Guide: How To Make Your Car Battery Go On & On!

[bhvm]

I have a query on battery life.

Does the battery live depend on the kilometres driven by the vehicle.

Lets say a vehicle drives for 50k km in 3 years. Will the life of the battery on this car be shorter compared to a vehicle with lower odometer reading for the same period.
Assumption: No running of electricals with engine switched off during this period or any actions that can reduce the life of the battery. Just a large amount of kilometres done.

No.
Battery is mostly a time based device rather than use. Infact frequently running car will keep battery freshly charged, prolonging life by preventing sulphation and agitation of fluids.

 

[Suryaputhra]

No.
Battery is mostly a time based device rather than use. Infact frequently running car will keep battery freshly charged, prolonging life by preventing sulphation and agitation of fluids.

I disagree with you bhvm, Batteries life depend on how many partial charges and discharges. Frequent charges and discharges will not prolong its life. At the same time battery should not be discharged beyond 35%.

Note: We are manufactures of Lead acid batteries and different types of battery chargers for them. We supply to BSNL, L&T and some other industries.

 

[bhvm]

Let me Put it this way,
Running the car daily uses battery only once- for Crank.
Then It shifts over to Alternator whose duty is to keep battery float/Trickled.
A fully charged battery does not allow sulphation to settle on Plates. Infact, Desulphators use small pulses of energy to revive old/sitting batteries.

Keeping a car parked and many sensors Eg. Immobilizer, ECU, Remote listeners etc will disharge battery to below optimium levels (Say in a week) and below by 35% as suggested by you.

Unless you put very heavy loads on battery eg. High powered Lights, Ampli-woofers, Accessories etc, It should never get discharged below recommended limit.

 

[Suryaputhra]

Let me Put it this way,
Running the car daily uses battery only once- for Crank.
Then It shifts over to Alternator whose duty is to keep battery float/Trickled.
A fully charged battery does not allow sulphation to settle on Plates. Infact, Desulphators use small pulses of energy to revive old/sitting batteries.

Keeping a car parked and many sensors Eg. Immobilizer, ECU, Remote listeners etc will disharge battery to below optimium levels (Say in a week) and below by 35% as suggested by you.

Unless you put very heavy loads on battery eg. High powered Lights, Ampli-woofers, Accessories etc, It should never get discharged below recommended limit.

We have 15+ years of industry experience and with state of the art R&D center at Bangalore we are prime suppliers to L&T recently done projects Hotel DAN(Israel based star hotels), Hotel TAJ and BIAL(Bangalore International Airport). Lead Acid battery is of complex science its no just assumptions. For example floating/tricle charge will not yield good results for Lead acid batteries. Regarding pulse charges there is no concrete industry standard or proof on their usefulness. We do make them but its everyone proprietary methods rather than concrete scientific thesis.

 

[bhvm]

I guess a Pretty important tip for current conditions-

Hindi Video will be out soon.

 

[Dr MUDHAN]

Recently I replaced my car battery for my car ALBUS. I did a mistake which I don’t want you to do while purchasing a car battery. Please go through the experience in detail @ My Primary Thread.

 

[Dr MUDHAN]

HOME MADE BATTERY CHARGER & THE SUCCESS STORY
DISCLAIMER - Please do not attempt this DIY if you are not confident what you are doing & do not know about battery basics, and without taking Electricity / Battery precautions. The Author cannot own any responsibility.


My ALBUS refused to start two days before (of course, first time ever!) and the Battery Voltmeter that I added after market showed 10.8 Volt on load in the Car.

The battery is new, a year old and I realized my fault as I didn’t drive the vehicle out of my home for the last two months due to strict lockdown @ Covid Pandemic except I just started and was running the engine for few minutes , moved here and there within the compound. .. Even that I missed last week.

I felt very bad , talked to my ALBUS for not letting me down, as it never happened before. Decided to do some homework to revive the battery.
It flashed in my mind why an AC TO DC adopter of 12 Volt or more cannot charge the battery. Checked and found two old unused adopters of my broke down laptops. One is 19.5 V/ 4.6 A, and another is 12 V/2A.

Searched for guidance online and found few methods to resolve this issue at home.

• Using a Laptop Adopter
• Using Laptop Adopter with DC to DC step down or step up power converter
• Using Two-Wheeler to charge the car battery.
• Using Home PC UPS Battery
• Using a JUMP STARTER

Or Buying an external charger / Asking the nearby Battery Sales Shop to charge it.

Decided to try the first method, as second method need a power module; third one, kept as last resort as not to fiddle with wife’s two-wheeler.

