I ride bicycle to work and don檛 drive much ?even in winter (it goes below 0) I drive may be once or twice a week. I have a 87 Audi! I recently changed its battery. How can I increase the life of the battery? Will just disconnecting the cables and leaving the battery in the car be sufficient? Or should I take the battery out of the car and keep it inside the house? Will doing so harm any other computer system in the car?
Any particular solar trickle chargers you would recommend?
Thank you for your help,Car battery maintenance?batteries are not built to last more than 2 or 3 years so dont waste to much time nursing it.a regular ,once a week , run out with the car is enough maintenence .Car battery maintenance?trickle charger with automatic maintains setting
should double the life of the batteryCar battery maintenance?Keeping it inside is a good option in temps like that. No worries on your onboard electronics. Keep it off of concrete though. In a wooden box or some such enclosure to prevent accidental shorting of the terminals.Car battery maintenance?one way to keep your car battery in tip top condition, is to start it every day or other day. my brother bought a car and left it due to military. when i got it, the battery was dead, i replaced it and still couldnt drive it, so one thing i did was start it and drive it around the block every day.
another way to keep it energized, is yes by taking it out. i believe you can just disconnect the terminals and put a rag or towel over it. it wont die as fast, but it also definately wont keep it fully charged.
however, when u disconnect the battery, it resets most electronic components i.e after market radios, programable ecu's, clocks, but nothing too extreme. hope this helped!Car battery maintenance?So long as you drive more than say 10 - 15 miles each time, your battery should be fine. Mind you the better the battery, the better it will hold it's charge. Calcium batteries are superior to lead and although dearer will last longer. From what I gather about solar chargers is that you need a fairly large one as the tiddlers produce a very small current. Too small to have any measurable effect.Car battery maintenance?Most common causes of premature battery failure:
* heat,
* storage at less than 100% state of charge,
* insufficient electrolyte.
A 2- or 3-amp continous %26quot;trickle charge%26quot; can overcharge a battery, even boil it dry -- instead you need a %26quot;smart charger%26quot; with %26quot;float mode%26quot; -- 100-200 milliamps of continous charge, switching to %26quot;recharge%26quot; mode as needed.
Dirt/moisture on the battery case can cause corrosion (which interferes with the charging process) and/or form a conductive path between the terminals, accelerating a battery's self-discharge time.
Check the water every 3 months (monthly in hot weather), and add enough distilled water to cover the tops of the plates. Tap water contains minerals that will interfere with the recharging process.
Cold temperatures slow the self-discharge process -- if it doesn't get cold enough to freeze the electrolyte, leave the battery in the car.
A fully charged battery freezes at -77潞F (-61潞C).
A 50% discharged battery freezes at -10潞F (-23潞C)
A fully discharged battery freezes at 20潞F but at that point, the battery is pretty much toast anyway.
