Have I misused my Battery!

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I've just returned very unhappy from my local Halfrauds branch. My 1 year old halfords battery has died, it was running fine then it was removed for 3 weeks Max when my car was first in the boady shop. On re attaching it has failed.

 

The Halfords man tested it and couldn't get a reading, he said its classed as 'misuse' as there must be a big drain on the car somewhere. I said it was disconnected to which he said it much have been before it was removed.

 

Now the garage had tried to charge it without any luck, hence me trying to get a replacement. He said that if its flat for ages it will moss up or something and will be broken, and of course not in warranty!

 

He also said that once it get so low the battery doesn't know whats positive or negative and osolates between two, it is possible to trick it, but its probably too late.

 

The battery is now on charge in Halfords, I will be going back tomorrow afternoon.

 

I feel like this is all horse manure, its little different to going on holiday for 3 weeks! At the moment I have a smaller battery on my car, which, is showing now signs of a drain.

 

I could do with some technical advice to fight my corner, I won't let this one go.

 

Thanks in advance..

[dr_mat 0]

He's right, sorry. If you let your battery go flat and LEAVE it flat, it sulphates, which can permanently damage the battery's ability to carry charge. Some "smart" chargers can resurrect quite badly sulphated batteries, but it's not guaranteed.

 

I have to say though that it must have been completely flat for a very long time for it to be damaged so badly that it won't even charge a bit... and I'd be talking about poor quality of construction/materials to them in those circumstances too.

 

It is well known that Corrados drain batteries, so you need to be aware of that. (Clearly you are: because you disconnected the battery when the car was away.) As for how much drain you are suffering, well how long does it take to flatten a battery? You can tell with a multi-meter too ..

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When I've had a flat battery before it's took maybe 2-3 months on the car before it wouldn't hold charge.

 

If it had been on the car for the long, then left it stood for ages I would understand it but this is such a short period.

 

Hopefully the test will be more revealing, or I'll put it on the car, jump it, and drive to a halfrauds... ;-)

 

Cheers,

Duncan

[Jim Bowen 1]

just had mine off the car for 6 weeks and was fine when i reconnected it :confused4:

[davidwort 0]

That sounds pretty rubbish of Halfords, GSF just swapped my 2.5 yr old Bosch silver with no questions asked, just wanted to see my original proof of purchase.

[coolrado 0]

so far i have seen 5 different halfrauds batteries that did not have enough water/acid in them, some of them where very unevenly filled and one new one that had a completely dry cell (was obviously dead) after topping them up with some deionised water and leaving them on charge they where all fine, allways worth checking when you get a new battery (if the caps are removable) as underfilled cells will greatly reduce the life and efficiency of a battery.

 

i have a 6 year old bosch silver battery from my corrado that was left in the shed for a year without being used, gave it a trickle charge over night and it starts a diesel van (which was meant to have a bigger battery) without fail, even after being left for two months without being started.

[dr_mat 0]

Leaving the battery off the car is not a problem .. as long as it's charged when you do it..!

 

Car batteries are "starter" batteries. They are designed to be kept fully charged all the time and to provide big dollops of current to start an engine, and if you do that then they'll pretty much last forever. There is a completely different battery design called "deep cycle" batteries that are designed specifically to withstand being run down, left flat, recharged a bit, run down, whatever. They are much more expensive, and can't deliver the same amount of current as a starter battery (for the same amount of lead and acid!).

[Kevin Bacon 5]

The battery failed. End of. No battery should fail completely after 3 weeks of standing, charged or flat.

 

I've lost count of the amount of cheap "Iron Tiger" type batteries that have been left for bloody ages and then recharged and been fine, so a decent Halfords one should cope with it fine.

 

So long as there's enough water covering the plates, you'll be fine. Chances are there isn't and that's a manufacturing fault since they are the sealed maintenance free type I presume?

[coolrado 0]

none of the halfrauds ones i have had or seen where sealed, the main problem is (at least in the chester store) the batteries are supplied empty, and its up to the (usually thick) bloke at halfruds to fill them up, and then put them on charge.

