Car Batteries

Daniel Plainview on 13/04/2015 - 16:10
Last edited 13/04/2015 - 16:12

Folks,

Yes, we've all been there and recently I was greeted upon turning the car key in the morning with that "errrrr errrr errrr" that we all dread and know as a flat battery.

Cut a long story short thankfully it wasn't much of a PITA but for many folks it is and hence I thought I'd pop a very quick thread up as something of a cautionary tale for others.

FWIW I'd had a relatively crappy battery in our vehicle and I knew it was getting on in the tooth and so every month or so I'd check it's resting voltage with a multimeter and kept a record of this hoping I'd be able to notice when it was on the way out. Suffice to say this didn't help.

So I did a crapload of reading up about car batteries and the various challenges/issues with them - as you'd think they're a very simple, straight forward subject area but they're very misunderstood and prone to a lot of BS and misinformation.

So in no particular order:

  • the 'smart' individual will under normal operating conditions periodically replace (and this is key! Not waiting for it to fail before acting!) their battery when it's showing 4 years from it's manufacturing/fill date (generally shown on the top of the battery by a coded stamp e.g E6, it varies by maker). 4 yrs is a bit of a magical milestone for Sealed-lead acid batteries (SLAs) and so to keep it simple you're best off doing this.

Odd thing is batteries are one of the few consumables in a car that people are very averse to replacing prior to them failing - e.g it'd be very odd for a consumer to wait until their oil filter literally clogged with crap before replacing it - so why feel it necessary to eke out a few extra months from a battery? IMHO trying to get that last 5-10% of life out of both your battery and tyres is a false economy that generally doesn't end well!

  • Never let your SLA run completely dead - by this I mean leaving the lights on and letting it completely flatten. It does massive damage to the SLA and whilst you CAN recharge them the capacity (generally best reflected by the CCA measurement) will never be the same again. Periodic full overnight recharging of the battery (e.g every 3-6mths) by a modern multi stage charger will assist maximise battery life, especially if you're doing a lot of short trips or use a lot of electrical extras in the car.

  • This is a critical point and one that gets a LOT of people - TESTING of SLA's to ACCURATELY gauge their health is VERY tricky and often misleading. This video is excellent at illustrating exactly this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi8sUE9XCgA

Cut a long story short the guy tests a dodgy battery using 4 different styles of testers….first a multimeter, then a load tester, then a hydrometer and ALL THREE give the battery a clean bill of health and a pass……but then he uses the latest technology, a conductance tester and that reveals the battery is close to failure!

So try and periodically get your battery tested at an outlet that has a state of the art conductance tester (this will be able to determine the actual CCA capacity left in your battery, which is the best gauge of it's actual health) - Repco outlets often carry them and do this for free, takes under 30sec to run.

Bear in mind that you'll often be testing the car you've just driven to the shop in - and as such the battery will be showing a significantly higher charge than it really has when resting (e.g when you go to start it in the morning!)- so take this reading as the HIGH end of whats reality.

  • Fancy ass chargers and battery additives are generally very much questionable area - some people will swear by them but objective 3rd party testing is at best often inconclusive as to the effectiveness of these. The latest multistage chargers will often have a 'rejuvenate/recovery' stage to reverse sulfation of the plates - this can help a little but it's only a 5-10% benefit at best. If you have an old 'dumb' charger (that just pumps a set number of amps in regardless) you're advised to consider picking up atleast a 3 stage charger - as these are vastly superior and often much cheaper than 5 or 7+ stage ones that are somewhat marginal in their cost vs benefits.

  • And finally you generally get what you pay for with a battery (they're generally a box full of lead and acid plus a few makers supply many of the brands). So it is worth paying that little bit extra for a good quality one. That said, if you get ahead of the curve and replace your battery BEFORE it fails you can keep an eye out for the regular specials on them at Repco, SCA etc and get a decent discount on a quality battery rather than having to either pay full price or install a very dodgy quality battery from the NRMA/RACV house brand ones.

So any good OzBer knows it's best to buy when there's a sale etc - so use this to your advantage and don't get caught out by that morning,"errr errrr errrr' this forthcoming winter! :-)

Automotive

Comments

  • Paul Atreides on 13/04/2015 - 16:15
    +2

    TLDR please

    • iridiumstem on 13/04/2015 - 16:23
      +18

      Sealed-lead acid batteries (SLAs) can fail, the tests can sometimes overestimate their life so don't wait til it dies. Change them at least once every 4 years interval.

      I think that was it.

      • edgar28 on 14/04/2015 - 18:05

        my century died in 3 years :( —- out of sudden type, was driving in the morning then afternoon died

        i bought a battery type jump starter….

