08/03/2017
CAR BATTERY MAINTENANCE
1. Keeping your car in a garage in the colder weather will keep your car battery a few degrees of that on the outside. If you do not have a garage, parking your car in an area that will reduce the effects of frost and wind chill will help to keep the car battery warmer reducing the possibility of a dead battery. Car battery insulation kits are available and are reasonably inexpensive and will aid in maintaining your batteries life during cold weather.
2. When starting your car particularly in cold weather, ensure anything electrical is turned off before starting as this will reduce the load on the battery at start-up.
3. If your battery is showing signs of dirt, grease or corrosion around the terminals, this can potentially weaken the circuit between the battery and the cars electrical system. When removing battery terminals, always remove the negative (-) first and when reapplying the terminals, reverse the procedure and apply the positive (+) first. Baking soda in a water solution and an old toothbrush is ideal to clean the battery terminals.
4. If your car often remains parked for long periods of up to a month, the battery may lose a large amount of charge or possibly all of its charge as the car often uses a certain amount of the batteries charge to power alarms, on-board computers and other devices. Simply removing the negative (-) battery connection will aid in battery life or by using a smart charger if possible.
5. Solar car battery trickle chargers are an effective method to maintain battery power and lifespan. Relatively inexpensive to purchase, they trickle feed the car battery with power by either connecting to the battery terminals directly or via the cigarette lighter socket. Being solar powered, no mains power is needed.
6. Starting your car and leaving it on tick-over will not be sufficient to charge your car battery. Starting your car uses a significant amount of power from the battery – around 100 to 130 amps, leaving your car on tick over for 30 minutes will only charge the battery with around 8 amps. Longer car journeys or charging the battery is advised.
7. Check electrolyte (acid / water) solution levels inside your battery. If your car battery is maintenance- free, it will be sealed. If not, ensure the engine is turned off and remove the battery caps to check solution levels. Check solution levels in each cell of the battery. Car battery acid can be purchased in small quantities from some car-part stores, alliteratively use distilled water only. Distilled water must be used else you will damage the battery. Using battery acid or distilled water, fill the cells till it touches the bottom of the fill tube – do not over fill as solution expands and may leak from the battery. If handling battery acid, use hand and eye protection.