USING A LAPTOP ADOPTER:

The only confusion- which one is better 19.5 or 12-volt output and the risk involved. Consulted my Electrical Engineer friend and understood that the output ampere is more important than the volt to charge a battery, which is in my case 12V/35A for Honda City. More the ampere faster the charging but it should not be more than battery capacity. The ideal current output is 13.5 to14V / 4 to 10A.
So I selected 19.5V / 4.6A Adopter. I did not cut the original pin, instead I checked & correctly found out the pin polarity – positive inside / negative outside, firmly tapped the points with a wire (Refer picture).
I know, it would take more time to charge as the adopter output is 4.6 A towards 35 A of Battery.

But, how to know the battery is charged enough to start the engine? Therefore, I added an external battery voltmeter in the battery terminals. Switched_ On the Laptop adopter and noted the readings before and after as:

Battery when connected in the Car = 10.8 (Loading Voltage) @ FAILED TO START
Battery removed and Before Charging = 11.4 V
Battery started/during charging = 11.4 /12 fluctuating in voltmeter (see the GIF Picture)
Battery charged to + 0.1 unit every one hour and reached, Voltmeter showing 11.7 / 11.8 & 12.1 alternatively after 3 hours but not improving further even after 5 hours. I do not want to risk, stopped charging,
Connected the battery to car, cranked, engine started, run the engine for 15 minutes. Now battery charged enough to start the car, went out for 5 Kms. and the battery became normal… THAT is 12.5 to 14.3 while idling and running without AC.
Next day morning before FIRST cracking the engine it was 12.1 V (direct reading) 11.8 V (on loading with car) and become 14.3 after starting.
During SECOND attempt, it was 12.1 V on loading with car before cracking. Hope, it would improve on driving and usage…

DURING CHARGING:

NEXT DAY MORNING -DIRECT:

NEXT DAY MORNING BEFORE STARTING THE CAR:

AFTER STARTING THE CAR:

FOR REFERENCE:

IMPORTANT / PLEASE NOTE:

• My battery is new, a year old and the volts have not gone below 10 that made me easy to revive.
• If voltmeter is reading anything below 12 volts, we should consider “trickle charging” our battery. This essentially means that we would be charging the battery at a much slower rate, which allows to avoid the risk of applying excess charge amperage that could cause a lot of excess heat and off-gassing (and in extreme cases, explosions).
• A voltage anywhere between 12.4 and 12.8, which means the battery, is in good shape. While both the engine and the generator are in the working state, the voltage of the battery should be within 13.7 – 14.3V
• It cannot activate a dead battery or repair a battery, which is damaged seriously; it also cannot repair a battery back to 100% new.
• Some say charging with 19.5V /4A adopter for 15 minutes is enough to start the engine, but again it depends upon the battery's available volts. To start the engine, it must have at least 11.8 to 12 volt for a Petrol car. Diesel Car requires more.
• Old battery with good cells may take more time, but monitoring the volt of the battery is necessary and venting out the heat by keep opening the individual cell chambers is necessary to release heat due to hydrogen molecules reaction if more than 7 hours on. However, avoid charging a battery more than 5 to 7 hours.
• Always connect and disconnect the battery terminals after disconnecting the power source. While removing battery terminals, first remove negative, while connecting - first connect positive terminal to battery. Ensure firm connections to terminals and proper polarity.
• State of Charge Sealed or Flooded Lead Acid battery voltage

* 100% = 12.70+ * 75% = 12.40 * 50% = 12.20 * 25% = 12.00 * 0% = 11. 80

• If you want to purchase any third party external battery charger, you need to check it’s threshold charge as they tend to mistake the original voltage of the battery. Example, the necessary requirement of 8V threshold means that depleted battery's charge should not be below 8V because then it will wrongly recognize the battery as 6V battery despite a 12V battery.

Next postings will continue to explain all other possible methods and their Pros & Cons. Kindly wait...

 

[MeanderingSoul]

I disagree with you bhvm, Batteries life depend on how many partial charges and discharges. Frequent charges and discharges will not prolong its life. At the same time battery should not be discharged beyond 35%.

Note: We are manufactures of Lead acid batteries and different types of battery chargers for them. We supply to BSNL, L&T and some other industries.

Can you share what happens if the battery is left unused for sometime, does the capacity to hold charge come down? Does the number of recharge cycles come down?

 

[Suryaputhra]

Can you share what happens if the battery is left unused for sometime, does the capacity to hold charge come down? Does the number of recharge cycles come down?

One are two times battery will not lose capacity even deep discharged a month so. If above 35% charge is there it can be revived back by normal usage. You can check specific gravity. Specific gravity is not the measure of the capacity, specific gravity is the one of the methods of measuring state of charge. If specific gravity is not 1.26 to 1.27 in any cell you can add 1.50 battery acid few drops and charge. Please keep in mind that Battery acid is not distilled water. when sulfation happens on plates permanent crystals forms in that process you lose some acid, so you are replenishing lost acid. Permanent crystallization will not allow getting back capacity or lost acid, how many times you add distilled water and charge its of no use. So adding little acid and bring back to specified specific gravity will ensure not to lose further capacity. If water more and less acid you keep losing capacity every time you use battery. So specific gravity important.

Coming to Capacity, over time internal resistance increases so you lose capacity. To check capacity you need below tester. Load testing is different from capacity testing. Even if your battery has less capacity it will pass load test. So one should need these two types of testers.

 

[Dr MUDHAN]

PART II
HOME MADE BATTERY CHARGER & THE SUCCESS STORY … Continues
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USING LAPTOP ADOPTER WITH STEP DOWN / STEP UP POWER CONVERTER

ALSO THIS VIDEO @ YOUTUBE DIRECTLY:

You need Step down (or) Step up Power Supply Module. You can also try as in this video but you need to do carefully, ignore the language if you do not know, but note the procedures.
The procedure is same as I did, only thing the extra Power Supply Converter Module helps to output the ideal Voltage/Ampere safely for charging the battery, as depends upon the Laptop Adopter, whether 12Volt or More.. By Stepping Up /Stepping Down.
Kindly note, buy a module where you can control both the voltage and amp output depends upon the requirement. In some modules, you can only control the voltage and the amp is 2 constant.

Check availability in amazon.in:
1. DHRUV-PRO 5A DC to DC CC CV Lithium Battery Step down Charging Board Led Power Converter Lithium Charger Step Down Module XL4015 RED
2. CentIoT - LM2596 LM2596S DC-DC Adjustable Buck Step Down Power Supply Module
3. core technologies XL6009 DC-DC Step-up Module with Adjustable Booster Power Supply Module

USING A TWO-WHEELER TO CHARGE THE CAR BATTERY.

See the video, ignore the language if you do not understand, but note the procedures.
First, remove the car battery and keep on the two-wheeler at a convenient place.
Just access the two-wheeler battery, remove its terminal clamps. Leave the two-wheeler battery untouched. Connect the two-wheeler battery clamps positive-to-positive and negative to negative of car battery through normal wires. Kick start the two-wheeler. Run the two-wheeler 20 to 30 minutes; monitor the direct voltage, stop once reached around 12. Now, refit the cat battery, start and run the car. Done.
Good method as in this video, safe and easy but you need to tax the two-wheeler engine.


USING HOME PC UPS BATTERY

• WITH UPS BATTERY IN GOOD CONDITION

It would be helpful when you have two 12V/7.5A Batteries UPS that is 1KVA Type.
You need to remove the batteries from UPS.
Remove the fully charged two 12 volt batteries (CONNECTED IN PARALLEL to have the same 12 volt but 15 amps i.e., 7.5x2 ) connect to start the car. For smaller vehicles fully charged one battery can do.

OR

• WITH OLD UNUSED UPS WITH NO BATTERIES

Open the UPS, get the positive and negative terminal wires that used to charge when batteries inside. Connect external wires to each ensuring carefully the positive and negative lines. Take out the wires to car battery terminals after disconnecting the battery from car lines. Switch on the UPS, Check battery charging with voltmeter, once it reached 12V (mostly within 30 minutes), switch off UPS, disconnect everything, and connect the battery to car. It’s done.
See the video, ignore the language if you do not understand, but note the procedures.

USING A JUMP STARTER & JUMPER CABLES:
JUMP STARTER - Expensive, not useful to Individual Owner. It’s nothing but a SUPER POWER BANK, need to be kept in charged state property. May be useful to Mechanics, Multiple car /Fleet owners.
JUMPER CABLES - If you own multiple cars, or have a helping friend with a car, jumper cables would be useful. OR Always keep two different colored thick wires in the car if it has an old battery or if you failed to switch of any lights at parking as it would be very useful when you out stay and if the car failed to start. It’s just positive to positive and negative to negative connection.


BUYING AN EXTERNAL CHARGER
Good ones are expensive, its threshold limitations to be noted. Example, if the necessary requirement of 8V threshold means that depleted battery's charge should not be below 8V because then it will wrongly recognize the battery as 6V battery despite a 12V battery.


BATTERY SALES SHOP
Risk free, if you have nearby a good, professional dealer’s battery shop opened and can wait a day or more. Moreover they can also set right the battery chemistry like acid top up, right specific gravity if needed and restorable.

OTHER METHODS:
Some successfully revived the weakened two-wheeler batteries by using 12V/2A Adopters that comes with some Set of Box, Router etc.


FINALLY,
Don’t let the battery down as far as possible and I found out the reason for my case; I should have not used Portable Tyre Inflator, that consumes lot of voltage (the car voltmeter readings comes down to 11.7 from 14.4 while engine is idling) especially when the car is unused for quite some time.

Thank you for reading this thread.
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