Average Lifetime Of A Car Battery In Sri Lanka

[CodeMaster]

Guys, few questions,

$ What is the average lifetime of a car battery here in SL?

$ What are the best practices to keep car battery healthy in SL?

$ What are the good car battery brands (not high cost ones) here in SL?

$ What are points we need check when buying a new car battery?

[Junkfriend]

Hello.

I have used most of the original batteries that comes with the vehicle for for 4 years. For the last 10 years I haven't used any other batteries other than Globle. Almost all the time I get 2 years with Globle batteries without any maintenance and there have been times that the water levels might have been bellow the top shell levels. So I guess with proper maintenance you can use a Globle battery for about 2.5-3.5 years.

[RViji]

Hi guys,

Is there any place to buy Varta,Bosch,Amaron above 80AH DIN(European spec) batteries in Sri Lanka,which offer courier service to outstations(Galle)?or Any member who is kind enough to support with courier arrangement,please PM. It's a bit hard to handle from outside SL,and the baas act like brokers trying to keep their"cut"...

[RViji]

Does anyone have experience with the heavily advertised Panasonic car batteries with 5yr warranty? Is it from Japan or Thailand? Are they suitable for European cars with DIN type battery? Who is the agent,Softlog!c?

Edited May 5, 2016 by RViji

[Supra_Natural]

Hi guys,

Is there any place to buy Varta,Bosch,Amaron above 80AH DIN(European spec) batteries in Sri Lanka,which offer courier service to outstations(Galle)?or Any member who is kind enough to support with courier arrangement,please PM. It's a bit hard to handle from outside SL,and the baas act like brokers trying to keep their"cut"...

Why bother going after all those? Just get the Exide DIN type maintenance free battery, they give a pretty long warranty on it (3 years I think plus 2 more or something.) I have one on the Jag and am quite happy with it so far.

[RViji]

Problem is,the A4 is no daily or even monthly runner. The current brand 3K,did not even last 2 years before giving problems,because I use it only when come back to SL every few months.there is no one to start the car every few days..So I hope using a better brand will get rid of the starting issues ..

Edited May 6, 2016 by RViji

[Rumesh88]

Problem is,the A4 is no daily or even monthly runner. The current brand 3K,did not even last 2 years before giving problems,because I use it only when come back to SL every few months.there is no one to start the car every few days..So I hope using a better brand will get rid of the starting issues ..

In that case it is not the battery type/make/model that matters. There is no lead acid (LA) battery that can withstand a long idle period. What happens with a LA is that there is always a self discharge even if you keep the battery disconnected. When a LA is discharged lead sulfate forms on the electrodes but the process can be reversed during charging provided it is done within a few days at the most. If lead sulfate is allowed to get hardened then it cannot be reversed. Hardened lead sulfate reduces battery capacity and hence difficulty in starting.

Hence the solution is to connect a float charger that runs off main supply but I do not advise to keep it permanently connected (or unattended) due to lightning and fire risk. When I faced a similar situation sometime back I used a 10W 12V solar panel on a 40AH battery because the car had to be left totally unattended.

Edited May 6, 2016 by Rumesh88

[Supra_Natural]

Problem is,the A4 is no daily or even monthly runner. The current brand 3K,did not even last 2 years before giving problems,because I use it only when come back to SL every few months.there is no one to start the car every few days..So I hope using a better brand will get rid of the starting issues ..

Regardless of what brand you use, if the car sits for months at a time your battery will end up giving you problems. That is a certainty. If you can't get someone to drive it occasionally then your best bet is to invest in a battery conditioner. That should sort it out, plenty of them on amazon and the like.

[Watchman]

Regardless of what brand you use, if the car sits for months at a time your battery will end up giving you problems. That is a certainty. If you can't get someone to drive it occasionally then your best bet is to invest in a battery conditioner. That should sort it out, plenty of them on amazon and the like.

Agree.

A friend bought some solar powered trickle charger in the US and kept it plugged into a HC motorcycle. He claimed it was effective and the battery had sufficient charge for a startup even after a few months.

[RViji]

Thanks for the hints,decided for Panasonic with 2.5year full warranty instead of Global with 1year because price difference was Rs5000 only. About the trickle solar chargers,there are two types.one with cigarette lighter socket only and other with cigarette lighter socket and crocodile clamps.which one is suitable? Can charging happen if the car is parked away from direct sunlight in a garage? 5w power is sufficient for a 72AH battery?