 

the bosch battery i left in the shed for a year was flat when i removed it, so flat infact that it didnt even light up the interior light, i removed it as i got hold of a two month old bosch silver for free so changed it as i was having a problem with the battery going flat (turned out to be a sticky boot light switch).

 

the only way the battery should fail that quickly is if you tried repeatedly starting the car with the battery flat, this usually causes the plates inside the battery to warp and buckle and in extreme cases even touch together, you can usually see this through the fill holes, the plates should be nice and flat, if you try to start a car and the starter only just turns dont even bother to try it again, either bump start it, jump start it or charge the battery.

[dr_mat 0]

Quite. I would expect a lot more abuse than a month flat to kill a battery. But it will reduce it's lifetime, nonetheless.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

I know they're expensive, but consider an Odyssey battery if you get constant problems as they can take a lot of abuse, and then some.....

 

They can be left standing, flat or charged, for well over a year and will still work. In fact, I know of an Odyssey that's been sat on a shelf - charged - for nearly 2 years and it's still got 11.9V in it!

 

Agreed on the plates buckling etc. That style of battery is old hat tbh. Look at the more modern Gel, spiral, or dry cell alternatives. Certainly cheaper in the long run than buying a Halfrauds one every year :wink:

[Jim Bowen 1]

The battery failed. End of. No battery should fail completely after 3 weeks of standing, charged or flat.

 

I've lost count of the amount of cheap "Iron Tiger" type batteries that have been left for bloody ages and then recharged and been fine, so a decent Halfords one should cope with it fine.

 

So long as there's enough water covering the plates, you'll be fine. Chances are there isn't and that's a manufacturing fault since they are the sealed maintenance free type I presume?

 

i agree, i've had batteries stood in garage for years and they always worked again

[dr_mat 0]

i agree, i've had batteries stood in garage for years and they always worked again

 

If they were charged when you left them there, then of course they did. If they weren't, you were bloody lucky. ;)

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The attitude of the jumped up parts monkey that really got on my moobs. So quickly he accused me of misuse and a colleague making funny tutting noises and commenting on the age of the battery - because of the style of the reciept, "we've got new tills now" I was told - great new tills, the most exciting thing to happy in your pitiful little career, give me my feckin battery.

 

I will await the results of the test, it is entirly up to them proove misuse. If they refuse, I'll try a different branch, and find a member of staff thats getting some.

[chubbybrown 0]

We hadnt used to valver for a week last week and it killed the bosch silver fitted to it.

a 3 hour charge and its off working away happily again,unsure if I should take it back and say its discharged as the lil green light on the battery isnt lighting up :? :eek: :confused4:

[paul20v 0]

sounds to me like your having your plonker pulled (accuse the exspression)

there is no way a decent battery should be stuffed after that amount of time ,

a standard battery only has a duty cycle of around 100 times , but there is no way it should be stuffed in a matter of weeks ,

as said already buy a decent battery i allways use bosch , varta , or hoppecke there all good standard batterys ,

or again as said gel or such like

i buy very little off halfrauds i have to be mega desperate there over priced and clueless :cuckoo:

[coolrado 0]

We hadnt used to valver for a week last week and it killed the bosch silver fitted to it.

a 3 hour charge and its off working away happily again,unsure if I should take it back and say its discharged as the lil green light on the battery isnt lighting up :? :eek: :confused4:

I dont think they light up, it just changes colour depending on the state of the battery.

[dr_mat 0]

I dont think they light up, it just changes colour depending on the state of the battery.

 

Indeed .. and it'll only go green if the battery is *charged*.

[davidwort 0]

those green indicators are shyte, they fail all the time when the batteries are perfect, my current Hella one has been telling me the battery is kaput for the last 2 years.

[colinstubbs 0]

Goota agree with davidwort there those indicators are not at all reliable.

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Had a mare of a day, I lost the warranty card somewhere on route, gurr. Anyway, I wondered in to Halfrauds, they were incredibly chirpy and welcolming. They said that following "extensive tests" he decided it had a faulty cell and have returned it. So they handed me a better new battery so I grabbed it and ran.... before they asked to see my warranty and reciept...

 

Not had chance to test it though as my car isn't ready as promised, so no Stanford Hall for me :cry: