reversing polarity is not something i would recommend to anyone .have you seen the bombsite left after a battery explodes! not pretty
planespotterhvn,
Feb 19, 9:11pm
Many cars have a small drain on the battery, typically 10 mA that the alternator uses for its regulator voltage sense. So along with the self discharge that a battery will suffer anyway you add any addional current load an this will flatten the battery over weeks or months. Any LEAD ACID battery (and that includes calcium batteries as thay are still lead acid batteries) that is allowed to remain flat for ONLY 2 WEEKS CAN BE IRREPAIRABLY DAMAGED BY THE PLATES BEING SULPHATED. So get a trickle charger, a solar powered trickle charger or a mate who will go round every month and charge the battey.
planespotterhvn,
Feb 19, 10:42pm
Flat for a lead acid is considered to be 10.6Volts. Or less.
market1,
Feb 20, 4:18am
The battery is a Century 58. It is sealed and has a water indicator on the top of it. The smart cgarger has been flashing red for days. I have disconnected it. It has a 24 month warranty. This caught me out by sheer surprise. I thought because the battery was new, then it would hold its charge. I was wrong. I have learnt something I never knew and now know how to do it on the next holiday, roll on next holiday. Thanks for all the very good points. Sulphated, mmmmm, thats a newy.
pup2,
Feb 20, 12:39pm
Nope. Been around for years & will be for plenty to come.
You don't understand how batteries work. You can not leave them discharged for extended periods of time. The battery makers explicitly state this will void the warranty. It's not their fault you didn't take precautions to preserve the life of the battery while you've left it sitting for months at end.
I would be looking beyond the battery too. if the car sits for 6 months at a time I would also be concerned about the condition of your tyres, wheel bearings etc. I am currently living in another country with my car in NZ being stored while I'm away - but I've arranged for the car to be driven on a regular basis to keep everything functioning while I'm gone.
market1,
Feb 20, 8:21pm
Yes all good, I had the vehicle serviced, I remember the old days when a battery used to start after a recharge. Must be different today!
scuba,
Feb 20, 9:33pm
not really
phillip.weston,
Feb 20, 9:42pm
I think with the advances of battery technology (ie getting great capacity in a smaller package), they are also less tolerant to abuse such as letting them sit for months on end without a charge going through them. I have noticed that the batteries of the last ~10 years don't seem to last as long as the batteries previously. Perhaps the quality of newer batteries has gone a bit down hill too. Century batteries have been discussed here previously regarding their slip in quality over the years. It seems the batteries fitted to new vehicles (ie Panasonic batteries made in Japan fitted to Japanese vehicles) seem to last 10+ years until needing to be replaced, then replaced every 3-4 years thereafter with locally available (whether they be NZ, Australian or Chinese made) examples.
scuba,
Feb 20, 10:01pm
half the posters on this site have no idea what they are talking about and get their answers from google and Wikipedia. if you choose to listen to them fine but i would be taking the car and battery back to the battery supplier for them to recharge and recheck cos it sounds like your charger's not up to the job .
kazbanz,
Feb 20, 10:15pm
Market1clearly I'm missing some of this conversation.You have 8 month old battery which can't charge. Why not take receipt and battery to supplier and ask them to help sort it out. Maybee its dead maybee its notbut all this theorising aint getting the car started is it now!
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