[Vengeance]

Problem is,the A4 is no daily or even monthly runner. The current brand 3K,did not even last 2 years before giving problems,because I use it only when come back to SL every few months.there is no one to start the car every few days..So I hope using a better brand will get rid of the starting issues ..

Note that starting the car every few days is going to do more bad to your battery than not starting the car at all. The starter mortor requires a significantly higher current to start, so everytime you crank, you'll be using a considerable amount of juice from the battery. The charging circuit (alternator) only works above a certain RPM (around 2000), so you'll have to drive the car around a few kms just to re-gain the juice that was lost from starting the engine up.

Also, you may want to consider removing the tires and using jack stands if the car is not used for more than 3-4 months to reduce the stress on the suspension.

[Vengeance]

Thanks for the hints,decided for Panasonic with 2.5year full warranty instead of Global with 1year because price difference was Rs5000 only. About the trickle solar chargers,there are two types.one with cigarette lighter socket only and other with cigarette lighter socket and crocodile clamps.which one is suitable? Can charging happen if the car is parked away from direct sunlight in a garage? 5w power is sufficient for a 72AH battery?

I would personally prefer the one with crocodile clamps as you'll have to keep the key inside the vehicle and turned to "ON" position if you want to use the cigarette lighter socket to charge the vehicle.

Charging cannot happen if there is no sunlight, it can be cloudy or shady, but you will still need some sunlight. You can leave the car parked in a garage and have the solar panel hung up on top of your roof or something.This is an energy conversion from light to electrical. On a photovoltaic solar panel, the electricity produced will be directly proportional to the sunlight falling on it, also the angle at which the sun's rays fall on the panel have an effect too.

If you are mathematically savvy, for optimum energy capture, the sun's radiation will have to fall perpendicular to the panel (at 90 degrees). If the incident radiation falls at an angle on the panel, the angle of incidence wil be (90-theta) and the effective area of the panel will be Acos(theta), where A will be the area of the panel and "theta" is the deviation from the perpendicular of sun's radiation. This will reduce the effective area of the panel, hence reducing the energy captured.

Since you haven't mentioned the voltage output of the solar panel, I'll assume its 16V.

Energy of car battery = VIt = 16V x 75Ah = 1200 Wh

Time to charge a completely flat battery = (Energy of car battery / Wattage of panel) x k (constant)

= (1200Wh / 5W) x 2.5 = 600 hours

Note that I'm multiplying by a constant k (for which I have used a value of 2.5) as we're considering a practical situation and hence the loss of energy has to be taken in to account. The wattage rating on the solar panel is the product of the open circuit voltage and the peak current (which we cannot get always due to variation in sunlight), when the solar panel is connected to a load (battery) the voltage will drop to about 12.5V and also all the energy supplied to the battery will not be stored, some will be lost as heat, so a combined loss factor of about 2.5 is ideal.

So basically, a 5W panel may not be sufficient even though you don't allow the battery to go completely flat (you have to confirm the voltage using a voltmeter when the charging process takes place to confirm this), but a panel that produces about 15W - 20W would be highly recommended. Also keep in mind that car batteries are not meant to be deep-cycled, means that they should NEVER be allowed to go flat or even go close to being flat, this has a major impact on their lifetime.

Sorry if this post looks confusing, please ask if you need any clarification

EDIT: Also make sure that your panel has some sort of a charge controller built in.

Edited May 6, 2016 by maxxarox

[Rumesh88]

Agree with maxxarox's post above. However my approach in estimating the panel capacity would be slightly different.

If you estimate the self discharge (leakage) current of the battery to be 0.075A (rule of thumb figure taken as 1/100th of AH figure) and the residual consumption of the car to be 0.050A (can be measured), the total residual discharge will be 0.125A. This works out to 3AH discharge per day (0.125X24) but would require a 5AH of charge because the charging efficiency will be around 60% at 80% SOC and above (Source: http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/7427/Lead_Acid_Battery_Efficiency.pdf). Assuming a typical fill factor value of 0.7 for the solar panel and a float charge voltage of 13.6V, a 20W panel can deliver 1.029A at full sunlight (=20*0.7/13.6) that work out to 4.8 hours of full sunlight (5AH/1.029A) to compensate a discharge of 3AH. Hence depending on the location where the panel would be placed which decide the availability of sunlight 20W panel would be sufficient for the purpose. Please note that I have not factored in the loss due to series regulator but still this calculation should hold good. Above figures are estimates and the method is basic and hence, they are open to challenge and refinement.