      • Oliver on 15/04/2015 - 22:54

        For about three years in a row my battery failed once a year. This was with an NRMA battery. So far this one has lasted me about 1.5 years.

  • geek001 on 13/04/2015 - 16:20

    I guess the battery is one of those things that you can "see" working, like lights for example. My last battery did die progressively. In hindsight, I should have bought a spare battery when one of car places has a 20% off sale when it started showing symptoms.

    4 years? I had a Century battery and it died 4 months out of its 2 year warranty. Go figure.

    • Daniel Plainview on 13/04/2015 - 21:15

      I agree you can see when it's working and when it's not but knowing how much of the former you have left is VERY hard to discern - hence why I think people should try and see it as more of a periodic replacement item rather than 'I'll replace it when it seems to be having issues'. Understand if they prefer to do the latter as this is OzB but I think in the long run it's a false economy, especially if you really get unlucky on where/when it conks out.

      I just find it somewhat counterintuitive that the vast majority of motorists wouldn't ever consider using their sparkplugs, oil filter, fuel filter, air filter, pollen filter, brake fluid etc etc etc until they were literally DOA - so that so many folks DO this with their battery is an interesting one, as it does go against the numbers/logic and hey I say all this as someone who thought he knew better and had a flat battery just a few days ago - so there's no holier than thou stuff coming from me. :-)

      And if you ever needed more support for the logic of my base point I submit to you that the most common reason for NRMA/roadside assistance callouts are…..flat batteries. Nuf said.
      http://www.live4.com.au/opinion/4-minutes-with-an-nrma-roads…

      Apparently it's 35% of all callouts.
      http://www.mynrma.com.au/roadside-assistance/batteries/batte…

      • zeomega on 14/04/2015 - 23:57

        MANUFACTURER RECOMMENDED service schedule when purchased with car… battery not included.

      • webbj on 15/04/2015 - 16:16
        +1

        Batteries to me are more like light bulbs in your car. They last varying amounts of times, due to all sorts of reasons.

        You could replace them at regular intervals (before they failed) but for the minor inconvenience, most let them fail first - then replace.

        Replacing something prior to failure makes sense if it's going to cause a huge problem (financial, mechanical, safety etc) when it finally bites the dust.

        Batteries don't fall into this category for me (or the majority of others looking at this thread) so it's easy just to see how much life you get from it.

        This is especially the case for batteries because generally they display signs that they are deteriorating. When you spot this you replace the battery, saving yourself the minor inconvenience and ensuring you get the most value out of your battery.

  • rompastompa on 13/04/2015 - 16:22

    What kind of battery would you recommend for a Commodore 5.7Ltr? http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/online-store/batteries-and-…

    • Daniel Plainview on 13/04/2015 - 19:13
      +2

      With all due respect is best you DYOR many sites will have easy punch in your exact model and they're suggest several options. Your own finances, extra electrical gear in the car, driving habits etc make such info impossible to accurately give - but will be easy to find for you.

      Suffice to say I'd keep an eye out for a good deal on a quality battery as it does happen but as stated below less often than other automotive consumables.

  • 2jzzzz on 13/04/2015 - 17:14
    +2

    Automotive retail stores don't make much on batteries and rarely go on special, always buy on a store wide 20% off day.

    • Daniel Plainview on 13/04/2015 - 19:10
      -1

      Great point and more reason to set a diary reminder on your smart phone say 3.5 yrs down the track to keep an eye out for a sale - as better to buy a new one a few months early than have to pay full ticket a day too late!

      The vast majority of people as I alluded will end up just buying one from the NRMA/RACV etc chap who comes out - as it's convenient and they feel kinda obliged - but they're absolute entry level junk yet hold a big % of the market. It's actually a brilliant move by NRMA etc as these low end batteries are more prone to early failure and thus they get to repeat the sales cycle all over again!

    • microsnot on 15/04/2015 - 19:29

      Huh? I had a look and the battery I wanted was cheaper shipped to me from interstate than the 20% off price at SCA.

  • mskeggs on 13/04/2015 - 17:49
    +3

    4 years seems ridiculously young based on my experience.
    I've owned my current car 6yrs and the battery wasn't new then. The two cars before that got one new battery, and I owned both of them about 5 years each. So at $100 per battery, that puts me about $300 ahead of the 'replace every 4 years' metric. Consider too the hassle and time cost of worrying about all this!

    • Daniel Plainview on 13/04/2015 - 19:04
      +1

      You do realise the obvious, which is that 'your experience'(like mine!) is a massively small sample size and thus (and said with no disrespect at all) means essentially nothing. Likewise the poster several above who said that their battery died just over 2 yrs in ITSELF means nothing. As on his experience alone we'd not say everyone should replace at 2yrs right?

