all cars - Preserving or extending battery life in winter

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Tue 21 Dec 2010 18:18
all cars - Preserving or extending battery life in winter - starfield

Hi,

I am trying to make a list of things you have to do in order to easily start your car during these cold periods. These include:

1. Make sure everything is turned off prior to turning the ignition

2. press the clutch (does help a little; refer to this topic: http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=88572

3. make sure battery is topped up with deionised water

4. errrrrrrr ................... i do not know

If you can think of anything else please reply. One more thing, what do you think of solar car battery charger like this one on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4W-12v-Volt-Solar-Panel-Power-Boat-Car-Battery-Charger-/110626280418?pt=UK_Gadgets&hash=item19c1d713e2

Edited by starfield on 21/12/2010 at 18:19

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Tue 21 Dec 2010 20:24
all cars - Preserving or extending battery life in winter - focussed

The battery charger that is detailed in this fle-bay advert is 4 watts maximum power, thats 1/3 of an amp at 12 volt-if the sun shines. Don't waste your money, buy a proper automatic mains powered battery charger such as:-

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_210939_category**_165629_langId_-1?cm_sp=Intelligent_Offer-_-Product_List_Zone_1-_-Blank&iozone=PLPz1#dtab

This this is a 7 1/2 amp maximum output charger that can be left permanently connected and will not harm the battery.

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Tue 21 Dec 2010 22:00
all cars - Preserving or extending battery life in winter - starfield

With the halfords one, you have to take the battery out to get it charged. With the ebay one, you may just leave connected. Every time there is light it will get charged.

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Tue 21 Dec 2010 22:05
all cars - Preserving or extending battery life in winter - Peter.N.

You don't specify petrol or diesel although the same rules apply to both but more so to diesels. If you use the car everyday and the battery is good you shouldn't have a problem, the output of a modern alternator is such that it will almost fully recharge the battery in the first few minutes of driving.

You can check that your alternator is charging properly by measuring the voltage across the battery with the engine running, this should be around 14 volts within a minute or so of starting, if its lower than this but comes up after several minutes the belt could be slipping.

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Wed 22 Dec 2010 10:26
all cars - Preserving or extending battery life in winter - Collos25

I agree Peter modern cars rarely do not start because the battery is faulty there is normally an underlying problem elsewhere brought to the front due to the extremely cold weather.My car started first time yeasterday after being left for a week in some of the most extreme conditions I have ever seen in Germany.

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Thu 23 Dec 2010 09:37
all cars - Preserving or extending battery life in winter - Roly93

You can check that your alternator is charging properly by measuring the voltage across the battery with the engine running, this should be around 14 volts within a minute or so of starting, if its lower than this but comes up after several minutes the belt could be slipping.

If you dont have a volt-meter just put all of the lights, the rear screen heater and the fan on full, and blip the throttle from idle and you should also see the lights brighten slightly as the alternator takes up the load. Best done in darkness of course.

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Sat 25 Dec 2010 00:59
all cars - Preserving or extending battery life in winter - 1litregolfeater

If you have one, put the car in the garage overnight.

When you take it out it'll be colder in there than outside but it'll have avoided the extreme night temperature.

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