[Twin Turbo]

I had a Gemini JT600 for 12 years, when I bought it there was an Exide and it ran about 3 years, and then I replaced the battery with an Exide again. I maintained it well and the battery lasts for 5 years. Because of the past experience I replaced the battery with the same brand again and maintained in same way. The battery was in very good condition after 4 years when I give the car away.

Next I bought a AE110 crystal light, there was an Exide and gave no problem for 2 years which I used it. Now I have Honda Fit Aria with a GS battery, which I feel some battery problems.

It's all with maintenance ,I can not over stress the importance of maintaining the rite fluid level in a conventional battery as it is the most common cause for premature battery failure . but's not without occasional hiccups, I had a failure of a 2 month old battery a long time ago and was promptly replaced with the same , no questions asked by Browns.

I must say at this point that Exide, Lucas and Daganite are all made in the same factory in Rathmalana.So , it's not the brand but the maintenance when it comes to at least the above brands. http://www.exide.lk/

Maintaining the correct charging rate comes next as both over charging and under charging lead to premature battery failure

Edited May 7, 2016 by Twin Turbo

[RViji]

Anyone has experience with the"kill Switch",which is a high-current capable switch installed on the battery + cable? Adding one will help to reduce trickle discharge current from battery during long periods of non-use? Just like it's sitting in a shop given They leave factory in a charged state,or..

[Watchman]

Anyone has experience with the"kill Switch",which is a high-current capable switch installed on the battery + cable? Adding one will help to reduce trickle discharge current from battery during long periods of non-use? Just like it's sitting in a shop given They leave factory in a charged state,or..

Not a very good thing to do if you have a relatively modern car... everything from the ECU mapping to the proximity based keys will go bonkers..

[Rumesh88]

Anyone has experience with the"kill Switch",which is a high-current capable switch installed on the battery + cable? Adding one will help to reduce trickle discharge current from battery during long periods of non-use? Just like it's sitting in a shop given They leave factory in a charged state,or..

You don't need a retro-fitted switch to do that but can disconnect the battery. Still you would have the issues mentioned by Watchman above. In the case of conventional (flooded, freely ventilated) batteries that are sitting in shops, they leave the factory in a pre-charged but without acid and with cells coated to prevent them from drying up. So once you add acid and allow it sometime to settle, you are ready to go. Maintenance free (VRLA, sealed) batteries too are kept fully charged but they have a lower self discharge rate compared to flooded batteries and hence have a longer shelf life when stored under low temperature.

[RViji]

Its about 15year old A4. it was without battery connection for about 4months during engine rebuild, No resulting electronics issues.But I am concerned about corrosion in relays,switches due to non usage.

[Deeshana]

I didn't use my car for a long time. We would be out of Lanka throughout the year. The car would've been used only in the Month of July or August. So basically the car was locked up for 11 months an year until last year.

I've used a President battery since I bought the car (N16) in 2008 to 2009. Then changed it to another battery I can't remember the make though. Used it upto 2010 when my alternator belt snapped and I didn't know that. I was in a traffic jam and suddenly the Air con was out, didn't bother much. The same day while travelling Outstation. I didn't know about the alternator I thought the battery died, and I've bought a new Exide battery which died again, luckily it stalled in front of a garage and that guy told me the belt is snapped. Replaced the belt and I've been using that since then no issues at all. 

Lesson learnt : Always check for Alternator belt noises, replace ASAP if it's weak 

I'd recommend EXIDE for the Srilankan market I've used the battery for five to six years by which four were just stationary for 11 months per year. Topped up the battery level in 2014, it never gave any issues. Replaced the Alternator belt 3 times though

Edited August 14, 2016 by Deeshana

[vitz]

Hi All,

My vehicle battery (90Ah-Maintenance free) failed just after 1 year and 2 months. The previous one lasted for just 2yrs and 2 months. Though, the present one is still under warranty (24 months), I have some concerns on any malfunctioning in the charging system is the premature dead of the battery. Some observations are follows.

1. Battery charging voltage is 14.7 V (this is the reading of the battery after starting the vehicle. I am quite sure about the Sanwa digital multimeter I have). The warranty certificate says the charging voltage should be in between 13.8- 14.2 V

2. I observe battery acid accumulated near to air vent screws of the battery (though this is sealed type battery)

Do these signs indicate a problem with the charging system of the vehicle.

Edited April 3, 2018 by vitz