      And again I say this all in the most objective and no offence meant manner. :-)

      There could be and undoubtably were an infinite number of variables in why you or any number of other persons might get longer out of their batteries and others get less. In themselves they mean nothing.

      Like I said, and I'm simply the messenger here so if you really have issue with the numbers or science you'd be better off directing it over at Battery University (which is a real and amazingly good site) etc.

      SLA's are very hard to read accurately in terms of their remaining lifespan….they're a PITA when they fail (one decent failure could have easily set you back in effective costs well and truly more than your perceived $300 savings)….and incredibly misunderstood.

      My point is purely an illustrative one, in so much as wanting to flag this for folks - as I genuinely thought I had mine completely covered by checking it regularly with a multimeter but was DEAD WRONG - and so I found they're a really tricky/misunderstood subject area.

      And on the contrary a mandated period replacement policy should effectively negate the 'hassle & time cost' you allude too, whereas hoping to get another few months from an almost impossible to properly gauge consumable thats already past it's best before date is the approach that IMHO will do exactly this.

      We can agree to disagree, I'm glad you've had good luck with your batteries but thats exactly what it was LUCK. :-)

      • loulou1 on 13/04/2015 - 19:26
        +4

        I got over 8 years from the battery that came as standard in my 2005 Toyota Echo, doing about 15000 kms per year. I will not look for a new one approaching 4 years because if mine dies I am fortunate enough that I have family members that will drive me to get a new battery once I have figured out the best battery for my needs at that time. But everyone's situation is obviously different.

        • Daniel Plainview on 13/04/2015 - 19:35

          It's not if it dies, it's when it dies - as it's a certainty rather than a possibility. :-)

          I here completely what you're saying and know some people take that kind of approach. That said can I ask you if there are any other consumables on your car that take the same approach with? e.g use until they fail.

          As I would put it to you and others that GENERALLY people do NOT do this with cars - as nearly all consumables are recommended by makers and generally accepted by consumers to be replaced at set intervals.

          The ONLY exceptions to this are consumables where their actual usability/residual utility(performance etc) is definitively measurable e.g tyres, via a depth gauge or the depth markings on them.

        • mskeggs on 13/04/2015 - 20:16
          +12

          @Nikko:
          I understand your point, that replacing a battery every 4 years makes it less likely you will have a failure, but it is such a trivial to replace item, like a wiper blade (which I replace on failure too!) that I can't see the advantage of spending $100s to avoid that slight inconvenience when the battery finally dies.
          A failing timing belt (for example) is catastrophic for the engine, so it is reasonable to replace it well before it is likely to fail, but a dead battery is just a minor hassle.

          I understand too, that the battery university is offering advice for people who do not want a battery issue at all, for whom taking the car to Kmart Tyre and Auto for a new battery every 4 years is acceptable, but considering the inconvenience of a failed battery happens at most once in quite a lot of years, and a replacement is readily and easily available, I can't understand why you would throw out batteries that still had potentially years of life left, just because they hit an arbitrary age.

        • loulou1 on 13/04/2015 - 20:23

          i service my car regularly but other than that I only replace things as needed, even wiper blades, air fresheners, air con gas. anything that is unlikely to cause damage to any other part of my car or person can wait until it HAS to be replaced.

        • Daniel Plainview on 13/04/2015 - 20:39
          -5

          @mskeggs:
          Again and I say this with all due respect, this isn't something I'm trying to talk you specifically or really anyone around to - the facts are the facts, if you prefer to see if you can get an extra few months r years out of your battery thats on you. Like I said, the scientific facts and impartial experts in the area see it a different way.

          I think it's a tad silly to compare a windscreen wiper - which you can operate a vehicle just fine without - all all circumstances except the heaviest deluge with a battery which if it fails you're going no where. Plus the condition of a wiper is very easy to discern with a quick inspection - unlike a battery, which as shown in that Youtube clip is very hard to properly and accurately assess, even for relatively learned folks with semi-pro equipment.

          Again with all due respect under the very best of circumstances a flat battery is a minor hassle - and even then it's still a significant PITA. Under the wrong circumstances and the vast majority of times it's well above minor.

          Like I said above, you've got a very different approach from what I'm advocating and if that works for you - well done. I'm not looking to lobby you around to changing your habits but that one has been 'lucky' doesn't provide any tangible evidence that others should adopt such an approach with a view to it being 'best practice' - in fact by definition is the exact opposite.

          My points are IMHO very objective rather than being specific to ME - in so much as they make sense for the 'average' user and are supported by generally acknowledged scientific facts. Whilst I am not saying your points are not 100% right FOR YOU, that is the very key variable - that it's you - as others might find getting a new battery a major PITA, hidden cost pit, aren't roadside assistance members, live in remote location etc etc.

