Home after 3 months and my car battery is dead :(

[Eeezee]

I expected this, of course.

When I get a jump and drive around for awhile, that will be sufficient, correct? The battery is maybe a year old, so it should still hold a charge.

 

[AlienCraft]

Originally posted by: Eeezee
I expected this, of course.

When I get a jump and drive around for awhile, that will be sufficient, correct? The battery is maybe a year old, so it should still hold a charge.

If you mean a couple of hours, yes. HOWEVER, a short ride may not be sufficient.

 

[Codewiz]

need to let it run for around 30 minutes

 

[MiniDoom]

you should be ok. I rarely drive, maybe a few times a year and run into this also.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: Eeezee
I expected this, of course.

When I get a jump and drive around for awhile, that will be sufficient, correct? The battery is maybe a year old, so it should still hold a charge.

If one anticipates that this could hapen, it is best to remove the cables from the battery.

Makes it a lot easier when you then need to restart the vehicle - no slow darin due to shorts, etc can occur.

You waste 5 minutes vs 1-2 hours waiting for a jump or a ride.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: Eeezee
I expected this, of course.

When I get a jump and drive around for awhile, that will be sufficient, correct? The battery is maybe a year old, so it should still hold a charge.

How old is the battery?

If it is three years old it's time for a new one.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: Eeezee
I expected this, of course.

When I get a jump and drive around for awhile, that will be sufficient, correct? The battery is maybe a year old, so it should still hold a charge.

How old is the battery?

If it is three years old it's time for a new one.

His statement is bolded

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: Eeezee
I expected this, of course.

When I get a jump and drive around for awhile, that will be sufficient, correct? The battery is maybe a year old, so it should still hold a charge.

How old is the battery?

If it is three years old it's time for a new one.

His statement is bolded

Then 30 minutes of a charge should do it.

Sounds like something drained it while sitting and I would cut the time of that battery to two years instead of three.

 

[Jeff7]

I've often wondered, what's the charging current going into the battery? I think a car battery is rated at 40Ah, so it'd take awhile to fully charge it.

My cheap CD-MP3 player I had would drain my battery dead after 2 weeks of inactivity. It took a few hours to charge fully at 5A, using the v1 Triton charger.

 

[Eeezee]

Well, I expect certain components (car alarm, some circuitry) constantly drain power, so 3 months of constant low drain should eventually drain the battery. Would that really cut the life of the battery though, dmcowen? I don't understand why completely draining a battery would reduce its effective life

 

[nublikescake]

How to Jump-Start a Car

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Eeezee
Well, I expect certain components (car alarm, some circuitry) constantly drain power, so 3 months of constant low drain should eventually drain the battery. Would that really cut the life of the battery though, dmcowen? I don't understand why completely draining a battery would reduce its effective life

It's fun, and I'll try to explain it briefly, and hopefully accurately. If Rubycon's around, she could describe it much better, I'm sure.
You don't want a 12V lead acid battery to go below 10.8V.

A battery is made of cells in series, and sometimes with pairs in parallel, as in some laptop batteries. For 12V LA batteries, it's 6 2V cells in series.
If a battery is discharged too low, you risk having the weakest cell in series discharge completely. Either then, or when the battery is charging, the weak cell can become reverse-biased, having current forced through it backwards, damaging it. This further reduces its capacity, making the problem worse.
So you can not only lose a functioning cell, but then you also have to push current through the resistance of that otherwise useless cell.

It kind of sucks that the cells aren't individually replaceable - one bad cell can kill an entire battery.

 

[ondarkness]

that nagging blinking 12:00 was prolly the culprit!

 

[Turin39789]

pick up a battery tender

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: Eeezee
I expected this, of course.

When I get a jump and drive around for awhile, that will be sufficient, correct? The battery is maybe a year old, so it should still hold a charge.

How old is the battery?

If it is three years old it's time for a new one.

Three years?

That's what you get for buying Wal-Mart batteries. A good quality lead acid battery should last at least 5 years, and possibly as long as 10.

Wal-Mart carries batteries made by two manufacturers, Exide and Johnson Controls.

Exide is complete and utter crap, with many batteries dying after a mere two years. Johnson Controls batteries are actually fairly good quality for the price. You can find the manufacturer on the info/spec sticker on the battery.

Of course, this depends largely on environment and use, and secondarily, proper battery maintenance.

Yes, I said battery maintenance. They are not maintenance free devices.

Edit: Discharging a battery damages it. This applies to all battery chemistries, from lead acid to Li-ion. Further, sitting discharged will damage the battery even more as the plates' pores become clogged with sulfates, in the case of lead acid batteries.

It largely has to do with charge and discharge cycles. A typical car battery may possibly be able to withstand 15,000 shallow discharge cycles(ie: starting your car), but only 25 complete discharge cycles before being severely below its rated capacity.

 

[Modelworks]

Temperature also has a big impact on battery life. Too hot or too cold can shorten life quite a bit.
They actually make kill switches for your car battery that you can open the hood and flip the switch and completely disconnect the battery for when you store your car.

 

[dullard]

I had that happen to a coworker 3 times. After the third time, I told her that I won't jump her kid's cars again (they'd leave it untouched for a semester at college). Not once did the battery ever recover - even after prolonged driving.

Just unplug the battery and you are fine. Or, how hard is it to just have someone else drive it once or twice a month?

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper

Originally posted by: Eeezee
I expected this, of course.

When I get a jump and drive around for awhile, that will be sufficient, correct? The battery is maybe a year old, so it should still hold a charge.

If one anticipates that this could hapen, it is best to remove the cables from the battery.

Makes it a lot easier when you then need to restart the vehicle - no slow darin due to shorts, etc can occur.
You waste 5 minutes vs 1-2 hours waiting for a jump or a ride.

Who's Slow Darin? Is he the kid that rides the short bus? ? Why is he slow? How do his shorts figure in to this?


In spite of making fun of a simple typo, I agree with removing the negative cable at the minimum to eliminate the drain.

If the battery has been dead for a lengthy period, your battery may not hold a charge. (the plates sulfate) In that case, your easiest option is to just replace the battery. (NOT usually covered by warranty)

 

[I4AT]

Yeah I let my car sit for months without even starting it and the battery pooped. I tried to jump it but it couldn't even hold enough juice to power the accessories. Just ended up going to Advance Auto Parts and they took my old battery for $10 credit, new one cost me about $95.

 

[Bignate603]

Originally posted by: rdubbz420
you should be ok. I rarely drive, maybe a few times a year and run into this also.

Why do you own a car?

 

[fire400]

new battery.

3 months and bat's already dead sez it all. it's crappy.