A Complete Guide To Car Battery Health

In this article we will cover all of the questions and concerns surrounding car battery health and maintenance.

What is the Lifecycle of a Standard Car Battery?

A typical car battery will last anywhere between 3 to 5 years depending on a number of external factors. These factors include how often your car battery is drained, how often you use and rely on your battery, and climate/weather.

Of course, leaving your lights on over night or using your car battery for the radio will drain your battery. Too many charging cycles will have an affect on the overall life of your car battery compared to someone who does not use their battery like this.

The leading factor for the lifecycle of a car battery correlates more with the climate and weather of your location. Batteries and engines get hot, and in warmer climates, this is exacerbated. Extreme temperatures can lead to fluids in the battery to evaporate, as well as extra condensation that can cause corrosion over time.

In addition to this, cold weather thickens engine oil resulting in the oil flowing slower at colder temperatures. The result of this is additional power surges from the battery. This problem becomes even more prevalent if your vehicle is in need of an oil change. The cold weather also slows down the chemical reactions produced inside a battery to generate electricity resulting in less output.

Are All Automotive Batteries the Same?

Vehicle batteries can be broken down into two main categories. A flooded (aka wet cell) battery, and a VRLA valve regulated lead acid battery (aka maintenance-free).

The most common batteries today are maintenance-free batteries that cannot be serviced by regular consumers. These batteries consist of 2 subcategory types – gel cell and AGM (absorbed glass mat).

When charging your automotive battery it is important to note the type of battery you have. It will always be displayed on the exterior of your vehicles battery.

How Long Can a Car Sit Before the Battery Dies

It’s a common misconception that a car battery only draws power when the car is on.

Your car battery can drain surprisingly quickly when sitting, with the time frame depending on the health and age of your battery.

Vehicle batteries can die in 4-8 weeks when not in use. But, what causes a car battery to drain when the vehicle is just sitting?

A car battery drains when not in use to power components such as dashboard clocks, radios, computers, and security alarms.

How Do You Stop a Car Battery From Draining When Not In Use

To keep a car battery charged when not in use there are a few tactics you can deploy. The 4 things you can do to stop a car battery from draining when it is not in use are:

1.       Disable parasitic battery drains

Parasitic drains are things that suck the energy out of your car battery, much like a parasite. It can be beneficial to remove some of these things so that you’re not unnecessarily draining your battery. Parasitic drains on your battery include can unplug your vehicles clock, radio, alarm system (if stored securely), dash cams, phone attachments, and infotainment systems to reduce the drain on your battery when it’s not in use.

2.       Make use of a trickle charger battery maintainer

Trickle chargers are a type of battery charger that deliver low voltage so that the battery is charged slowly over a long period of time. The purpose of a trickle charger is that you can leave your battery for a long period of time on the charger without worrying about quickly overcharging.

It’s important to remember that trickle chargers need to be disconnected when the battery is fully charged.

A maintenance charger on the other hand is designed to be connected to the battery for as long as you’d like to store it. Maintenance chargers will automatically shut off when your battery reaches a set level of charge and will turn back on when the battery life drops below a certain level.

Maintenance chargers are preferred for long-term storage. The main thing to consider if you’re using a battery maintainer is to ensure that it matches the voltage and chemistry of your car battery.

The best smart batteries chargers on the market are the NOCO Genius chargers. There are 4 to choose from:

NOCO Genius 1

NOCO Genius 2

NOCO Genius 5

NOCO Genius 10

3.       Disconnect your negative battery cable

This is often not an ideal choice, especially when you intend for your vehicle to sit for only a few weeks or months. This is because when disconnecting your negative battery cable, you’ll probably lose some computerized settings in your vehicle such as radio presets and clock settings.

When reconnecting a battery, always connect the positive cable first and secondly connect the negative cable. This is why it’s advised that if you’re only unplugging your battery and not removing it to just disconnect the negative cable.

4. Remove the battery

Removing the entire battery is the most efficient way to prevent it from draining. This method is especially recommended when you plan on leaving your vehicle to sit for several months or an entire season.

Even though your battery is disconnected entirely, it will still drain power. You can use a voltmeter to assess the current power level and should charge it any time it dips below 70%, however, this should take around 2-4 months depending on the age and health of your car battery.

5. Store your battery correctly

Avoid hot and humid as well as cold environments. Both of these extreme climate scenarios will have an adverse effect on your batteries charge and longterm health.

To maintain the optimal health of your car battery, you should keep it stored in a cool dry place and ideally between 40 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Consider a battery box to protect it from moisture.

Before storing your battery, always check for any damage and be sure to clean the battery. Any corrosion, dust, dirt or electrolyte deposits should be removed. This includes battery attaching terminals as well as the positive and negative connection cables.

When taking your battery out of storage, be sure that the battery is once again cleaned and is fully charged

Does Idling a Car Charge the Battery?

