[ds968]

No, guilty as charged. Only when I remember, or ,more often than not when I am reminded by a slow cranking battery that something is starting to go bad.. probably two or three years intervals. I suppose by that time it's already deteriorated enough where a full recovery is unlikely ?

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[flash]

yup - once it starts to go, it is very difficult to get it to recover fully. you can try some of those recovery additives, but i've never had a lot of luck with them.



also, every time you kill a battery, you lose between 5% and 10% of its ability to fully charge, depending on water level at the time, contaminants, age of the battery, temperature, and other variables. this decreases the lifespan of the battery.



one of the worst enemies of batteries is tap water. the minerals in it get between the plates and effectively short them out. eventually the battery loses its capacity.



these steps will help ensure the most life from your battery:



top it up every year with distilled water.

keep a trickle charger on it if you are not going to drive it for more than a couple of weeks.

keep your terminals clean and free of corrosion.

make sure you have good ground and main connections.

buy a major brand battery, the correct size for the car, to begin with.

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[Langley968]

I have been following this post with interest because my battery is starting to go...

I bought the 968 in 2009 with this battery.

If I look at the label, it seems that it was purchased in April of 2003. Is that correct? That would make it almost 10 years old...



   

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[986boxster1998]

That looks correct to me.

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[986boxster1998]

[quote name='ds968' timestamp='1389052222' post='154214']



Thanks for the info ! So what's the key reason you love the Odyssey ; weight ? dry battery ? better longevity than Interstate ? other reason ?

[/quote]

Dan sorry for the delayed response. I like it because of the weight, and the hardware looks pretty cool especially with the Rennline battery mount. My current 968 came with an AC/Delco battery in it that went bad (1) year from new since the previous owner had just replaced it. I pulled it several times to charge and had myself conveince of an electrical grimlin since the battery would be fully discharge in about a week of no driving. When I hooked up a voltometer while cranking and saw the voltage dip to almost nothing. The Odyssey is 15 pounds lighter only cost about $150 and has worked everytime.

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[ryker]

Flash, quit baiting Dan. You already knew the answer to whether or not he topped off his batteries... <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/rolleyes.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />

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[MCL968]

On a related note, has anyone here ever converted a battery to Magnesium Sulfate from Sulphuric Acid? I did that in the battery that we have in our Lexus RX a few years ago when it was needing to be replaced, and it has been working splendidly ever since. The overall voltage is lower, but it starts the engine like a new battery even though it is well past its expected service duration.

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[ds968]

Anyone have or had a Braille battery in their cars ( not necessarily the 968 but any other cars ..) ? I may have the wrong info but supposedly Braille model B 129 is only 9 lbs !! , has 831 amps cranking power and the retail price is $ 155. Something seems out of whack..

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[flash]

it's not the cranking amps that is all that important. it's the amp-hour capacity. i don't think the braille has much in that department.

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[Inkedupfatboy]

I have the original OEM battery from Porsche. We we started to work on my car, we made the decision to do everything as close to factory specs as possible. I only have a few bolt on/off mods and most likely will not be adding more. When my car was at the shop once for work, it must have died, and my tech replaced it. Porsche took it back with no questions asked. So I assume it was a bad unit. Have not had any issues with it myself. I drive my car every one to two weeks. Never had any kind of starting or drainage issues for what ever that info is worth. I have only driven my car less than 2000 miles since I bought it in April of last year.

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[Cloud9...68]

Something is wrong with that Braille battery's specs. 831 cranking amps is way too high for a 9 pound battery - what are the cold cranking amps? But either way, Flash is right about the amp-hour capacity being the critical parameter.



One challenge with running a small battery in our cars is the fact that on all but the coolest days, the fan typically runs for several minutes after the engine is turned off. That fan draws a huge amount of current - about 12 amps! So, you only get a few stop-starts, particularly on a hot day, before the little battery says, "No mas!" And in the winter when it's too cold for the fans to need to stay on, the cranking amps drop below that required to reliably start the car. It's fine for a track car, but quite nerve-racking in a street car. Ask me how I know, and why I'm so relieved to not have to relying on the 968 for commuting to the vanpool pick-up point anymore.