          As I said to the above poster,"That said can I ask you if there are any other consumables on your car that take the same approach with? e.g use until they fail."

          Anyway we could go round and round in circles on it - I'm not looking to change your mind as your approach, right or wrong works for you and I've zero issue with that - but I do think that advocating it to others purely on the basis of despite being irrational and contrary to expert opinion is less than ideal. The success of such an approach is not measured in a 5 or 10 year run but rather a lifetime of automotive activity hence anyone can get lucky once twice or a dozen times - but in the long run it's generally by and large a false economy when averaged out….so nice if you're lucky but few of us are. :-)

          Anyway the info's there, what you or others do with it is up to you - that was my sole goal of posting - haha I don't own share in Century-Yuasa etc. But I was just surprised by what a tricky/misleading area it is as I felt a battery should be a LOT simpler to read/gauge the health of.

        • Daniel Plainview on 13/04/2015 - 20:45
          -4

          @loumick1: Understood but again all threee of those can fail terminally and you could drive your car for years more with zero real issue - even the wipers will still work pretty well when shot to bits. Plus the first two are undoubtably 100% assessable at a moments glance….the 2nd one being a personal preference as much as fluffy dice from the rear vision mirror! ;-)

          Dead battery - no convential car on earth gets around that. And if you're lucky it won't happen in a bad spot/situation/moment…but again there's that luck thing, and thats the entire reason why the vast majority of auto consumables are on relatively fixed periodic replacement schedules as this is largely the ONLY way the average user can remove luck (or bad luck) from the equation.

          As with mskeggs, is nice your approach works for you. :-)

        • Euphemistic on 14/04/2015 - 08:34
          +2

          @Nikko:

          There are plenty of cars that can get away with a flat battery, admittedly it's older non computer cars that do it best. I personally drove a car witha. Dead battery for a few weeks when I was young and poor. Park it on a hill and clutch start… Easy.

          A modern car will run off the alternator with a dead battery too, it's just the start that causes a few issues. My last battery replacement was caused because I left the interior lights on for about three days when the battery was a bit slow. It was inconvenient, but all I had to do was plus in a charger for about 20min and I got the car started - that was quicker than waiting for roadside service on a wet Monday morning.

          As for replace every four years, I think I'd prefer to carry a set of jumper leads because all the batteries I have replace have lasted a fair bit longer than four years, and overall I think I'm in front.

        • loulou1 on 14/04/2015 - 10:21
          +2

          also fuses, i do not replace them unless they die. My radio died one day and i cried my little eyes out (this upset me much more than a flat battery surprisingly). yes the car could continue to run without it but, oh the humanity ha ha. I dont profess to know much about cars but i think fuses do more than just make sure i can listen to music and i still dont replace them at set intervals.

        • grogling on 14/04/2015 - 12:41
          +8

          @Nikko:
          Nikko, I've read a heap of your comments in this thread and I just have to interject.

          You go on about science and experts. I think before you start bringing out statements like that, you should learn just a small amount of what you are talking about first.

          Lets begin with the battery itself. You talk a lot about the figures of SLA batteries. That's all good and well, except most cars do not use SLA batteries. I think you are getting mixed up between a maintenance free battery and an SLA battery. They are two different things with different properties.

          But your whole argument seems to be based on your idea that convenience and economy is objective. That's plain wrong, you are objectively WRONG!

          Convenience is VERY subjective. If a battery fails on me, I push start the car, run down to SuperCheap and buy another battery. It's very little inconvenience for me. For others, it may be greatly inconvenient, thus IT IS SUBJECTIVE!

          Economy wise, it costs me no more to replace a battery when it fails than before it fails, thus every day I replace it early is extra cost. A dead battery adds no more cost to the TCO of the vehicle then replacing it early in my circumstances. This may be different for somebody who can't replace a battery, thus ECONOMY OF REPLACING EARLY IS SUBJECTIVE!!!

          You go on and on about respect, but sorry mate, you're full of it. You tell people their method is irrational. That's just plain bull. Waiting until a battery fails and replacing it then is not irrational at all for many people and advising people to use this method is quite valid.

          You make statements like "Scientific fact" about very subjective things. It's quite obvious you wouldn't have the faintest idea what a scientific fact it.

          I'm in no way claiming that my method is objectively best for everybody, what I'm saying is you are outright wrong trying to portray your method is objectively the best way backed up by "science".

        • grogling on 14/04/2015 - 15:10
          +11

          @Nikko:

          "Simply incorrect" - Where, which statement? What was simply incorrect? One single example?

