New battery or not?

[Merlot]

My battery slowly 'died' last May, starting with a slower turnover when starting to eventually not starting the car at all. I charged it using a Halfords charger (Which I have since read was a bad thing!) and it worked OK for a couple of weeks and then died again.

This would be a cycle for a couple of months - ie, Halfords charge = 2 weeks or so use.

Eventually, whilst on holiday with the car in July the Halfords charger would fail to charge the battery enough. For the remainder of the holiday I used a 'booster pack' in order to start the car. I continued to do this when I got back (As I intended taking the car off the road, seemed silly to buy a new battery for 4 weeks use then 6 months laid up!).

The car is currently laid up but will be back on the road in 2 months. Do you think I can save the current Panasonic battery by getting a proper Optimate 4 charger, or will I need a new Westco battery?

[lewis1]

Merlot,
Couple of things to check, is the alternator actually charging as if you were using the daily it should provide sufficient charge to start the car the following day.

Is there anything that may drain the battery i.e alarm system, boot light that is on all time.

If you go to an independant garage or one of the larger tyre retailers with the battery fully charged they should be able to perform a "drop test" which will tell you the batteries condition.

If you are going to leave the car unused for long periods it may be worth investing in a battery conditioner which consatntly checks the battery and charges as necessary I've even seen solar powered versions for boats and caravans.

One thing to remember is that the standard battery is of low capacity, a couple of weeks ago I left a door slightly open and the interior lights were on, the battery was flat within 4 hours.

[Merlot]

lewis1 said:

Merlot,
Couple of things to check, is the alternator actually charging as if you were using the daily it should provide sufficient charge to start the car the following day.

Is there anything that may drain the battery i.e alarm system, boot light that is on all time.

If you go to an independant garage or one of the larger tyre retailers with the battery fully charged they should be able to perform a "drop test" which will tell you the batteries condition.

If you are going to leave the car unused for long periods it may be worth investing in a battery conditioner which consatntly checks the battery and charges as necessary I've even seen solar powered versions for boats and caravans.

One thing to remember is that the standard battery is of low capacity, a couple of weeks ago I left a door slightly open and the interior lights were on, the battery was flat within 4 hours.

Sorry, the car is not a daily driver by any means. When it was on the road it was out 2 or 3 times a week tops so probably not enough to keep the battery charged.

I have ordered an Optimate 4 to see if I can rescue it and another battery I have (Motorcycle). If not I'll need a new one. Worth a go!

[MX-5 Lazza]

2 or 3 times a week should be plenty to keep the battery charged. Mine is used less than once a week and always starts fine. Take it to a tyre/battery place and ask them to check the battery & charging system.
By the way, I use a halfords battery charger on my Westco. It has a slow charge option for gel batteries.

[Merlot]

MX-5 Lazza said:

2 or 3 times a week should be plenty to keep the battery charged. Mine is used less than once a week and always starts fine. Take it to a tyre/battery place and ask them to check the battery & charging system.
By the way, I use a halfords battery charger on my Westco. It has a slow charge option for gel batteries.

According to Westco, Halfords battery chargers shouldn't be used - although mine has exactly the same 'slow charge' option. With both the Westco and my motorcycle battery (which worked perfectly until stood for 4 weeks) it will 'charge' for about 10 minutes and then say fully charged, when it clearly isn't.

Will let you know how I get on with the Optimate. If it doesn't work I'll flog it on eBay, but worth a go before I shell out £125 on batteries!

http://www.accumate.co.uk/it010003.htm

[MX-5 Lazza]

Then Westco are talking rubbish. There isn't "A Halfords Battery Charger". When I bought mine I had a choice of 4 or 5 different types. The one I bought has a setting for gel & glass mat batteries so is absolutely fine for the Westco, I've had to use it twice.
You should be aware though that the gel battery setting is a very slow trickle charge. It has to be left on charge all weekend to get anything near a full charge. If yours says it's fully charged after 10 mind either it's the wrong sort of charger or the battery is shagged.

Edited by MX-5 Lazza on Sunday 1st February 15:07

[Merlot]

MX-5 Lazza said:

or the battery is shagged.

Quite possibly! But it would be odd for both my MX5 battery and motorcycle battery to both do this on the same charger and both be completely dead when the motorcycle battery was working fine until it was stood for 4 weeks.

The charger I have has the gel setting for slow charge as you describe.

[maz8062]

Sounds like a dead battery to me mate. The RAC man once said that a car needs to be charged, on the car, for at least 45 minutes a week. If your car is losing charge whilst on a holiday trip that more than likely means it is not retaining it's charge or, there could be a drain on the charge.

If you've had the car for awhile and not changed the battery, it is more than likely the culprit.

[MX-5 Lazza]

maz8062 said:

If you've had the car for awhile and not changed the battery, it is more than likely the culprit.

He says its a Panasonic so probably the original battery.

[Merlot]

Update:

Hooked the battery up to the Optimate this morning, and according to my decoding of the LED readout it reckons that the battery is still good, accepting charge and didn't need any of the Optimate's special salvaging abilities.

Proof will be in the pudding I guess.

PS. Yes it is original, so my gut feeling is that it needs replacing.

