How To Make Your Car Battery Last Longer (7 Quick Tips)

Tired of battery problems and want to know How To Make Your Car Battery Last Longer? If so, read this article.

A car battery is to a car, as a heart is to a human body. Just like a heart, which keeps the body functioning, the car’s battery is what keeps the car running.

The electrical charges required to power every electrical component in your car come from the car battery. That’s some serious accountability. Your car won’t start without a battery.

Batteries serve several automobile tasks, including delivering the electricity required to start the vehicle. Batteries give your car the charge required to keep moving, from starting your automobile to charging your smartphone on the move.

Car batteries are also an essential element of every vehicle. That’s why it’s critical to understand when to replace your vehicle battery and what you can do to maximize its life.

The purpose of a car’s battery is to convert chemical energy into electrical energy. It delivers a large quantity of on-demand electricity to power up onboard electrical gadgets and lights and starts the engine. The battery also provides a backup power supply, even though the alternator provides most of the power.

However, the primary function of the automobile battery is to pull up the starting motor, allowing it to start the engine. Many factors influence car battery life, including weather, driving behavior, etc. But we all want our car batteries to last longer, so here are a few tips on how to make your car battery last longer.

7 Tips To Make Your Car Battery Last Longer

1. Go On Longer Trips

If you do a lot of in-town or city driving, these shorter journeys might harm your battery. After you start the engine, your alternator requires time to replenish your battery. If you drive for 10 or 20 minutes every trip, there isn’t sufficient time for the car’s battery to recharge. If a result, as people continue to do this, the voltage inside the battery will decrease. Consider taking longer excursions in your vehicle more frequently. It will help your car battery last longer.

2. Remember to Turn Off The Headlights

Forgetting to switch off your headlights or another light in your vehicle might harm your battery.

When the automobile engine is not working, leaving the headlights on will deplete your car’s battery. Depending on how long the headlights remain illuminated, you may return to a car with a charge that is insufficient to run the engine. When this happens repeatedly, the battery might sustain irreparable harm.

3. Avoid Using Electronic Accessories

When you insert your key into the ignition, your car battery ignites. This allows you to switch on your air conditioner, headlights, and radio before starting the engine.

However, do not switch on these accessories because they will be powered exclusively by your battery. Starting your engine before turning on these accessories is preferable since your alternator will deliver electricity to them rather than the batteries.

4. Check That Your Battery Is Firmly Attached Or Not

The vibrations caused by the battery can minimize the life of your automobile battery. Excessive vibrations may harm your battery’s internal component, cause short circuits and reduce battery life if it is not connected correctly. You must always use an approved battery grip to ensure it remains firmly attached.

But do not make the same blunder of overtightening the battery grip nut to the breaking point – as this might also cause harm to the battery! Instead, screw the nut until you sense resistance, and then resume for only a half turn further.

5. Maintain The Cleanliness Of Your Battery

Ensure your battery’s top is clean, dried, and free of dust and dirt. A dirty battery can discharge the dust on top of the shell, resulting in a short circuit and eventually flattening the battery.

Scrub the terminal using any toothbrush soaked in a solution of water and baking soda. Then, rinse the terminals using a plastic bottle filled with cold water and dry them well with a clean cloth. The battery terminal will also rust over time, so keeping them clean and free of corrosion is an excellent approach to increasing the life span of your automobile battery.

6. Try To Decrease Your Exposure To Heat

A common myth is that the winter season destroys automobile batteries; however, this is not precisely accurate. Batteries of cars have to work much harder to activate your vehicle during the winter season, but most have already failed, owing to the damage incurred during the past summer’s heat.

Extreme hot environments damage the batteries by changing the cell’s water speed and evaporation – even in closed-top car batteries.

7. Don’t Leave The Automobile Unused For Long Periods

As mentioned in several preceding paragraphs, one must fully charge the lead-acid automobile batteries at all times to protect them from harm. Every lead acid battery, regardless of manufacturer, will eventually lose charge over time, a process called self-discharge.’

At normal(room) temperature, a flooded lead acid battery will self-discharge at roughly 1%/day, 0.25%/day at 10°C (50°F), and 1.5%/day at 30°C (86°F). It is crucial to remember that excessive loads will also increase the speed of depletion. Therefore, if your vehicle is standing for more than a week without being used, you should connect a trickle charger to keep the battery in excellent condition. It will make Your Car Battery Last Longer

What Is The Average Lifespan Of A Car Battery?