          "completely subjective" YES, that's my point, both sides are completely subjective based on circumstances. The only difference being is there is only one person here claiming their method is objective and scientific fact, YOU!

          Yes, hill starting cars for weeks is probably an outlier, but waiting until a battery fails and replacing it IS NOT an outlier, it's how many people operate and operate with very little inconvenience. You have a few people who have replied to just that fact, but instead, you would prefer to take the extreme example and build your straw man from that.

          SLA isn't a general term, it's a specific term, a term that references a battery type that isn't commonly used for cars. When you present yourself as knowledgeable on a specific topic, knowledgeable enough to lecture others and accuse other people's info of being outright wrong, you would expect you know the basics, you clearly don't. SLA batteries are used in very different circumstances. In the common use case of SLA batteries, replacing at a timed interval IS a good idea. For example, using them in a UPS. The whole point of the UPS is ensuring availability, waiting for a battery to fail defeats the purpose of the device. But of course, the battery types are different. An SLA generally are designed to have much lower constant current output and designed to be used to much lower capacity levels. A car battery has one main purpose, start the car. Once it's running, power is generated by the alternator. It is designed to have very high current delivery for a small amount of time. Charging is also very different, due to their size and location, heat dissipation is high. Thus they can be charged at constant voltage, which allows for a simple alternator regulator pumping out a constant 13.8V, SLAs cannot vent like a car battery, so charging is a much more delicate process. Mixing up the two battery types is not a generalisation, it's a mistake.

          A very simple way to monitor the condition of your battery is simply listen to the cranking sound. Very rarely will a battery not develop a lazy cranking sound before it gives up. On modern cars which tend to have higher electrical loads (especially when off) and smaller batteries, both the time frame between sounding lazy and failing has reduced and the effect has become more subtle, but it's still there if you listen.

          I understand you think I'm acting like a jerk, but people who think they know more than they do often view criticism of their opinion that way. You are presenting your opinion, presenting it as unquestionable fact and having a sook when people point out it's flaws. I read your OP and wasn't going to reply, but when others presented their conflicting opinion and you attempted to try and present it as you have "scientific fact" on your side I decided to step in.

        • grogling on 14/04/2015 - 16:00
          +12

          @Nikko:

          No, not side stepping anything at all. You point out what I have specifically got wrong and I will address it. You throw around generalisations like "nonsense", "show an ounce of intelligence", "simply incorrect" and "simplistic to the point of ridicule" but refuse to address anything specific.

          "Lets agree to disagree" is just code for "I've just realised I'm wrong and I don't wish to admit it".

          If you think I'm wrong, point out where I'm wrong. I would like to know, I might learn something. I doubt it since you seem to know very little about batteries and are just parroting something you read somewhere and don't have any further understanding to back up your statements, but if you are holding back, let's hear it. I welcome being proven wrong as it means I learnt something.

          Some people might want to spend more money to avoid a small inconvenience of replacing a battery at a less than ideal time, but to present it as the objectively correct way backed up by scientific fact requires more than generalised statements. So lets hear it, lets hear the scientific evidence^ for replacing every 4 years.

          ^ - of course, being scientific fact, there would be peer reviewed journal articles you can surely point us to.

        • Speckled Jim on 14/04/2015 - 22:12

          @mskeggs:

          With a fraction of the money you'll save running a battery til it's dead, get a porta-jump battery and keep it in the glovebox.
          So the inconvenience can also be eliminated from the equation!

        • expertreader on 15/04/2015 - 12:46
          +1

          @Nikko: why did you two stop? I was enjoying it. 😄😄

        • johnno07 on 15/04/2015 - 14:56
          +1

          @Nikko: You've lost any iota of credibility you had on this topic, Nikko. Grogling was not being antagonising, rather he/she was questioning your argument and its basis on what you refer to as "generally acknowledged scientific facts" (kind of an oxymoronic phrase, don't you think?). What you're presenting is a process for someone who cannot deal with the inconvenience caused by turning your car on… and discovering that your battery is dead. E.g. someone who drives for a living (courier, tradeperson etc) and cannot worry about having their battery be dead. In this case, sure, replace your battery at a regular interval before it dies. For anyone else - that is, people that aren't terribly inconvenienced by a dead battery - they can replace it when it dies. Pretty simple. It's totally dependent on your situation and therefore wholly subjective. In my case, if I walk out and my battery is dead, I'll just catch the bus, borrow a family member's car, or wait for RACQ to arrive. My chance of being in a life or death situation with a dead battery and no other poossible mode of transport is practically 0. I'd rather save a bit (or lot, depending on how long it lasts) of money by letting my battery go for as long as possible. But this is just me. Wholly subjective.

          10/10 for hypocrisy in your last comment, by the way.

