Vehicles & Servicing Best Posts in Thread: Car Battery

I find my car batteries on my Pajero here last 2 years sometime a tad longer. Motolite is a good brand here.

I always use AVM Batteries on the crossroads near Robinsons Mall.

 

These items are driven by the alternator while the engine is running, not the battery. The alternator creates a surplus of energy (watts) at a high potential (14.4 + volts) this surplus energy overflows the consumption (lights, etc.) and fills the battery. These items do not drain the battery.

There is an issue with "key off" current drain although it is different than you describe. Key off current drain increases the number of discharge cycles the battery experiences. A battery can only be discharged a limited number of times. This depends on the depth of discharge DOD. The deeper the DOD the lower the number of times it can be discharged.

It this case if the driver is driving 62 miles everyday, the battery is getting up to 100% SOC but the capacity of the battery is decreasing a little with every discharge/charge cycle.

The OP stated that they had a 3 year life from the battery. This is within the 3 - 5 year design life of a low cost battery.
https://www.power-sonic.com/blog/features-of-sealed-lead-acid-batteries/

 

True story here too. I just had to replace the battery of my 2018 Honda CR-V. A 3 year old battery and I drive 62 miles a day to work and back every day. I had just washed my car, went to start it to move it around to park it in the garage and the car wouldn't start. So I popped the hood, saw a little bit of corrosion on the terminal and cleaned it. got out my charger/jumper and started right up. Pulled it into the garage and left it running for a half hour. That night had to pick up my wife from work, another 62 round trip with no issues. Went out the next afternoon to go to work and would not start again. Dashboard flickering making all crazy sounds. Tow truck came, pushed me out of the garage, tried jumping the car, started right up. Went got a new battery, no issues since. Apparently there are new gel batteries that are an "improvement", but anything can cause them to go bad quickly. I was told be prepared to change batteries every three years, pretty much like I am having to change tires. Cost of the battery? $200 USD.

 

As absurd as it may sound, your driving habits can have a significant impact on your battery life. Generally, if you drive shorter trips the faster your battery’s condition will deteriorate. The thing is that every time you start your car, it requires a huge amount of electrical power from your battery. This will have to be replenished by your car’s charging system.

Now if you have very short commutes or even very frequent brief trips, you are actually not allowing your car battery to get fully charged. This leads to undercharging resulting in acid stratification. To put it simply, the more frequent and shorter trips you have, the more that you are not charging your battery very well. This leads to a very short battery life. So instead of looking at a 5-year battery life, you’re now potentially looking at 3 years max.

A trickle charger after returning home could improve your battery life.

 

The constantly warm temperatures here shorten the life of batteries.

Do you leave your car outside in the sun here? Was it in a garage in Texas?