[Merlot]

Well... good news! The Optimate 4 succesfully recovered the Panasonic battery after a 28 hour slow charge and about an hour of testing. Popped it in the '5 and it started first time with no hesitation (first time the car has been started in about 8 weeks too..)

Next step is to see if it'll retain the charge.

So to anyone considering one... go for it. I got mine for £37.40 from a motorcycle shop on eBay with free delivery.

[maz8062]

Merlot said:

Well... good news! The Optimate 4 succesfully recovered the Panasonic battery after a 28 hour slow charge and about an hour of testing. Popped it in the '5 and it started first time with no hesitation (first time the car has been started in about 8 weeks too..)

Next step is to see if it'll retain the charge.

So to anyone considering one... go for it. I got mine for £37.40 from a motorcycle shop on eBay with free delivery.

I really do hope it works for you mate, but I honestly cant see the point. It seems like a false economy to me - £37.40 for a battery recovery thingy when a new battery, with a 3 year guarantee costs £70 or so. Surely it would have made more sense to buy a new battery and be done with it for at least 3 years.

Oh well, as I said, I hope it works out for you - honestly

[tybo]

Merlot said:

Well... good news! The Optimate 4 succesfully recovered the Panasonic battery after a 28 hour slow charge and about an hour of testing. Popped it in the '5 and it started first time with no hesitation (first time the car has been started in about 8 weeks too..)

Next step is to see if it'll retain the charge.

So to anyone considering one... go for it. I got mine for £37.40 from a motorcycle shop on eBay with free delivery.

Got one of these delivered yesterday, so mine's on charge at the moment.

Paid £50 for mine though, from MX5 parts

[Merlot]

maz8062 said:

Merlot said:

Well... good news! The Optimate 4 succesfully recovered the Panasonic battery after a 28 hour slow charge and about an hour of testing. Popped it in the '5 and it started first time with no hesitation (first time the car has been started in about 8 weeks too..)

Next step is to see if it'll retain the charge.

So to anyone considering one... go for it. I got mine for £37.40 from a motorcycle shop on eBay with free delivery.

I really do hope it works for you mate, but I honestly cant see the point. It seems like a false economy to me - £37.40 for a battery recovery thingy when a new battery, with a 3 year guarantee costs £70 or so. Surely it would have made more sense to buy a new battery and be done with it for at least 3 years.

Oh well, as I said, I hope it works out for you - honestly

Not really, I only use the car 6 months of the year (garage queen!) so it can 'Optimise' the battery during the other 6 months so it doesn't go flat.

Plus I have motorcycles which can go for weeks without being used resulting in dead batteries. As it is, I have 3 flat batteries that won't charge on my Halfords charger so I needed a decent charger/optimiser anyway as another 2 m/c batteries would be £60, plus £85 for the MX5 battery.

[MX-5 Lazza]

My Halfords charger only cost me about £25 and seems to do almost exactly the same stuff. No battery testing but it does rapid charge, slow charge, gel battery trickle charge and battery maintenance/conditioning (i.e. you can just leave it on to keep the battery in tip-top condition).
When I left my interior lights on for a week and flattened the battery I put it on charge using my Halfords charger. After a couple of hours it switched to maintenance mode. I left it charging for another 24 hours or so and it started perfectly.

[Merlot]

MX-5 Lazza said:

My Halfords charger only cost me about £25 and seems to do almost exactly the same stuff. No battery testing but it does rapid charge, slow charge, gel battery trickle charge and battery maintenance/conditioning (i.e. you can just leave it on to keep the battery in tip-top condition).
When I left my interior lights on for a week and flattened the battery I put it on charge using my Halfords charger. After a couple of hours it switched to maintenance mode. I left it charging for another 24 hours or so and it started perfectly.

I have a Halfords one (as mentioned earlier), but it won't work with my motorcycle batteries and the Panasonic MX5 one as it reports that the battery is charged when in fact it is not. Not sure why it does this, as it works perfectly with the battery from my Volvo T5 and my mates Z28 Camaro!

The model is KAH 1211AM and it says it is suitable for all Sealed batteries inc. Gel type.

[MX-5 Lazza]

Mine has 2 switches, one for Standard/Sealed and the other for bike/other.
It says something along the lines of Suitable for all battery types including Gel on the front.
It detects the type of battery and adjust the charging rate accordingly.
No idea if yours is the same as mine but it seems to work differently.

[Merlot]

MX-5 Lazza said:

Mine has 2 switches, one for Standard/Sealed and the other for bike/other.
It says something along the lines of Suitable for all battery types including Gel on the front.
It detects the type of battery and adjust the charging rate accordingly.
No idea if yours is the same as mine but it seems to work differently.

Exactly the same. Maybe mine is broken. Works on normal lead acid batteries though.

[MX-5 Lazza]

Merlot said:

MX-5 Lazza said:

Mine has 2 switches, one for Standard/Sealed and the other for bike/other.
It says something along the lines of Suitable for all battery types including Gel on the front.
It detects the type of battery and adjust the charging rate accordingly.
No idea if yours is the same as mine but it seems to work differently.

Exactly the same. Maybe mine is broken. Works on normal lead acid batteries though.

How long did you leave it charging? It needs to be on "maintenance" mode for at least 12, preferably 24 hours or more.