        • microsnot on 15/04/2015 - 21:40

          @Nikko:

          Facts and science, eh? Care to reference these scientific papers?

          One would think factors such as the actual battery, climate, distance, type of driving, accessories, stop/start tech, etc would need to be accounted for rather than your hard and fast (and generally accepted by experts and science) number of 4 years between changes. I hear your argument from authority but would like to understand the science behind it.

          I let the following fail before replacing them: light globes, headlights, fuses, sensors (abs, ESC, yaw, etc), thermostat and many other components.

        • JOCKz on 16/04/2015 - 14:49

          @microsnot: I don't know about you but I personally change all fluids, plugs and thermostat when I buy a car. A thermostat that has failed and is stuck closed will cause the car to overheat. The life and blood of a car is engine oil and coolant

        • microsnot on 16/04/2015 - 19:05

          @JOCKz:

          Obviously not a new car then? If I bought a 5 year old car then I probably would too.

          Don't get me wrong, I test my thermostats. With my luck I'll put a new one in and it'll fail within 5k km. :)

          Iridium plugs so I don't want to replace too often.

  • tebbybabes on 13/04/2015 - 22:34

    Just sharing, my stock Euro Ford battery failed in 3 years and it was a very inopportune moment! I was already away from home!

    I'm also very very very impressed with hearing you guys with batteries that have lasted 6-8 years. Wow. Back in the tropical country where I once lived in, the folks were quite happy to have had their battery last 2 years. Apparently anything after that was just gravy.

  • inherentchoice on 13/04/2015 - 22:59

    Doesn't the amount of usage of your car also impact battery life?

    So my battery works after 4 years but I only do about 10,000 km per year. I somehow let it run flat when I went overseas and didn't start my car for over two weeks. Went to Super Cheap Auto and the guy tested it. He says it's fine. Took it to my trusted mechanic for a routine service and he didn't raise any issues with it.

    For all the 1000s of words in this thread I think it's a little odd no one has mentioned checking the distilled water levels?

    • ozzie freddo on 14/04/2015 - 07:36
      +4

      SLA stands for Sealed Lead Acid, ie they are factory sealed and you cannot check or add water. Nikko uses the SLA term as the "norm" for car batteries. I'm not sure that this a correct usage as SLAs have been around for years in other applications and they have not had a liquid electrolyte but a gel type and have more comprehensively been called "sealed recombination lead acid". It is true that car batteries are commonly being supplied as "maintenance free" in a sealed form and are literally "Sealed Lead Acid" but it is potentially confusing to refer to them as SLA.

    • Cluster on 15/04/2015 - 01:56
      +1

      Usage and the type of usage matters. My Australian made top of the range Exide had the following warranty:

      3 years private use
      1 year business use
      6 months taxi use

  • Mad Max on 13/04/2015 - 23:26
    +9

    Many moons ago when I was younger and poorer, if my battery was showing signs of end of life (and they normally do give you warnings) I used to go to the local auto electrics place and ask them if I could take one of the old batteries from the pile. They would always let me.
    I would check them with a multimeter and take the best and most suitable. If there were 2 good ones I would take both (to be sure to be sure! and to have a spare).
    At home I would refill the distilled water as required, recharge it overnight and put it in the car the next day. I would normally get between 6 months and up to 2 years out of them.
    So yes, I was on Ozbargainer (some would call it worst) before Ozbargain even started…actually before internet started!
    So let OP change his battery when he likes, and if he lets us know where he puts the old one some clever kid may benefit too ;-)

  • BobD on 14/04/2015 - 08:12

    A couple of things. I had to replace mine recently and like many others I was going to allow the RACV replacement. The guy got my car started but didn't have a battery. I live in the mornington Peninsula part of Melbourne and they RCV guy was an agent who does it all. So I went to Repco and even though they had 20% off that didn't apply to batteries and they were pricey. I tried Autopro and they had no stock. In desperation I went to Kmart and got a Kmart battery built by Exide (sorry I can't confirm this at the moment). I bought the super heavy duty and it was about the same price as the others baseline. I've had Kmart batteries before and they (in my experience) go the distance. Super Cheap opened at Easter in our town so now I have another choice.

  • Euphemistic on 14/04/2015 - 08:38
    +3

    There is another thing to watch for, modern cars have fancy alternators that don't charge the way they used too. Our model pathfinder has one and it's known to cause shortening of battery life. It cuts off the alternator when the engine is under load to save fuel, but especially for short trips doesn't allow the battery to charge fully.

    There is a solution to this, for our car to disconnect the wire that signals the alternator to have a rest. I fixed ours after an hour drive on the highway failed to charge the battery enough to run our fridge for a couple of hours, now the fridge will run overnight and the car will still start. We now get a proper charge to the battery and expect the battery will last longer too. Those who have also done the modification have reported no difference in fuel economy. Other vehicles will have different methods.

