Car battery bad after 7 years

etc · May 16, 2007

I had a new car battery from Sears seat as a spare for about 7 years. I finally needed it the other day and found out it wasn't good. Apparently dropped to about 9-10V but wouldn't start the car even when jump started (I think the vehicle had other issues like starter gone bad)

Anyway, took it Advanced Auto and they tested it and pronounced it bad.

Question, can a 12V automotive cell go bad from about 7 years of non-use? Including sitting outside in cold/hot environments?

To clarify, it was never installed in any vehicles.

Eugene · May 16, 2007

Yes, they go bad from sitting. Lead Acid automotive batteries prefer to be used, even on the car battery faq web site is a section on how to understand the date code so you can tell how long a new battery has been sitting on the shelf.
You should look into an isolator to keep the second battery in use and charged.

wptski · May 16, 2007

etc said:
I had a new car battery from Sears seat as a spare for about 7 years. I finally needed it the other day and found out it wasn't good. Apparently dropped to about 9-10V but wouldn't start the car even when jump started (I think the vehicle had other issues like starter gone bad)

Anyway, took it Advanced Auto and they tested it and pronounced it bad.

Question, can a 12V automotive cell go bad from about 7 years of non-use? Including sitting outside in cold/hot environments?

To clarify, it was never installed in any vehicles.

If a car starter battery isn't kept fully charged using a float charger, the plates will start to sulfate as soon as the charge starts to drop! A fact of life!

HCaul · May 16, 2007

Yep. I use a lot of lead-acid batteires in various backup systems. They very definitely need to be kept charged. As little as a year or two of storage in a discharged state can significantly diminish capacity, and after seven years, your result is not surprising. Non-deep-cycle batteries (such as most car batteries) are especially sensitive in this regard.

If you do need to keep a spare (although unless you're in a very remote area, it's hard to imagine why you would), keep it on a trickle charger designed for the purpose.

koala · May 16, 2007

If you keep it on float, make sure that you turn up the voltage once every 6 months a while to reduce sulfate from building. Some trickle chargers do this.

matrixshaman · May 16, 2007

From my experience car batteries last 5 years. That's 40 + years experience owning them. And if it's just sitting with never getting a charge as others have said they still will go bad because it's a chemical reaction in there that doesnt wait for charge and discharge cycle. It still will sulfate the plates and lose power.

LuxLuthor · May 16, 2007

matrixshaman said:
From my experience car batteries last 5 years. That's 40 + years experience owning them. And if it's just sitting with never getting a charge as others have said they still will go bad because it's a chemical reaction in there that doesnt wait for charge and discharge cycle. It still will sulfate the plates and lose power.

I agree...and is also why that is about the maximum that the above average batteries give up to 5 years full warranty. Some that have 6-8 year warranty pro-rate them in year 5 because they know they are dying fast....and probably bank on people losing their receipts or selling the car by then.

evanlocc · May 16, 2007

matrixshaman said:
From my experience car batteries last 5 years. ...

Wow! That consider a very good car batteries that can last for 5 years!

Here, on average lasted about only 2 years + (none more than 30 months!) and only a year of warranty.

Illum · May 16, 2007

average for me is 3 years, never fully drained [well...once by accident] and usually sits, installed in 90 degree weather

whats with this saying that a battery will discharge when left on concrete flooring?

etc · May 17, 2007

Learn something new every day.

BTW, it says on it about the 100 month warranty. What are the chances Sears will exchange it if I bring it back? I think their current policy is 3 years?

Led_Blind · May 17, 2007

My last car (before another motorist was kind enough to remove my boot with his car) was 8yrs old from brand new. That SLA would still start her up at 0 celcius ambient temp.

I think the SLA longevity in vehicles has a lot to do with the following. Get them right and the SLA should last and last and last (so long as it is uesd)
1. drain when the car is off
2. power quality from altenator
3. charging charactistics

qip · May 17, 2007

dont forget to check acid level and add water every now and then

Aircraft800 · May 17, 2007

WOW! You guys are getting 5 yr. out of a car battery? My battery in my family car only lasted 2.5 yr, and the one in my work car 3 yr. at most. I guess the enviroment has a lot to do with battery life.

I'll bet 130 deg. under hood temperature here in Texas doesn't help!! Very common here to replace every 3rd summer.

