2002 Cooper S is still on its original UK battery, and even though unused for three months, with battery connected, just left the CTEK charger on for a couple of days and it fired up straightaway.
1998 1800cc car had a new AA battery not too long before I bought it a year ago. Untouched 4 months and that battery is stuffed. Won't accept a charge or even light up the ignition warning light with the charger connected.
Talking to a service garage, they claim that most cars they have come in with battery problems have AA batteries. Is that because they sell more or are they rubbish? If they are rubbish, what brand (if any) is going to last in a little used car?
Next year, I'll disconnect the battery when we go away anyway, so that the radio etc doesn't drain it. (It was left unlocked, but garaged.)
panicky,
Sep 20, 7:24am
how many volts are left in the battery? most modern (i.e. last 10 years or so) chargers require at least 7 volts to be residual in the battery or they will not even recognize a battery is there and will not be putting any charge out.
socram,
Sep 20, 7:32am
Sorry, no idea! The car is not at home and I was unable to test it when I picked it up, but the CTEK charger had a red warning light on. I thought the CTEK chargers would charge from flat?
I know alternators won't charge a totally flat battery, but I thought chargers were OK? Not even the warning lights on, I presume means nothing is even getting through the battery?
franc123,
Sep 20, 7:44am
Haha NO. A real flat battery may require another good battery connected parallel to it and then hook the charger up, and disconnect the good battery after its been charging for a while, or else a jumper pack connected or jump start the car and letting it run for 10 minutes or so, hook up the charger and then turn the engine off.
mack77,
Sep 20, 7:57am
"Supercharge Gold" are believed by some people to be good batteries.
"Smart chargers " wont charge dead battery i found this out myself . Need to put it in paralell with another battery for 1/2 hour so it can build an initial charge , then put it on the smart charger . the cheap basic chargers will though like those arlec things .
by_hdt,
Sep 21, 2:24am
I'd go to your local BMW dealer and get another Genuine Battery. You will pay more but my personal experience with the BMW batteries suggests you'll replace 2-3 aftermarket batteries to one genuine item. I've seen plenty of late 90's 3 series cars through our dealership still on their original battery.
supernova2,
Sep 21, 3:01am
The AA battery are simply "badge engineering". The question is are they economy batteries or quality?
No idea which battery you have in your 1998 car but just to take an example. Exide make 3 batteries all coded 55D23 but they come as Economy, Endurance and lastly Extreme. Now externally they all look the same and they will all fit but the only way to know which is correct is to check the Exide site for the correct listing.
One would hope that the AA supply the "correct" battery rather than a "near enough" but lets be honest they wont carry every possible alternative in the roadside assist van so is it possible that in some cases it's the "near enough" that the customer gets?
Regarding post #8 who makes a NZ supplied genuine BMW battery? Will it truly be identical to the OEM factory battery?
socram,
Sep 21, 3:27am
The "AA" battery in question is NOT in the BMW Mini.
The battery fitted to the car in question was not through an AA breakdown call out, but agree, that in many cases, it might be a near enough scenario.
I bought two other batteries from an Auto Electrician and both are AA branded, in little used, older cars, neither with electronic drains.
I'll probably need to purchase a new battery, then if the old one can be revived, at least I have a spare. I'll then give it a try on the old, simple charger.
elect70,
Sep 22, 2:10am
I never had a problem with W house batteries were Exide last 1 i bought fo neighbour was an Endurant , same ? plus the often have good discounts o them Last 1 saved $30
pandai,
Sep 22, 2:32am
Bosch perhaps?
intrade,
Sep 22, 3:50am
a ctek charger will bring a dead battery back but not if its short circuit its what the red light is on . i have had my hilux battery die stone dead from one day to the next. on to my 400$ cteck charger the bettery went 1 minute later red light was on . So i got the supercheap smart charger out selectd boost charge and it charged up. its now go 13.6 volt or so with 0 storage capacity as soon as you load the circuit it drops to 1,6 volt . So yes the cteck will be right you can bin the battery.
bigfatmat1,
Sep 22, 3:53am
In the last 20 or so years of dealing with batteries I personally think the best that are available across the country are as follows Exide, century, Hella, These batteries are the ones I see the least faults in that order. By fault I mean not age related rather things like short circuits and dead cells The most common faulty battery I see is supercharge. Shorted cells are common on these. especially the larger batteries like n200. Most battery suppliers offer different spec level batteries with different warranty periods as well.
dave653,
Sep 22, 5:01am
An old Century I had lasted 6 years with regular draining. alternator not big enough. Now, Exide might last two years if I'm lucky, with big alt, big cables, new terminals, etc. Only use Exide cause they have a 2 year warranty. and always have a new battery. Have heard the wreckers are the best place to buy batteries, out of European cars.
socram,
Sep 22, 5:04am
Thanks for the above 2 posts. I was leaning towards Supercharge but that last post is just the sort of info I was hoping for. I am leaning towards Exide now. Great message board at times.
skull,
Sep 22, 5:28am
Are you able to put your "little used" 1800cc car on a trickle charger with a timer to keep it topped up in between your several month apart drives. That's what I did with our Honda which was only used occasionally. Battery lasted for years.
2get1,
Sep 27, 9:00pm
Optima or one of the other gel batteries. The red Optima frommemory is around 700CCA. Ive had them in very harsh environments, vibration kills wet batteries very quickly, but not gel batteries. Yes they are expensive but they are very good. Ive found them here for around $400 for the last one I got. You can abuse the hell out of them. Ive had one in a race / road car that got driven couple times a week. would have very high draw off on race day with very limited recharge via alternator. was fast charged often. They will wind a high compression V8 or diesel over with easy so a little mini engine it would hardly notice. IMO genuine be it BMW factory fitment battery or any other are a huge rip off.
ema1,
Sep 27, 11:14pm
Do Varta make a battery to suit, I guess they would they are a major battery maker in Europe and are OEM in lots of Euro cars. Recognized as a top rate battery.
socram,
Sep 28, 2:30am
Whatever I fit, next year, I'll disconnect it when we are away. The classics with nothing draining seem to be fine, though as stated above, the 2002 BMW Mini battery was on the CTEK for couple of days and the car fired up straightaway. Better quality battery.
franc123,
Sep 28, 2:42am
Hell yeah, if someone in NZ imports Varta car batteries I'd love to know who, I'd kit out all of my cars with them, the Panasonic ones from Japan are also excellent. Its not uncommon for them to last 12-15 years, I've seen so many used imports fitted with them that have been in NZ for 8+ years in vehicles that would have been 5 years old when they came here and they are still going strong.
nzdoug,
Sep 28, 3:13am
I went to the dealer to get a genuine VW replacement battery and the dealer sold me an aftermarket one which was 1/2 the price. The dealer said the aftermarket ones had the same warrantee and lasted as long, from what they experienced.
bigfatmat1,
Apr 24, 1:23am
Seen heaps of panasonic batteries exceed 15 years i think the longest I have seen is 19 years in a 1989 prelude good batteries thats for sure
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