    • Cluster on 15/04/2015 - 01:51

      You can buy SLA batteries that are compatible with smart alternators.

  • WT on 14/04/2015 - 12:34

    too bad optima gel batteries are not like they used to be a few years ago

  • zeomega on 14/04/2015 - 19:01
    +5

    Personal opinion, just keep a set of jump start leads in your car. I keep them with my spare wheel if it has one or just the boot under the covers.

    If battery fails, jump start car, drive to nearest battery dealer and replace.

    Changing every 4 years is just wasteful and financially unwise. As stated by some ozbers, some batteries last long and I personally had batteries from a brand new car last more than 6 years before getting rid of the vehicle.

  • skillet on 14/04/2015 - 23:04
    +1

    I have seen many factory service manual and there are guidelines when to change parts such as oil, filter, coolant, drive belts. Never seen one that recommend limited battery service life. To me, it is consumables like tyres and brakes. It varies for different cars.

    Assuming you take good care of the battery, never deep discharge, always top it off with distilled h2o. The heat in the engine bay can kill your battery. The hotter it is, the faster it goes. Some cars with battery in the boot, they last a longer time. The temperate of the battery environment can vary from a car to another.

    For modern cars with traffic stop-start tech, I suspect the battery will die earlier due to the increased load.

    Before I started messing with DIY LiFePO4 jump starters, my cars batteries last 6 years. I live in Melbourne. Now I just run them to the ground so I have an excuse to use the jump starter.

  • Cluster on 15/04/2015 - 01:55

    The OP claims 4 years is the optimum time of life for a SLA battery. My Australian made Exide has been going for over 5 and still cranks well. The battery that came new with my Mitsubishi was a non sealed type and one of the cells started to go bad (measured with hydrometer). At six years lifetime it could barely crank the engine over, and leaving the car for two weeks was enough to flatten the battery.

    TLDR: Buy upper range batteries from known good manufacturers. There's only one Australian battery manufacturer left.

  • John Dough on 15/04/2015 - 08:08
    +3

    Sorry Nikko, you are preaching to the wrong choir here!
    Ozbargain is about stretching that $ as far as it can possibly go.

    Personally my old manual mazda will see every last drop out of the battery.
    I'll push start, hill start and crank every last ounce out of that batt, try to make it through the approaching winter so it might see another summer etc

    I don't care what people think, I remember when I was younger, meeting a few interesting people as they helped me push start my old Toyota!

    If I don't get 6 years out of my battery, then I feel as though I was unlucky.

    As for a few of the comments made, may I add that as long as your alternator is producing the correct voltage, it won't matter if you have every electronic device in your car switched on when it's running, it will still charge the battery to its full capability. This is a really common misconception. If your battery is not going the distance or showing signs of going flat prematurely, it's probably the alternator not charging properly.

    If the battery is completely dead, of course you can find yourself without enough stored voltage to produce a spark, then I guess you are screwed - but most of the time a battery won't get that far gone before you will have had to replace it anyway.

    Good luck with your mission ;)

  • thesilverstarman on 15/04/2015 - 08:37
    +3

    11 years in my wife's car and battery still going strong. Cold mornings in Ballarat no problems. Mercedes must use super batteries then. To change it every 3 years would have been a waste of time and money. A better solution would be to have it checked each service. As a mechanic, this is what I do. Changing them early is just wasteful.

    • Euphemistic on 15/04/2015 - 09:58

      Yes, it is wasteful, and if everyone started replacing batteries every four years you can bet the manufacturers will make them last four years, or less.

  • freddofrog42 on 15/04/2015 - 15:02

    Ignoring all the fun comments about what the exact battery chemistry is, a simple observation is that in general most batteries object to high temperatures, both ambient and those experienced under bonnet.

    Some also object strongly to cold temperatures e.g. NiMH cells. But we're talking basic car batteries here.

    I recall a study done in the USA which found that car batteries serving in Florida lasted about half the time as those in Detroit. The main difference being that the ambient, and hence under bonnet temperature was radically different. Of course, in the winter months a battery would have to work harder to start a Detroit-based car but given that most engines start first time (often using thinner oil e.g. 5W/20) it turned out to be a non-issue until said battery was near EOL. Don't ask me for a reference, it was at least a decade ago but as I worked in the industry back then it stuck.

    In essence, it's not unrealistic for a similar battery in say Melbourne to last much longer than one in Cairns.

    Of course usage patterns will influence the final outcome, e.g. leaving lights on, or the stereo playing etc.