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[ds968]

After calling all the auto parts stores within a 5 mile range of my house ( Auto Zone, Pep Boys, NAPA, and Kragen-O'Reilly, ) to find out if they carry Interstate battles and learning that none do, the rep at AutoZone was nice enough to tell me there's an Interstate battery store a block a way from them. Had no idea Interstate has stand-alone stores ( they call them "centers " ) but evidently they do :-). So I bought my new Interstate replacing the old one which after 4 years and a couple of months was dead as a door nail, in spite of being on a trickle charger when the car is not driven. I asked them what's the story behind the rarity of their products at chain auto parts lately and was told they're shifting toward selling mostly out of their centers and the distribution channels sell primarily to repair shops now. Very strange , IMO . But the exception to " chain stores " seems to be Walmart. And not surprising, if Walmart wants to sell your product, no matter who you are you can't deny them or they will bully you into it, LOL.

BTW, the group 91 is $ 156 at the center, and surprisingly not a lot cheaper at Walmart online . I dunno, but getting more than four years out something that costs only $ 150 seems like a great deal to me...

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[Langley968]

I am glad that you are happy with 4+ years of service from your battery.



Mine seems to have been in my 968 for 10+ years (see posts #23 & #24). I have not used a trickle charger in the winter months. Just recently it is showing signs that it is almost "done". If I do not start the car for over a week, then it has a hard time cranking over.

So this begs some questions:

* Does it make a difference on the life span of a battery if the car is used as a "daily driver" vs. an "occasional driver"?

* Could I have gotten even more life from the battery if it had been trickle charged over the winter months? Dring the winter months I do run the car at least once every two weeks for at least 30 minutes.

Interesting minds want to know...



(EDIT - I have owned the 968 for the past 4+ years, so I do not know if it was "trickle charged" prior to my ownership)

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[Bulti]

Car batteries can not handle beiing drained all the way and than recharged again. They have to be kept charged all the time to stay healthy.



If, for example, an alarmsystem drains it too much that will drastically reduce the lifespan. A tricklecharger will avoid that.



Off course, the quality of the battery will have an impact too, as well as the temperature in which they are kept.



Cold temperatures are not necessarily bad for a car battery, it just makes them less efficient below a certain point. The optimum temp is about 20°C.

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[kzem1]

I have the Interstate MTP-91 pictured above in my 2 cars. works good.

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[Peter B]

I've had to order the MT-91 from our local Interstate store. I'm having to wait 2 weeks. The local Firestone store stocks interstate batteries too, for less $. I managed to talk the interstate store to matching Firestone (135$ installed).

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[ds968]

[quote name='Langley968' timestamp='1390842904' post='154676']

Mine seems to have been in my 968 for 10+ years [/quote]



wow ! that has to be a record.

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[kzem1]

I paid $129 at my local Firestone. Installed myself.

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[Ryan]

I don't know if there are any "farm stores" near any of you, but I am paying around $50.00-$60.00 for my batteries at Rural King. I think TSC or tractor supply has like pricing. The batteries are made by Exide and have specs similar to the batteries costing $100 more. I have heard that there are only like five companies that make all the batteries for every brand out there.



Sulfur is the enemy of the battery plate. When the charge goes down low and a deep cycle is required, the plates get plated with sulfur and this weakens the battery as I understand it. I have a charger that has a de-sulfur mode that sends high frequency to the plates to break up the sulfur. This gets you more life out of the battery. I have tried it on a real weak battery and it brought it back to life.



Both my Porsche's tend to drain their batteries and I have only one charger, so I sometimes get discharge and have to address these issues. I should buy another charger I know.



By the way, Interstate has battery stores that sell every kind of battery just like those Battery+ places.

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[Peter B]

Ryan,



Pretty darn interesting. What kind of charger do you have that strips the sulfer? It sounds like it uses a little reverse bias to clean up the surface.



So with this charger, are adding weeks or years to your battery?

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