MORE BATTERY PROBLEMS

[chimtvr]

Today i have a similar problem to a few of you a flat battery this is the second battery in 12 months that is actually dead and wont take a charge so my question is.... Does everybody get the same problem there batterys only last 6 months???
i have a theory both of mine have lost 1 cell so do you think the combination of an unbolted down battery in a little box and incredibly bumpy suspension somehow damages the battery and makes the plates come adrift???
Any thoughts?

[Jem]

my father in law is a battery designer.

He has always said that abtteries are as good as the exercise they get.

Ie regularly charged and discharged = happy battery.

I haven't had problems, but I regularly ran my car [until last friday...] so it usually gets lots of use, and I am guessing that this keeps it healthy...

Dunno if your profile of use provokes the problem - only a guess.

Do you use a battery conditioner?

J

[chimtvr]

yes i always use a battery conditioner and drive it at least once a week it i drove it every day last week then on friday morning it wouldnt start so i cursed and assumed i hadnt closed the door properly so put it on charge and it wont charge anymore!!!

[nick275uk]

So what's best for a better battery life - I use a battery conditioner and it's connected up all the time I'm not driving. From what Jem said, it's best for the battery to discharge / recharge regularly, but my battery is never really discharged.

Can this be why ChimTVR is getting problems.

If I only need to connect the conditioner occasionaly then great - but I'll do whatever is best for the battery.

[Jem]

I'll check with the battery designer next week 4 best protocol.

But I don't think that full discharge [ahem] is healthy either, or perhaps you can over condition them...


J

[Hut49]

From my experience the performace of batteries is pretty variable. It's not uncommon for them to give up the ghost - for no apparent reason - well within their guarantee. On the several occasions this has happened within our family 'fleet' the supplier didn't even question it and replaced it. You may just have had a duffer. Take it back from whence it came, with the receipt, that of course you put somewhere safe, and ask for the battery to be replaced FOC.

[poorpeet]

I'd also get the alternator output checked. If it's too high that could be killing the battery

[dlc]

The advice you have received already has all the answers. A battery will be a friend for years if it is worked, this is true within the boundaries of extremes, i.e. not continually over charged and not continually left to discharge. There is a procedure that can be carried out to "condition" the battery, but this is a series of charges and one full discharge. To fully discharge a battery is not good for it, so this "conditioning discharge" must be as a controlled action and involves taking the electrolyte SG value compared to the voltage in the battery at that time, plot a graph and then extrapolate this data to find the lowest possible measured voltage at an SG of 1130, blah blah, bring me my pillowZZZZzz... As you can see it is an industrial maintenance program and may not be for noise and speed freaks, especially with so called maintenance free batteries. It may be the case that you can only do what you can and use your commercial conditioner and the batteries guarantee function (supplier should be able to find the cause and advise).