Now that you know how to make your car battery last longer, let’s understand the average lifespan of a car battery.

Batteries have a strange and unknown lifespan. While some batteries give warning signs of impending failure, many do not. While we’d all want an array of signals that a battery failure is on the way, we all tend to avoid the initial signs and react quickly when the indications get worse. It’s vital to realize that no battery stays forever, but some factors can drastically shorten the life of your car’s battery, sometimes very fast. Whether you keep your car unused all year or drive it daily, you’ll need to change your battery at a certain time. The typical automotive battery life spans between three and five years. Even under ideal driving circumstances, pushing a battery for more than five years may lead it to fail without warning. As a result, several manufacturers propose a five-year replacement cycle.

Consider getting your battery examined every three to four years. Consider having it inspected at the change of seasons or every oil change. A mechanic shop can instantly test your battery and charging system as a part of car battery service to ensure that your battery is performing correctly and that the charging system is feeding the battery the power needed to keep it running.

What Shortens The Life Of A Car Battery?

A vehicle’s battery may typically last up to four or five years. However, several crucial elements influence the life of your battery. If you’re wondering why your car’s battery fails sooner than intended, there are a few possibilities.

Battery Size

Remember that to start a car’s engine, and your battery must get 200 amps of current flow. This may lead you to believe that it would be much better if your automobile had a more powerful battery, but this is not the case. When replacing a car’s battery, it is advisable to put a battery that is a good fit for your vehicle’s engine.

Moisture And Corrosion

When there is water in the engine bay, certain electric shorts develop. Corrosion occurs on some electrical connections and battery terminals as a result. If any of this happens, it can cause shorts and increased resistance, quickly draining your car’s battery. This is why frequent inspections and maintenance checks are required. An Auto mechanic may immediately repair the issue with your engines and batteries, preventing and limiting future damage.

Heavy Traffic

Heavy traffic can have some significant effects on the life of your car’s battery which are:

• Due to heavy traffic, you may use more equipment like air conditioners and radio, negatively affecting the battery.
• The engine’s modest speed reduces the efficiency of the alternator
• Reduced charging
• The heated engine bay temperatures may also shorten the life of the battery.

Abnormally Cold And Hot Weather

Low temperatures can highly impact the endurance of a car’s battery. In locations with lower temperatures, such as Baguio, the colder temperatures may slow down the chemical processes that provide electricity to the car’s battery. If your battery has failed and doesn’t work even after repair, it’s time to go for car battery replacement.

How Do You Keep A Car Battery From Dying When Not In Use?

The time a vehicle sits before its battery dies off completely is governed by the type of automobile you use. Still, you can take some steps to safeguard the battery’s health and keep it from becoming dead.

Turn Off The Security System

If you don’t use the vehicle for an extended period: If you have not been using your automobile lately and it is lying unused in your garage with a CCTV system, you must turn off the alarm and unhook any associated smartphones. Keeping it on will accelerate the depletion of your car’s battery.

Use A Trickle Charger Or Battery Conditioner

If you are not driving your car, battery trickle chargers or battery conditioners are fantastic for keeping your battery charged for an extended time.

Disconnect the Negative Battery Terminal

As previously indicated, several components in your vehicle, such as clocks, computers, and security alarms, continue to draw power from your car’s battery even when the car is not in use. You can disconnect the negative battery terminal to save your car battery.

Check For Corrosive Material

Under the hood, inspect the battery terminals for corrosion. Corrosive material accumulates around the battery terminals when a faulty connection causes battery acid to flow.

Conclusion

Caring for your automobile and its components is essential for a trouble-free existence. The car’s battery is a critical component of a car, and keeping it in the best working condition is necessary. A dead automobile battery causes inconvenience for everyone. In the blog, you understood tips and tricks on “How to make your car battery last longer?”

The life of a regular car battery is around four to five years. However, several significant factors can affect the lifespan of a car’s battery. For example, the battery size, weather conditions, and moisture/corrosion. Although if your car is kept unused for a long, it may reduce the battery’s life. To ensure that your battery is operating correctly and that the charging system provides the power it needs to remain operational, get your car serviced and check for your battery and charging system at a car battery service station.