Make Your Car Batteries Last Longer
Looking after the pennies has never been more important. This is especially true if you are a car owner, not cheapest of things to maintain.
With carbattery prices averaging £100, anything you can do to prolong your car battery life is going to help. Luckily, looking after your car battery needn't be too much of a chore, or cost you too much.
Car batteries are one of those things that fail unexpectedly. There is generally no warning, or if there is one, it can be easily missed.
Here are several reasons why a car battery can fail, the most common of which is something called "sulphate" building up on the lead plates inside the battery.
Sulphates interfere with and prevent proper charging and discharging of the car battery. Plus, this build up can be increased dependent on certain conditions:
- High temperatures.
- Not using your car for long periods.
- Letting the battery charge run too low.
- Overcharging.
- Undercharging.
That is why regular maintenance is essential, as it is impossible to foresee many of these situations. Only regular weekly checking will forestall any damage and battery failure.
One of the simplest things you can do is to keep the battery terminals clean. This involves gently wire brushing the battery terminals and cable connectors to remove any corrosion, and applying battery grease.
Check the electrolyte level. If you have a non-sealed battery, remove the caps on the top of your battery and check the electrolyte levels. The plates inside the battery should always be covered. But, do not overfill either. There will be a "maximum" mark somewhere on your battery to tell you how much to add.
If you plan to keep your car off the road for more than a few weeks, remove the battery and trickle charge it. You will find instructions on how to do this on the leaflet that comes with your battery charger. It is much better to keep a battery fully charged, than to let it discharge completely and then try to recharge it.
In the winter especially, when you may be driving in the dark more often, have the heater blasting out, with the radio to keep you company, you are using up more energy than the car can produce to replace it. Over time your car battery is steadily running out of charge. Check you battery regularly by plugging in your battery charger to read what the charge level is. Over charging is as bad as undercharging, but anything less than 10.5 volts and your battery needs a top-up charge.
By following these simple strategies, you can improve the life of your car battery and avoid getting caught out with a car that won't start.