And no, don't store Lead Acid batteries, if you need to, cool dry place and fully charged, it only slows down the natural process of the plates coroding and eventually shorting out the cells.

ckthorp · May 17, 2007

I believe my last battery went something like 10 years. Helps that the battery was NOT sealed (so you can top up the water). Also helps that my battery lives under my back seat where it isn't exposed to underhood heat. If your battery is under the hood, remember to check the water (if possible), and to drop it onto an equalizing charger once or twice a year. With high underhood temps (which increase the float voltage of a lead-acid battery), it is possible that your vehicle is slightly undercharging your battery in the long-term.

The old saying about concrete floors discharging batteries is false for modern plastic-cased lead-acid batteries.

Led_Blind, was your battery really an SLA? That is not typical for a factory battery. Put another way, would you be happy holding the battery upside over your head. If not, it isn't a SLA it is a regular lead-acid battery. Maintenance-free != SLA.

When adding water to batteries, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE use either non-remineralized distilled water or deionized water. The extra mineral load, over a few refills, will lead to battery death.

TedTheLed · May 17, 2007

if you get the battery without the acid in it, it'll keep forever. just add the liquid when you need the battery.

(which raises a question Ive been wondering about; where is the electricity? is it in the liquid? when you pour the acid into a dry battery it isn't fully charged - is it?-
if you add the electrolyte from a fully charged battery into a dry battery, will that 'transfer' the energy? or does the charge reside more in the plates?)

ckthorp · May 17, 2007

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that adding the acid to a new battery yields a fully charged battery (the motorcycle battery I bought last year was at least charged enough to easily crank the bike). I believe that the energy is stored in a combination of the acid and plates. The acid is reduced in strength as the energy is depleted (hence the use of hydrometers for checking state-of-charge) and the chemical composition of the plates changes as well. So, transfering the acid would probably partially recharge the battery, but would also allow the plates to be way over discharged and probably damaged (the acid would recharge the acid's portion of the energy but wouldn't reconstitute the lead plate).

BB · May 17, 2007

The energy in a lead acid battery is the plates themselves. The reason you can fill a new battery with acid and have it fully charged is because the battery was manufactured with two different plate compounds--the sealed battery no reflecting the "charged" state of the plates (decades ago, sometimes used to be called a "dry charged" battery--a little searching shows this to be still a common term).

When the battery is discharged, both plates (IIRC) have the same composition (plus and minus) of sponge lead.

yea old Wikipedia:

A plate consists of a rectangular lead plate alloyed with a little antimony to improve the mechanical characteristics. The plate is in fact a grid with rectangular holes in it, the lead forming thin walls to the holes. The holes are filled with a mixture of red lead and 33% dilute sulphuric acid (Different manufacturers have modified the mixture). The paste is pressed into the holes in the plates which are slightly tapered on both sides to assist in retention of the paste. This paste remains porous and allows the acid to react with the lead inside the plate increasing the surface area many fold. At this stage the positive and negative plates are identical. Once dry the plates are then stacked together with suitable separators and inserted in the battery container. An odd number of plates is always used, with one more negative plate than positive. Each alternate plate is connected together. After the acid has been added to the cell, the cell is given its first forming charge. The positive plates gradually turn the chocolate brown colour of Lead Dioxide, and the negative turn the slate gray of 'spongy' lead. Such a cell is ready to be used.

Many modern manufacturers use pastes in the plates made directly from Lead Dioxide and Lead, thus avoiding the necessity to form the plates. Once acid is added, the cell is ready for use.

-Bill

Lite_me · May 17, 2007

Aircraft800 said:
WOW! You guys are getting 5 yr. out of a car battery? My battery in my family car only lasted 2.5 yr, and the one in my work car 3 yr. at most. I guess the enviroment has a lot to do with battery life.

I'll bet 130 deg. under hood temperature here in Texas doesn't help!! Very common here to replace every 3rd summer.

And no, don't store Lead Acid batteries, if you need to, cool dry place and fully charged, it only slows down the natural process of the plates coroding and eventually shorting out the cells.

Heat is much harder on batteries than cold. I live in the north east and I changed the origonal battery in my Nissan at 7yrs. It was still doing the job, I just thought it was a good idea. I gave the old one to a brother who had a use for it and about 3 yrs later he said it was still working fine. :drool:

geepondy · May 17, 2007

I'm sure there's a reason but why no nimh car batteries?

BB · May 17, 2007

Some aircraft have used NiCad batteries (years ago--perhaps still) because of their light weight and their ability to handle massive amounts of discharge and charge in a short period of time.

-Bill

Car battery bad after 7 years

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