Battery Check and maintenance

[otherclive]

Last winter 9 years old. The sub zero temperature stuffed it. It still shows 12.3 v on the meter. Good enough for the caravan in storage. Ah yes an oem “Kia “. Made in S Korea

Thanks. Doesn’t need much CCA ability to keep an alarm system live. Could last another 9 years.

 

[Hutch]

Thanks. Doesn’t need much CCA ability to keep an alarm system live. Could last another 9 years.

I had our old SantaFe battery 9 year old, changed it because we were away from home and left car outside it's cosy garage.
Looking back It really only took about 30 seconds to a minute to start the engine.. Maybe my over worrying, but it gave me a a spare battery for the car and caravan.

 

[Hutch]

Has anyone bought one of these battery's, the price seems to be too good. But as my present battery on the van is now at 65% capacity, I might change it.

Pardon our interruption...

 

[Hutch]

Has anyone bought one of these battery's, the price seems to be too good. But as my present battery on the van is now at 65% capacity, I might change it.

Pardon our interruption...

The Sorry our interruption works. Strange

 

[RogerL]

Has anyone bought one of these battery's, the price seems to be too good. But as my present battery on the van is now at 65% capacity, I might change it.

Pardon our interruption...

Some advise replacing batteries when they're down to 50% capacity so yours may still have plenty of life left.

 

[otherclive]

I had our old SantaFe battery 9 year old, changed it because we were away from home and left car outside it's cosy garage.
Looking back It really only took about 30 seconds to a minute to start the engine.. Maybe my over cousinous, but it gave me a a spare battery for the car and caravan.

At 30 seconds to 1 minute to start a diesel I would have done the same as you, even allow for glow plug heating.

 

[JTQ]

Changing a failing car battery really in my opinion comes down to how important getting the car to start is.

If it's never going to matter overly that occasionally you have struggles then tolerating it might be tenable, but there comes a time where you are just putting off the inevitable.

I keep a CTEK 0.8 Amp unit plugged into our infrequently used tow car, via its tow socket all the time when it's garaged.
I have found historically these techniques yield very acceptable battery lives. I also on both vehicles drive with the stop start off as I can't accept that this system does the battery or vehicle any good. Living in and largely using vehicles in a rural place where it if being active would only typically be instigating momentary stops, I suspect it also then does little if any good environmentally.

 

[RogerL]

I was initially sceptical of the effect of stop-start on batteries but generally manufacturers specify an upgraded battery compared to "normal" use - VW recommend changing the AGM battery in my Touareg when its down to 50% - I actually changed it at 8 years old when it was at 60% so a bit premature!

 

[otherclive]

Looking at batteries for our Kia Rio the stop start ones seem to come in two speculations wrt number of start cycles. All are AGM and the more expensive quote 360,000 cycles, the slightly cheaper ones of same make are 250,000 cycles. How they are tested and against what specification I’ve not found out.
Also one battery lead has a battery level sensor that restarts the engine if it’s been stopped for too long. £159 sweet Nora 🤬

I switch it off for some occasions like crossing a major intersection etc. Last thing I want is failure to restart. But overly cautious I know. Whereas the hybrid Toyota launches forward in EV mode while an electric motor spins its engine up to 1000 rpm prior to start. Overall I have minimal control of what the Toyota powertrain wants to do. Which is great.