If your cars engine is on a car battery will charge, even if idling. Your vehicle is also using the battery if the car is idling, so while it may be charging, it is certainly not charging as efficiently as it could be.

It would take hours of an idling car for the battery to reach a full charge. It can take over 15 minutes of idling just to recharge the initial energy drained simply from starting the vehicle.

The best way to recharge a car battery is to take it for a drive. You should aim for at least 15 minutes.

How Does a Car Charge Its Battery

You’ve likely heard the term ‘alternator’ before in regards to battery and vehicle maintenance. That’s because your cars alternator acts like a generator that is powered by the movement of an engine belt. The motion from the belt of an engine creates electricity that is used to recharge the battery.

When your car engine is running, the battery receives a charge from the alternator, converting mechanical energy into electrical energy. This process happens every time your vehicle engine is running.

Your car battery consists of a chemical solution within that is in touch with namely two connectors, a cathode (positive) and an anode (negative). This chemical energy is then converted into electrical energy that passes through the connectors. This is how your car battery works when the engine is not on, but there is only a drain on the charge.

How Do You Know When Your Car Battery Is Charged?

It’s extremely difficult to estimate how long it will take to charge the battery in your car. Your car won’t show you how charged its battery is. While you may be wondering why, this can be explained in a simple way. When the engine is running, there just isn’t an easy way to test the battery of a load. And really, it’s not necessary. Once the battery can start the car, the battery can be charged.

To get an accurate representation of the charge in your battery, you’ll need a multimeter or voltmeter to gauge the voltage.

Multimeters are multi-purpose devices that can measure voltage as well as electrical current and resistance. A voltmeter measures voltage.

A typical car battery is labeled as a 12v battery. Fully charged batteries should measure at 12.6 volts when they are not in use. This is referred to as ‘resting voltage’ and around 13.5 to 14.5 volts when the vehicles engine is running. The reason for this voltage boost is due to extra energy provided from the alternator when the vehicle is running.

How Do You Start a Car With a Flat Battery?

You are bound to experience a dead battery at some point in your life, whether it’s yours, a neighbors, or a stranger in a parking lot. You can do what is called a jumpstart which will power your vehicles battery and charge it using a second, working vehicle.

How to Jump Start Your Car

To jump start your car, you’ll need 2 things – A pair of jumper cables and another car (with a charged battery).

Next, you’ll need to follow 8 steps in order:

1. Open the hood of your car and inspect your battery to ensure that the battery is safe and not damaged, leaking acid, or cracked.
2. Remove and turn off anything that is draining your battery. Make sure your lights, heating and air conditioning, windshield wipers, and radio are switched off.
3. Pull the second car towards the vehicle with a drained battery close enough that the two jumper cables are able to reach each other.
4. Your pair of jumper cables will consist of one red cable (positive) and one black cable (negative). Connect an end of the red cable (+) to the positive terminal on both car batteries. Next, connect the black cable (-) to the negative terminal on the working car battery. Lastly, connect the other end of the black cable to a bare metal part on the vehicle with a dead battery. This could be something like the engine mount or vehicle chassis. Do NOT attach this end to the battery. Doing so could cause a large spark or even an explosion.
5. Start the car that has the working battery. Leave the two vehicles connected and the car with a charged battery running for around 10 minutes. This amount of time should provide enough charge to start the car.
6. Turn on the car with a flat battery. You can do this while the other cars engine is still running in case the battery is not sufficiently charged yet you won’t have to reattach jumper cables.
7. Now you can disconnect the jumper cables making certain that the ends of the cables do not touch. This can cause a large barrage of sparks and is a very serious safety hazard.
8. Keep the car running for an additional 5-10 minutes and then, without turning it off, begin driving. Driving your vehicle will charge it much more efficiently so driving for at the very least 15-20 minutes is recommended.

Does jump starting a car damage the battery?

Of course if your battery dies and you need to get somewhere, you’re going to want to jump start a flat battery. But will jump starting your car do harm to the vehicles battery?

The short answer is no. Jump starting a dead battery has little impact on the vehicle aside from putting a little extra stress on it for a short moment. Doing this only once or twice in a batteries life cycle will not do any damage.

The real risk of jump starting your vehicle properly is to not follow the instructions listed above on how to safely jump start a car when the battery dies.

What is a battery booster jump box?

A battery booster jump box, also known as a portable jump starter, is a specially designed device that boosts a dead battery without the need for another power source (vehicle).

The benefit of these jump starters are that they are renewable, light weight, easy to carry, and can last for over a year without needing to be recharged.

A NOCO jump starter is a must-have device for any car owner. These reputable and high-quality devices are sold in many power output variants at an affordable price making it a necessary piece of equipment for any vehicle. Check out our Top 8 NOCO Jump Starters.