bit of a worry when you stop somewhere and then the car wont start till you leave it sitting switced off for a little while to get enough charge back into it to crank over.

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#1538204 22-Apr-2016 15:44

Lights and aircon yes, I have just factory radio. I find aircon essential at the moment, as on internal air it's fogging up due to outside temp and there's lots of smelly cars around.

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#1538239 22-Apr-2016 16:41

How did they test it was 100% charged? did they do a specific gravity test (if it was possible) on the electrolyte?

if you have a couple of cars and you can give a battery 2-3 more years life the charger can pay for its self within the life of both batteries

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#1538252 22-Apr-2016 17:12

They clipped on a little handheld machine and hit a button, it made the little printout I posted on the page before.

I seem to remember buying the battery at a blue tyre store on hutt rd, Wellington, but can't remember it's name. I could go back there and get a second battery test.

A car battery charger isn't an unreasonable thing to have. I have the other batteries as well, for backup, so it would do a few things. Could recondition my alarm battery and such too. Might get that little ctek 0.8, since it's only meant to do a slow charge, and it has the desulphation phase. Only $100.

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#1538330 22-Apr-2016 19:25

My father bought a RAV4 about 18 months ago and within a few weeks the battery developed a habit of going flat after a few days of disuse. He took it back to the dealer who tested the battery, told him it was fine and therefore a warranty claim was not possible, and charged him something like $150 for the test.

A bit later he took it to someone independent who tested it and confirmed that it was faulty. Eventually the dealer reluctantly agreed to replace it under warranty.

The moral of the story is don't trust every professional battery test.

Jase2985

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#1538359 22-Apr-2016 19:57

the 5.0 only charges at .8A on the small battery mode. 0.8A will take ages for a car battery, it states 32h to charge a 32Ah battery to 80% charged, where as the 5.0 is about 8h. The 0.8 will only maintain the charge of a larger battery, it wont charge it or recondition it. it will essentially act as a trickle charger for it.

i dont know why you keep bringing that up one up though? the small battery mode on the 5.0 will work with smaller batteries 1-14Ah (doing the job of the 0.8) and the normal mode is for batteries 14-160Ah, a car battery is generally rated at 40Ah (2A for 20H). it does cost more but it also offers more, ie the recondition mode, the small battery mode and the AGM mode. IMO its much more versatile and given you have that extra battery for your emergencies it would be great for that. Get it on special and it would probably be not much more than $100

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#1538415 22-Apr-2016 20:53

Tim haven't read all the posts but 5 years is pretty good going.

Flick me a PM about car and Model and I'll get you a price for one that you can uplift at Wellington.

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timmmay

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#1538431 22-Apr-2016 21:18

Jase2985:

the 5.0 only charges at .8A on the small battery mode. 0.8A will take ages for a car battery, it states 32h to charge a 32Ah battery to 80% charged, where as the 5.0 is about 8h. The 0.8 will only maintain the charge of a larger battery, it wont charge it or recondition it. it will essentially act as a trickle charger for it.

i dont know why you keep bringing that up one up though? the small battery mode on the 5.0 will work with smaller batteries 1-14Ah (doing the job of the 0.8) and the normal mode is for batteries 14-160Ah, a car battery is generally rated at 40Ah (2A for 20H). it does cost more but it also offers more, ie the recondition mode, the small battery mode and the AGM mode. IMO its much more versatile and given you have that extra battery for your emergencies it would be great for that. Get it on special and it would probably be not much more than $100

Only reason I talk about the 0.8 is because it's cheap! Other one is clearly better. Though the 0.8 says "Charges even drained batteries up to 32AH", and I was told to be careful charging the Exide battery.

jeffnz:

Tim haven't read all the posts but 5 years is pretty good going.

Flick me a PM about car and Model and I'll get you a price for one that you can uplift at Wellington.

Thanks Jeff, I'll look at the Exide model tomorrow so I can give you the right info :)

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#1538433 22-Apr-2016 21:23

timmmay:

Only reason I talk about the 0.8 is because it's cheap! Other one is clearly better. Though the 0.8 says "Charges even drained batteries up to 32AH", and I was told to be careful charging the Exide battery.

give all the literature on the internet says its fine to charge your car battery at higher current levels, id say they are covering their ass or trying to get repeat buisness

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#1538547 23-Apr-2016 08:39

Battery after sitting overnight was 12.22V, which dropped to 11.78 when I turned the lights on this morning. Car still started fine.

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#1538572 23-Apr-2016 10:36

the battery i charged a week ago which has just been sitting on the floor in the garage is sitting at 12.71v

12.22v is very low

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#1540960 24-Apr-2016 08:13

Jase2985:
How did they test it was 100% charged? did they do a specific gravity test (if it was possible) on the electrolyte?

if you have a couple of cars and you can give a battery 2-3 more years life the charger can pay for its self within the life of both batteries

Even if it is possible to get at the electrolyte modern car batteries have a problem with stratification. You need to charge them in a way that stirs up the electrolyte. Trickle charging will never get to full charge.

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