Battery makers have realized that most cars aren't kept for more than 36 months and 'warranty' period. Batteries now are shit and don't make the lifetimes no matter what is printed on them. Batteries are not designed for being driven once a week or 'occasionally' and even when fitted with disconnect or put on trickle chargers are getting 'damaged' by this kind of usage vs. This does not explain why my 'modern' vehicle batteries don't last long, though.ī. not old Dynamos, cutouts and mechanical regulators. My use on vintage (prewar) collector type cars may be outside the 'normal' use of a battery that might be designed for alternators and computer-controlled voltage regulation. So what say you guys? Has anyone noticed the same thing? Short battery life? Failure well short of 'warranty' date?Ī. For cars in Cold Climates, we sometimes use Deep Cycle because they go months without driving. Napa (yes, they are/were good.) And Optima for folks who want a gel-cell. Well short of 'warranty.'īTW, we always use 'tier one' batteries. In-car testing (it's dead Jim) and multimeter testing shows they won't take a charge. Including in collector type cars and even my daily driver plow truck ( Cummins.) Life seems to be between 36 and 45 months and the batteries are. And many, many more on the cars I wrench on for clients.īut in the last 3 - 4 years, batteries have been dying well short of 5 years (60 months). That's been experience since I started to drive in the early '80's. typically I have always seen it as no problem to get 5 years out of a battery. Just regular car batteries in your daily drivers or collector cars. could use some insight/experience or feedback on car batteries. Charge your battery periodically with the correct battery charger for your battery, wet cell, VRLA or lithium. To help your batteries last longer try and keep you car out of direct sunlight when not in use, heat kills battery life. Most car owners will just put in the same OEM battery, so the battery manufacturers still make money for years to come. Companies like Exide will make Motorcraft batteries for Ford and make them as cheap as possible which means using more or all recycled lead to keep cost down. When auto manufacturers look to save money they cut cost on the batteries. Car batteries are produce to be cheap and replaceable. The car battery industry has always used recycled lead from the industrial batteries sector which use virgin lead for longer life. Also, they can sit on the shelf for 2 years before needing to be charged, then put into service. They are TPPL (Thin plate pure lead) and that helps to increase their life span. If you are going to let your car sit for any length of time put it on a charger. In new cars there is a lot of parasitic loads placed on the battery. Personally I think having the maintainer is the best thing in the world for keeping a battery happy, and having a good one that will not cook batteries is a must. When the 63 beetle gets done I have not made the decision yet to go 12 or 6. I had a few 6v applications and a few that had 2x 6v batteries and used the Optima for those. Today the "toy" card are down to about 4 plus a couple bikes. Some cars get "cheap shit" batteries, my rail buggy (a vw sand rail) clearly a toy has a cheapo $139 wally world battery and has for 3 years now, sits out in an unheated shop all year long and this year gave the same service it always has, it is also on a battery tender.Īt one time I was very heavy in "cars" and had 24 lic, insured, driving cars. I also have these on my tractors, zero turn, and other "battery" start things. The maintainer I like is the good ole battery tender, if you have several cars they have models that will charge several cars at once. I still like Optima batteries, and use them on the few "old" cars I have left.
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