    Finally I feel that 4 years out of a SLA in a domestic UPS is optimistic. More like 2/3 in practice.

  • rxjb on 15/04/2015 - 15:52

    I have been using supercharge batteries (upper spec models) for quite some time. My first one lasted 10 years in a Subaru Liberty. I am onto my second at the moment and is covered by a 3 year warranty. If this one lasts 10 years, I would be happy! I guess there are plenty of cheap batteries out there and you get what you pay for….having said that, batteries can fail, just hopefully within their warranty time?

    • Steptoe on 15/04/2015 - 18:22

      using supercharge batteries

      Mekong Auto Spares in Canley Vale (NSW) usually have good prices on SuperCharge Batteries

  • smpantsonfire on 15/04/2015 - 19:56

    5 years and counting for me.

  • stephendt on 15/04/2015 - 20:34

    10+ year old batteries are not unheard of. My last one lasted 8.

  • JOCKz on 15/04/2015 - 20:51
    +1

    Its false economy to replace batteries on regular intervals, sure your minimizing the risk. How do you know the new one wont fail ? You don't. Batteries don't just die, they start showing symptoms of failure. If your alternator isn't up to par it can kill the battery too. Generally if a battery starts going weak you can still jump it and drive off, their are other things that can leave you on the side of the road. Fuel Pumps, starters, relays etc doesn't mean you should replace them periodically.

    • smpantsonfire on 15/04/2015 - 22:04

      The cold kills them too.

      • [Deactivated] on 17/04/2015 - 23:05

        So can the extreme heat. Battery can boil off enough hcl even in a days driving to need topping up or battery dies.

        smpantsonfire: How does cold kill a battery?

        • smpantsonfire on 18/04/2015 - 11:48

          It's more so on a dying battery, but the car requires more current to start when the engine and oil are cold. Add that to batteries being less efficient at lower temperatures, it's like a double hit.

  • [Deactivated] on 16/04/2015 - 09:48

    Last one lasted 5+ could have kept going but I did a stupid thing by leaving the lights on. Probably could have kept it for a bit but I got conned or educated by the RACQ roadside assistant to buy his batteries. (I didn't know they were at least 30% more expensive than off the shelf, not sure if that includes fitment or whatever either).

    • Cluster on 16/04/2015 - 17:25

      30% seems quite reasonable as the battery is right there and waiting for you versus possibly being kilometres away from the nearest store and maybe even having to wait overnight for it to open. Petrol stations only stock a few types for the most popular cars, so if you're not driving a Commodore/Falcon/Camry/Corolla you may be stuck.

  • crentist on 16/04/2015 - 18:40

    years back i got to drive a spare car from parents work for a few weeks, when someone quit and gave back their company car
    battery was low, and when i got stuck with a dead car at the shops and asked a mechanic friend for help he rocked up with a spare truck battery

    so for the next couple of weeks i kept this massive battery in the back seat and brought it out to jumpstart the car every time i wanted to drive somewhere

    • WT on 17/04/2015 - 12:20

      A motorcycle battery works, that's what in most jump packs anyways

  • gimli on 16/04/2015 - 22:41

    Get a vanadium redox battery

  • [Deactivated] on 17/04/2015 - 12:08

    Two of my old non calcium car batteries have lasted 10 years. Most have lasted 6+ years. As long as you dont leave them discharged under 11 volts for long, oor let the fluid level drop.
    I've picked up maybe 12 or so 'good' batteries for car & solar usage, that people threw out after the 1st time non-starting their car.
    Old peoples motorized 3-wheelers thrownout provided big SLA in gret condition. An old tossed out bicycle trailer provided 120Ah LiFePO4 for nix. Still use these great batteries.
    Anyway people these days are so wasteful, if your car batt still works, it may last 5 more years, throwing it away is waste. Keep jumper cables in boot instead.

  • Daedalus on 17/04/2015 - 12:43

    Anyone got recommendations for a good battery charger?

    • JOCKz on 18/04/2015 - 08:32

      Yep, your cars alternator :)

      • smpantsonfire on 18/04/2015 - 11:49

        Well, a working efficient one anyway.

  • frewer on 17/04/2015 - 14:45

    Thank you OP for the very informative read. However i think i will stay with the says " ignorant is bliss". Since my wife's car ( is the only one here ) is with RACV and she pay a truck load ( in ozbargain's term ) of $ for insurance.

    Unless someone can convinces me otherwise …

  • [Deactivated] on 18/04/2015 - 13:29

    Just out of interest about 10 years ago I read the original car battery designed by the Ford Motor Co in early 1900's, was still operating holding charge after a century. Its on display somewhere in a museum and I remember its plates were made of/with gold.
    Goes to show 4 year lifespan is pretty lousy.

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