Stop Start battery into a car without s/s
Discussion
Hi,
Probably a daft question but would a battery for a car with stop / start be ok in my car that doesn't have stop / start (Mk2.5 Focus 2010) ? I assume that they are better / stronger to cope with s/s.
I do short trips and if the car doesn't move for over 4 days or so, it struggles to start. Over Christmas, I had to call out Ford Assist as the car was totally dead . I do longer runs occasionally but perhaps not often enough. I could get a trickle charger as a back up but as I may need a new battery now, I thought that this may be the best option in the short term. I do run a dash cam but I think that the hard wire kit doesn't turn it off if the voltage is low so I will look to replace that soon.
Thanks
Probably a daft question but would a battery for a car with stop / start be ok in my car that doesn't have stop / start (Mk2.5 Focus 2010) ? I assume that they are better / stronger to cope with s/s.
I do short trips and if the car doesn't move for over 4 days or so, it struggles to start. Over Christmas, I had to call out Ford Assist as the car was totally dead . I do longer runs occasionally but perhaps not often enough. I could get a trickle charger as a back up but as I may need a new battery now, I thought that this may be the best option in the short term. I do run a dash cam but I think that the hard wire kit doesn't turn it off if the voltage is low so I will look to replace that soon.
Thanks
Edited by thebigmacmoomin on Monday 10th February 09:08
As far as I know, the stop start aspect isn’t the issue; my 130i doesn’t have stop start but does have the type of battery that gets used in a stop start car (absorbent glass mat, AGM).
They’re made to be able to take on board charge more quickly than a standard lead acid battery and be more stable in crashes.
If your cars charging system isn’t set up to provide the correct voltage and check for full charge in the agm battery it might cause issues.
I’d check the health of your current battery; a rough check being that a healthy battery shows 12.6v fully charged when it’s been allowed to settle for a bit. 12.0v is completely dead.
Your battery might have its age stamped in to one of the terminals, probably the - terminal.
A plug in voltage tester that goes in the cigarette lighter is handy as you can see if your alternator is putting out decent voltage. Cheap ones are about £3 off amazon or eBay.
If everything else is ok, find out if there’s a higher capacity battery that will fit your car and be ok for the output of the alternator and fit the best quality one you can afford.
They’re made to be able to take on board charge more quickly than a standard lead acid battery and be more stable in crashes.
If your cars charging system isn’t set up to provide the correct voltage and check for full charge in the agm battery it might cause issues.
I’d check the health of your current battery; a rough check being that a healthy battery shows 12.6v fully charged when it’s been allowed to settle for a bit. 12.0v is completely dead.
Your battery might have its age stamped in to one of the terminals, probably the - terminal.
A plug in voltage tester that goes in the cigarette lighter is handy as you can see if your alternator is putting out decent voltage. Cheap ones are about £3 off amazon or eBay.
If everything else is ok, find out if there’s a higher capacity battery that will fit your car and be ok for the output of the alternator and fit the best quality one you can afford.
thebigmacmoomin said:
I do short trips and if the car doesn't move for over 4 days or so, it struggles to start. Over Christmas, I had to call out Ford Assist as the car was totally dead . I do longer runs occasionally but perhaps not often enough. I could get a trickle charger as a back up but as I may need a new battery now, I thought that this may be the best option in the short term. I do run a dash cam but I think that the hard wire kit doesn't turn it off if the voltage is low so I will look to replace that soon.
Probably worse at this time of year when a lot of electrics are being used.If your usage doesn't change then get a battery charger & periodically charge the battery.
Note that you are also expecting your alternator to keep charging a low battery. Not designed to do that & you risk damaging it:
https://www.optimabatteries.com/en-us/experience/2...
AA came out and said the battery had ok power but just not enough to start. The clicked sound i was getting was the starter not doing its job fully due to low power. All charged up now and driven to charge up.
Dogwatch said:
Yes, the first question is how old is the battery?
It was fitted new into the car October 2017.Gassing Station | Home Mechanics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff