Battery

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BN

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The battery in my 29 Roadster went from working fine yesterday, parked it in the garage last night, and this morning it is totally dead (0 volts). Won't take a charge. Got it from NAPA about 3 years ago. Can anyone recommend a better replacement battery?
 
I understand that Optima batteries are good. Im running a Rural King battery now and its 3 years old.
 
Put your charger on it for a couple of days, it might take a charge. You haven't given it much of a chance from this morning.
 
Batteries are a total crap shoot. You can get one Brand A that lasts 3 years like yours and another of the same which goes for 5 years or longer. No rhyme or reason on this topic....
 
leo said:
Batteries are a total crap shoot. You can get one Brand A that lasts 3 years like yours and another of the same which goes for 5 years or longer. No rhyme or reason on this topic....
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The biggest detriment to battery life is how they are maintained and used. For any specific brand they are built all the same inside from the same parts. I normally get 7-10 years out of the ones I buy.
 
J Franklin - I've never obtained even 7 years from a battery. Would you be willing to reveal how you maintain them?
 
BN said:
The battery in my 29 Roadster went from working fine yesterday, parked it in the garage last night, and this morning it is totally dead (0 volts). Won't take a charge. Got it from NAPA about 3 years ago. Can anyone recommend a better replacement battery?
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What is the warranty level of the battery? 2 year, 3 year, Higher?
Is it a battery that has cells that can have distilled water added to maintain liquid level? If so, what is the level of the liquid in the cells? Add water if the cells are the type that allow water add and the water is not above the plates. If not, and the battery is sealed, put it on a slow charge overnight and see if the slow charge takes. For me being in a rural area, I tend on 6 volt batteries,( by the way, I did not ask if you are dealing with 6 or 12 volts), I tend to stick to Tractor Supply for 6 volt. They still stock 6 volt batteries for vintage tractors still being used. I replaced mine when I bought my car in 2016 and it is still going strong.
 
J Franklin said:
The biggest detriment to battery life is how they are maintained and used. For any specific brand they are built all the same inside from the same parts. I normally get 7-10 years out of the ones I buy.
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Quality control is another big factor, I believe. Lack of maintenance usually results in gradual loss of reserve. A 3 year old battery going totally dead overnight points to faulty parts or assembly. Vibration or that last bump on the way home could have shaken something loose and the engine continued to run on the generator.
 
Interstate... Great price and mine can start my Model A 6V DC after a month in the cold without any charger needed
 
Batteries Plus is where I get my batteries now, Duracell brand.

Use to be Sears Die Hard, but their quality went down the toilet, and now they have closed all their stores around me, even more so.
 
Tractor Supply, Farm and Fleet, Fleet Farm all have Lead/acid 6 v batteries with caps for adding distilled water.


Keeping them maintained is important - keep them filled over the plates with distilled water, keeping them fully charged. Keeps the plates from sulfating.


Some bring them into non-freezing area over the winte. Then charge them 1 per month. I now use a maintainer. The key is not to let them discharge, they have a tendency to freeze if discharged or partially discharged and left out in very cold/freezing weather.


If kept charged the Farm and Fleets have lasted me 3- 7 years, usually 5 years or more. Warranty is 1 year replacement, pro-rated replacement 1-2 years.


Ther are a lot of other er metods. Some use a timer and trickle chargers, some run a tricle cjharger off the garge door opener or garge lights, etc>
 
Something odd about being fine one day, then totally zero volts the next. They just don't go to absolute zero. Even if it was totally drained, it should come up to something after a charge. When you charged it, did you remember to put the red charger clip to ground and the black one to the hot? (assuming you have are running stock positive ground)
 
Magicbox51 said:
Something odd about being fine one day, then totally zero volts the next. They just don't go to absolute zero. Even if it was totally drained, it should come up to something after a charge. When you charged it, did you remember to put the red charger clip to ground and the black one to the hot? (assuming you have are running stock positive ground)
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I have to agree something is not right. Any water in the battery, brake light switch stuck on (more common then you think)?
 
I would guess a drain happened. I maintain my batteries by keeping them charged and use distilled water when adding. We have battery manufacturing plants in Oregon and Entek (battery separator plates) so maybe they are fresher here? My last battery I changed was 7 years old.My modern truck has had a mystery discharge twice, completely dead, but has taken a recharge.
 
I had this happen a couple of times. I had to adjust my brake switch due to worn brake linkage occasionally not letting the brake pedal to fully return. Figured it out by checking the ammeter every time I turned the ignition switch off. Took me a month of monitoring before it happened so I could figure it out and fix it.
 
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This thread got me to thinking. I've always used plain tap water in my batteries and you all are saying distilled water. Can I dump out the water in mine and put in distilled? Will I gain anything by doing this? BTW, I got eight years out of my last battery. It came from Autozone.
Marty
 
marty in Ohio said:
This thread got me to thinking. I've always used plain tap water in my batteries and you all are saying distilled water. Can I dump out the water in mine and put in distilled? Will I gain anything by doing this? BTW, I got eight years out of my last battery. It came from Autozone.
Marty
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Not all tap water is created equal. Some has more minerals in it which is bad for the battery. Years ago I used tap water but now use distilled. It is cheap enough. Do not empty out your battery as you will also be emptying out the acid. I suppose you could empty it all out and refill with the proper acid water mix but that is a dangerous messy operation.
 
Magicbox51 said:
When you charged it, did you remember to put the red charger clip to ground and the black one to the hot? (assuming you have are running stock positive ground)
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Can I restate this quote just to clarify. When charging you always have the positive lead go to the positive post and the negative to negative. It doesn't matter which post is grounded.
 
Exide seems to be the leader in 6 volt Model A type batteries.

Our 1929 has had only four batteries in the forty years we have owned it. The forth one put in two years ago.

We use only distilled water. Car is stored every year from November until April with the battery left in the car. Sometimes I will put charger on battery for 10 to 15 minutes during the winter but not offen. I do remove fuse.

My experience has been as they start to get to the end of there life. There cranking power starts to fail. Finally one day they are just dead and will not take a charge.

Tractor Supply or NAPA, they both sell Exide around here. Enjoy.
 
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There is one thing that has been missing in the advice above, and to me this is the same as changing engine oil. You get longevity out of an engine that has the oil filtered & changed on a routine basis, ...and a battery's longevity can be much the same. Google "Battery Maintainer Desulfator" and read up on this topic. MAFCA's Tech Director Jim Cannon has 6 volt batteries that have/are approaching nearly a decade old. His secret to battery longevity is the desulfation process.
 
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