Battery Life
My take on how long car batteries live. End of life can be when it fails to crank, does not hold a charge, or age makes it weak.The aged out power test works for me as I do not to want to have a “no crank” And if I let one sit, or loose charging then I want to know how much “reserve capacity” so I can to make a decision. Factory method is: time a 25A load will keep volts above 10.5 V which a sort of the minimum a car will shut off with charging fail 36R. I have had 3 Alt fails in last 12 years. Two were away on a trip. One cost me $$ and a night in a motel, and the other made it to a safe exit and AAA hauled it home.
Picture of my test method, but I load with 15A and time to discharge to 11.5V. My version of reserve time. That is a safe time I can drive with no charging if I reduce power consumers in the car. And it will still crank.
Next pic. Is an example of reserve capacity with age using 36R in G-4 Bulls. List is a summary of 4 batteries, all, Sams Club, Walmart, or Interstate, all are 2 year warranty batteries, 650CCA. WM only makes the 2 year battery and all I see online are also 2 year.
So for my Bull it will get a new battery every 3 years. I will post another one on why many Fords, G-4 Bulls and my Lin Cont for example have shorter battery life.
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My take on how long car batteries live. End of life can be when it fails to crank, does not hold a charge, or age makes it weak.The aged out power test works for me as I do not to want to have a “no crank” And if I let one sit, or loose charging then I want to know how much “reserve capacity” so I can to make a decision. Factory method is: time a 25A load will keep volts above 10.5 V which a sort of the minimum a car will shut off with charging fail 36R. I have had 3 Alt fails in last 12 years. Two were away on a trip. One cost me $$ and a night in a motel, and the other made it to a safe exit and AAA hauled it home.
Picture of my test method, but I load with 15A and time to discharge to 11.5V. My version of reserve time. That is a safe time I can drive with no charging if I reduce power consumers in the car. And it will still crank.
Next pic. Is an example of reserve capacity with age using 36R in G-4 Bulls. List is a summary of 4 batteries, all, Sams Club, Walmart, or Interstate, all are 2 year warranty batteries, 650CCA. WM only makes the 2 year battery and all I see online are also 2 year.
So for my Bull it will get a new battery every 3 years. I will post another one on why many Fords, G-4 Bulls and my Lin Cont for example have shorter battery life.
-chart-
