Do I Need to Replace Battery Yet?

[ap87]

Just ordered a Bosch for £115 delivered. Decent price so just got it anyway to save faffing about

 

[ap87]

Battery has just arrived. Brand new too by the way. Out of interest I just had a look at he manufacture date by decoding the numbers etched into it. Seems that it was manufactured a year ago Jan 2020. Is this still ok? any downside to it being a year old

 

[SoliD]

Bit of a bump, but does anyone have any solar charger recommendations please? My Bosch was replaced by ECP today as it's just died under warranty so don't want the new one to suffer the same fate.

 

[ShiWarrior]

you have 2 accounts ?

 

[Akagi]

Pretty sure its a different person recycling a thread.

 

[Steeps]

I bought one of the 10w panels from Amazon which clips directly to the terminals but as my car doesn't get direct sunlight it was struggling to make a difference with my battery drain, in direct sunlight the voltage increase was more noticeable but I was trying to save a battery which had been jumped for short journeys and hadn't had a chance to fully recharge.

With a 10w panel I was getting about 4w at 18v according to a multimeter with the panel suckered to the roof. No problems with rain or frost leaving it on there.

 

[Nasher]

The Ctek chargers are good for keeping them alive (and reconditioning). They are waterproof so can stay outside. They also do a handy hardwire kit with a charge level indicator on it.

 

[ShiWarrior]

They dont do a Solar one
cteks are supposed to be good though

 

[lordrobs]

I bought one of the 10w panels from Amazon which clips directly to the terminals but as my car doesn't get direct sunlight it was struggling to make a difference with my battery drain, in direct sunlight the voltage increase was more noticeable but I was trying to save a battery which had been jumped for short journeys and hadn't had a chance to fully recharge.

With a 10w panel I was getting about 4w at 18v according to a multimeter with the panel suckered to the roof. No problems with rain or frost leaving it on there.

Can you leave the battery connected to the car if you are putting 18V to it? That seems a fair chunk higher than the 14.4V (ish) that the car electronics would normally max out at but I'm no expert on car electronics.

 

[peige]

I was having battery issues with our Peugeot as its not being with any frequency right now and ended up buying a battery conditioner. Its really just an intelligent trickle charger but its sits connected all of the time and brings it up to charge and then levels and maintains it. Mine is an AA one on Amazon and comes highly recommended, seems to be doing a good job and car started perfectly after 4 weeks of not being used, you can leave it connected whilst still connected to the car and even hard wire it in with a plug you put on the charger.

 

[Puzzled]

Do you guys charge with the battery still connected or disconnect it from the car first? Can't seem to find a clear answer just lots of people saying you can and others saying you could damage the electrics.

Mine is flat (again), probably needs a new battery but the car is used so little right now I might as well wait until things are a bit more normal to replace it. Try to take it out once a week just to keep things moving but sometimes forget.

 

[ShiWarrior]

leave the battery in, if it keeps dying, get a ctek one that maintains it, and keep it on charge every other day

 

[lordrobs]

Do you guys charge with the battery still connected or disconnect it from the car first? Can't seem to find a clear answer just lots of people saying you can and others saying you could damage the electrics.

Mine is flat (again), probably needs a new battery but the car is used so little right now I might as well wait until things are a bit more normal to replace it. Try to take it out once a week just to keep things moving but sometimes forget.

I charge with it still connected unless I'm doing a reconditioning charge on my CTEK.