Cars!

[scot-canuck]

So came out the other morning (first cold day) and the battery on the car was dead, topped up the water (on the low side), got it jumpstarted, drove it, stopped and started no problem, whipped it off and charged indoors overnight, stuck on the next day all good.....2 days later (today) came out...and dead as a doornail again....looks like dead cell, cadged another jumpstart and was relieved of just under £80 (!!!!) for a new battery (halfords calcium, not technically for my car...but it fits and has 110 more cold cranking amps 680vs570) and a 4 year warranty...so should last as long as the car if not longer...

This car is going to be brand new at this rate.....

[big-all]

did you check for current leakage or rougue usage ??

[BillyGoat]

Mine is shagged, but I'm holding out as long as possible. It's got the red indicator of doom on it telling me all is not well. It's been alright though.....

when it's dies, Eurocarparts has some cracking deals on from time to time - I'll get a Bosch S4 or something

[kellys_eye]

Most motorists think their battery should last forever but when you consider what they do, how they do it and how LONG they do it for they are actually remarkably efficient devices.

If you have any battery issues and the battery is known to be over 5 years old then a new battery is really the only option.

[scot-canuck]

BA: it went in 18hours from 12.7 to well under 11volts....
Started fine in the warm, but flattened overnight in the cold...last time the same happened, garage reckoned dead cell (sometimes works, mostly doesn't)
New battery on...interior lights white not orange (obviously not getting full voltage)
put it this way......i use the car for work, no idea of the history of the car, so was prob due a battery anyway.....

BG: If you can wangle one...a halfords trade card can save a good bit...my battery was meant to be £97ish (HCB096), got it for £79 inc VAT

S5 Bosch for mine was £92...EuroCarParts have the silver (bosch S5) version of my calcium battery online in their ebay store for £83 delivered....(HSB096)

[BillyGoat]

BA: it went in 18hours from 12.7 to well under 11volts....
Started fine in the warm, but flattened overnight in the cold...last time the same happened, garage reckoned dead cell (sometimes works, mostly doesn't)
New battery on...interior lights white not orange (obviously not getting full voltage)
put it this way......i use the car for work, no idea of the history of the car, so was prob due a battery anyway.....

BG: If you can wangle one...a halfords trade card can save a good bit...my battery was meant to be £97ish (HCB096), got it for £79 inc VAT

S5 Bosch for mine was £92...EuroCarParts have the silver (bosch S5) version of my calcium battery online in their ebay store for £83 delivered....(HSB096)

Halfords is a funny place with their trade card. I had one for years (brother gets them) and same for Maccess and a few other places. I reckon you can get better discount by being cheeky in some trade shops with no card.

Used to get a new battery pretty much each year for my motorbike until I got my Optimate.....best device for bikes, ever.

BG

[scot-canuck]

I quite fancy an optima battery for the car, even their "yellow" top deep cycle "leisure" type batteries can kick out 700+ CCA and survive multiple discharges and be mounted upside down...
Price is a bit hairy though.....something like £200....

[kellys_eye]

A 'good' battery should charge to 13.8V (14.4V on-charge, dropping to 13.8V when the charger is disconnected) anything under 12.5V is well dodgy and under 10V is 'dud'.

[joinerjohn]

My next door neighbour's battery started losing it's charge (just after he'd had one of those sub woofer speakers and amp fitted in the boot) I suggested it had been connected wrongly and was causing the battery to discharge. He said he'd had it done at a place that specialised in ICE (In Car Entertainment) Local garage relieved him of about £70 for a new battery. They said they'd tested the battery and it was a dead cell causing the fault) 2 days later the new battery couldn't even operate the central locking. I again suggested it was the sub woofer causing the problem. He took it back to the ICE specialist, who checked the wiring over and found it had indeed been connected wrongly. The amp was only supposed to power up when the radio was turned on, when in fact it was powered on all the time. Without any input from the radio the speakers were extremely quiet (not even a buzz)

[scot-canuck]

JJ - my stereo is stock, apart from a new head unit, which has a cert'd conversion kit fitted. When I fitted it, I checked that the wires were all going where they should.
Likely because the car was sat idle for weeks before the last guy sold it on (told he worked offshore on a boat or something....enough salt inside the boot to believe that...), batt was near flat when I got it...and water was way low (marked "maintenance free" but still had hidden inspection plugs (thick sticker over the top of the plugs), whipped them out and discovered the plates were well and truly on show....Previously removed the blue tooth kit fitted with the car due to starting problems (before changing the head unit), probably was the battery then failing and the warmer weather hid the problem....

[Cannyfixit]

Used to get a new battery pretty much each year for my motorbike until I got my Optimate.....best device for bikes, ever.BG

Not just for bikes , a lot of car guys use them to keep there classics topped up,my bikes have always had optimate's attached,my last battery died after 10 years not bad eh
oh and keep a eye on Lidl/Aldi they have one in store occasionally,last one i got was from Aldi and was £9.99 works identicle to the optimate