Have you ever been in a tight fix when your starter battery packs up, after just serving for two years and its replacement follows the same pattern of annoyance, leaving you stranded and fed up simultaneously?
For many years, this was me: none of my starter batteries ever crossed the two-year mark – irrespective of brand bought, vehicle used in or where such a battery was bought.
I read stories of how folks effortlessly got five years out of their starter batteries and for the truly great brands, even upwards of seven years.
I wondered: when will this ever happen to me?
All that changed when I took time to study starter batteries and what goes into making a starter battery last as long as possible.
Shared below is what I learned; it can easily make the difference between a battery that clocks out at the two-year mark and another that brilliantly holds its own up to five years and above of regular, daily use.
Table of Contents
How to Easily Help Your Car’s Starter Battery Last Longer
Here are five tips that will easily see your new starter battery lasting longer than you’ve ever expected:
1. Buy Fresh
Few things compare to fresh bread, hot from the oven. Strange as this analogy appears in this context, it’s the case with batteries, especially starter batteries powered by lead-acid technology.
Uncharged, starter batteries lose about five percent of their charge every month on the shelves; unsorted, this can spell doom in the long run, in a battery damage process called sulfation.
If you’re unlucky enough to buy such a battery, it won’t serve you beyond the customary two to three years before it packs up, due to the damage it had experienced before you bought it.
This is why I strongly recommend that you take a battery tester along when you’re interested in replacing your starter battery. A good battery tester will let you see the battery’s health at the time of purchase, ultimately assisting you in making the purchase.
That you buy a battery tester and ultimately use it when battery hunting should be a given. However, if you elect not to buy one, be certain that the source of your starter battery is as fresh as can be.
2. Keep Your Battery Charged
Closely related to the point above is a straightforward one: keep your starter battery charged, all the time.
Sometimes, this isn’t possible – but, that’s where a trickle battery charger comes in. If you’re not using your vehicle for a few weeks, simply hook on the trickle charger to make sure that your starter battery’s health is protected via the trickle charger, whose only job is to make sure that your battery’s charge is maintained when your car isn’t in use.
If you’re driving the vehicle on a regular or semi-regular basis, this, usually, isn’t a challenge; the alternator does all the heavy lifting when you power your engine and just drive around, conducting your business.
The idea of keeping your starter battery charged at all times is linked to both the point immediately above and immediately following – they’re all geared to resist battery damage, especially, sulfation.
3. Understand (and Respect) DoD
There are a lot of vehicle owners who thoroughly abuse their vehicle’s starter batteries – without an atom of clue about the harm they actively cause.
Such folks blast away (not play) music off their car speakers for hours (sometimes overnight) with the engine switched off and the starter battery not getting any charge.
This appears like fun and for a battery that still starts the car after all that music blasting, the verdict is usually that such a battery is ‘a strong battery’ or that the car ‘is a good car’.
But, is that the case?
Lead acid starter batteries (the common battery type in most passenger vehicles today) has a DoD (Depth of Discharge) of about 50%.
What this means is simple: the starter battery is designed to simply start the vehicle and begin the process of ‘recouping’ the lost energy – not running appliances when not actively charging (that’s what deep cycle batteries are for).
Doing this repeatedly can lead to sulfation, plate damage, electrolyte imbalance, and ultimately, a shorter-than-usual lifespan.
Curiously, using a parked vehicle as a ‘charging hub’, especially repeatedly and over some time, also produces similar effects.
This is something you should avoid like the plague, if you plan on keeping your starter battery for any length of time.
4. Keep Your Battery Secured In
When new cars roll off the assembly line, their starter batteries are securely fastened in with a battery tie down, and to this, there’s no exception.
The reason for this is simple: batteries, especially lead acid battery types do NOT like vibrations very much.
With bad roads, bumps, and possibly, even accidents, the starter battery takes a lot of abuse while in use…but, what it doesn’t need to take is unnecessary up and down bumps that the lack of a tie-down ensures.
To avoid cell damage and pulling out service life from your starter battery, always make sure that not only is your starter battery tied down but it’s firmly tied down.
This costs NOTHING (assuming you haven’t lost the tie-down bracket already). However, the years it will undoubtedly add to your starter battery and the peace of mind overall are well worth it.
5. Control Weather Extremes
Weather extremes: extreme cold and extreme heat are two things that your starter battery doesn’t appreciate.
Extreme cold reduces the battery’s ability to provide power by decreasing its cranking power. This happens when the cold, acting on the electrolytes and plates in the internals of the battery slows down the chemical reaction times.
Extreme heat on the other hand leads starter batteries to lose electrolytes/acid more quickly, leading to permanent damage on sealed, maintenance-free battery types. Sometimes too, expansion can easily take place, leaking to leakage and eventually, early failure.
If you live in any location with weather extremes, it’s best to protect your battery from the elements as best as you can.
For instance, if you live close to the North Pole, parking your vehicle in a garage overnight will do your starter battery more good than simply leaving snow to deal a heavy blow on your car, outside, day after day.
Conversely, if you live in the tropics, avoid leaving your vehicle parked under the hot sun for any amount of time, if you can…always park in a cool, dry place, preferably under the generous shade of trees that abound in these parts.
Summary
Provided you get an original starter battery, getting five years (or more) out of it shouldn’t be any challenge, provided:
- You buy the battery immediately after it’s manufactured.
- You keep it charged all the time.
- You NEVER allow the battery to drain beyond its stated DoD.
- You always keep it secured in and
- You don’t expose it to weather extremes.
This five-point checklist can easily be the difference between a starter battery that lasts barely two years and another that confidently hits the five-year mark and is bracing to hit the tenth.
Good luck.
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Throttle Lan
DIY Mechanic and Freelance Auto Writer