Reviving dead car battery. How?

[harore]

Helloo..

By theory, the car battery can be assumed dead when it can hold
anymore charge right? But my car battery happens to have the charge
below than 12 hours meaning that I need to jumpstart it every morning.
Then, the battery runs fine all day long. I need your guys(gals)
advice on this. I can buy a new one but if I can still use it, why
not? Also, I don't want to throw the battery as this will pollute the
environment. Hope this post is related to basic electronics.


Thanks.
harore
Surf up to my hobby electronic circuits at:
http://www.hobbyelectroniccircuits.com

 

[Peter Bennett]

On Mon, 17 Sep 2007 02:14:26 -0000, harore <mohdwahidi@gmail.com>
wrote:

Helloo..

By theory, the car battery can be assumed dead when it can hold
anymore charge right? But my car battery happens to have the charge
below than 12 hours meaning that I need to jumpstart it every morning.
Then, the battery runs fine all day long. I need your guys(gals)
advice on this. I can buy a new one but if I can still use it, why
not? Also, I don't want to throw the battery as this will pollute the
environment. Hope this post is related to basic electronics.

If the battery won't start the car reliably, buy a new battery - they
aren't expensive. Around here, old batteries can be returned to be
recycled.


--
Peter Bennett, VE7CEI
peterbb4 (at) interchange.ubc.ca
new newsgroup users info : http://vancouver-webpages.com/nnq
GPS and NMEA info: http://vancouver-webpages.com/peter
Vancouver Power Squadron: http://vancouver.powersquadron.ca

 

[Bob]

"harore" <mohdwahidi@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1189995266.938402.305520@d55g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...

Helloo..

By theory, the car battery can be assumed dead when it can hold
anymore charge right? But my car battery happens to have the charge
below than 12 hours meaning that I need to jumpstart it every morning.
Then, the battery runs fine all day long. I need your guys(gals)
advice on this. I can buy a new one but if I can still use it, why
not? Also, I don't want to throw the battery as this will pollute the
environment. Hope this post is related to basic electronics.


Thanks.
harore
Surf up to my hobby electronic circuits at:
http://www.hobbyelectroniccircuits.com

I have owned many cars and many batteries. From my experience, once they've
been deeply discharged they are NEVER the same.

You don't throw batteries away -- they are recycled.

Bob

 

[Jon Slaughter]

"harore" <mohdwahidi@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1189995266.938402.305520@d55g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...

Helloo..

By theory, the car battery can be assumed dead when it can hold
anymore charge right? But my car battery happens to have the charge
below than 12 hours meaning that I need to jumpstart it every morning.
Then, the battery runs fine all day long. I need your guys(gals)
advice on this. I can buy a new one but if I can still use it, why
not? Also, I don't want to throw the battery as this will pollute the
environment. Hope this post is related to basic electronics.

Are you 100% sure its the battery? Its possible its the alternator.

Also you can try to put water in the battery. Sometimes when it gets
extremely hot it can evaporate the water. (technically there is an
electrolyte in there but the water will evaporate before the sulfuric
acid...) Adding a little water is a quick way if thats what it needs. If its
an extremely old batter or one that has not be used for several months then
the batter itself is pretty good but chances are you can't fix it
yourself(if you could you wouldn't be asking this question).

 

[Paul E. Schoen]

"Jon Slaughter" <Jon_Slaughter@Hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:XWmHi.3334$Sd4.3206@nlpi061.nbdc.sbc.com...

"harore" <mohdwahidi@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1189995266.938402.305520@d55g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
Helloo..

By theory, the car battery can be assumed dead when it can hold
anymore charge right? But my car battery happens to have the charge
below than 12 hours meaning that I need to jumpstart it every morning.
Then, the battery runs fine all day long. I need your guys(gals)
advice on this. I can buy a new one but if I can still use it, why
not? Also, I don't want to throw the battery as this will pollute the
environment. Hope this post is related to basic electronics.



Are you 100% sure its the battery? Its possible its the alternator.

Also you can try to put water in the battery. Sometimes when it gets
extremely hot it can evaporate the water. (technically there is an
electrolyte in there but the water will evaporate before the sulfuric
acid...) Adding a little water is a quick way if thats what it needs. If
its an extremely old batter or one that has not be used for several
months then the batter itself is pretty good but chances are you can't
fix it yourself(if you could you wouldn't be asking this question).

I got a little more life out of a battery once, by carefully draining all
the electrolyte (sulphuric acid), then washing out the cells with a
powerful spray from a hose (had to be really careful to avoid burns). There
was some sediment in some of the cells that may have caused loss of charge.
Once I had it cleaned out, I replaced the electrolyte (through a filter),
to just over the plates, and then I put it on a long charge. I found some
of the cells charged better than others (by measuring specific gravity), so
I had to play around with adding water or more acid and charging some more
until the cells were about even. But it was a lot of work, potentially
dangerous, and it only lasted another month or so.

Recently I got a perfectly good battery (for my spare car) at a junkyard
for about $10. Otherwise a new one is worth the investment of about $60,
and it should be fine for 3 years if the electrical system is OK. A
voltmeter is often best to measure charging with the motor running (about
13.8 to 14.4 V), and 12.5 to 13.2 V before starting. You can detect bad
connections by reading voltage drop from battery terminals to the engine
frame and the starter when cranking, and the battery voltage when cranking
should be at least 10 volts or so. You can also detect weak batteries or
bad connections by reading voltage with headlights on.

Good luck,

Paul

 

[Sal Brisindi]

First I would check the alternator to make sure it is charging the
battery, second, I would clean the battery terminals and see what
happens. Not sure where you live but the cold climate is coming and if
you think you are having battery issues now, just wait until it gets
cold out there.

For $50-$60 it would be advisable to replace the battery if the old one
is marginal.

Sal

harore wrote:

Helloo..

By theory, the car battery can be assumed dead when it can hold
anymore charge right? But my car battery happens to have the charge
below than 12 hours meaning that I need to jumpstart it every morning.
Then, the battery runs fine all day long. I need your guys(gals)
advice on this. I can buy a new one but if I can still use it, why
not? Also, I don't want to throw the battery as this will pollute the
environment. Hope this post is related to basic electronics.


Thanks.
harore
Surf up to my hobby electronic circuits at:
http://www.hobbyelectroniccircuits.com

 

[Dave]

Sal Brisindi wrote:

First I would check the alternator to make sure it is charging the
battery, second, I would clean the battery terminals and see what
happens. Not sure where you live but the cold climate is coming and if
you think you are having battery issues now, just wait until it gets
cold out there.

For $50-$60 it would be advisable to replace the battery if the old one
is marginal.

Sal

harore wrote:
Helloo..

By theory, the car battery can be assumed dead when it can hold
anymore charge right? But my car battery happens to have the charge
below than 12 hours meaning that I need to jumpstart it every morning.
Then, the battery runs fine all day long. I need your guys(gals)
advice on this. I can buy a new one but if I can still use it, why
not? Also, I don't want to throw the battery as this will pollute the
environment. Hope this post is related to basic electronics.


Thanks.
harore
Surf up to my hobby electronic circuits at:
http://www.hobbyelectroniccircuits.com

You might look into some of the pulse chargers. The pulse action can

desulfate the cells and maybe bring the battery back to life.
It may be a gamble, but if you loose, you have a spiffy new technology
battery charger.

Dave