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The day the Battery Died

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bob hughes

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Ok chaps
Has any one got an answer for this one. I bought the car three years ago and it was supposed to have had a new battery in it, It certainly looked new and still does. I have had no starting problems and up until last week the battery was turning the engine over easily. Put the car in the garage for the week and tried to start it last night. Petrol pump kicked in ok, put my finger on the button and kerlunk - no starter, no lights, no nothing, everything gone. Checked the battery with a test lamp - nothing. replaced battery with a spare - veroom all ok. Tried to charge the original battery - nothing - just dead. In all my experiences I have never come across this situation -_ok one day - dead the next,there has always been a warning, difficulty in turning the engine over, the need for regular top up charges etc. Has any one an explanation?
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/england.gif
 
I use a trickle charger if the car is not run regularly.
Of course, there could be some drain on it somewhere, a short or something, that can be crazy to find.
I would charge it up fully, run it normally and keep an eye on the state of charge to see if further troubleshooting is needed.
 
Hi Bob,
The problem is not unusual.
A battery that is chronically partially charged can lose it's ability to accept & hold a full charge. Especially a three year old battery. A partially charged battery will appear to work correctly & spin the engine normally until the very last, at which time it just gives up. Once a battery has reached this condition, usually no amount of charging will bring it back. Even old batteries that have been kept fully charged during their lifetime can appear to work perfectly one day & completely fail the next day. I would use the spare battery or get a suitable replacement & give up on the old one.

I have experimentally tried to resurrect old batteries, sometimes with very limited success, mostly with no success. Plate sulfation due to chronic undercharge, internal short citcuits or open connections, & just plain using up the active plate material, all lead to a finite battery life. A battery shop can charge & load test your battery if you are in doubt.
D
 
Hi Dave , /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/iagree.gif However, there is a Float/Pulse type charger that can desulphate a battery. It is the Battery Minder by the same people noted for the "SureCharge" unit. Of course it depends on how badly the battery has been abused in the past.---Keoke
 
Hi Keoke,
I did try this a while back, along with several other remedies. The batteries in question were apparently beyond help.
D
 
Well pbraun, when trickle chargers were our only means of battery maintainence there was not much choice. However, since these type chargers are of a constnt current type they can not sense the current level required to off set the internal discharge rate of the battery,Consequently sulphation of the battery is not prevented.Using the more modern Float/Pulse type charger maintains the battery at full charge when the cars are in storage or unused for signifcant periods of time.You might like to check this type charger out they are not expensive and can be carried in the chubby box if required.There are several vendors for these type units to choose from, but I find the Sure charge product suits me best.--Fwiw---Keoke
 
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