Battery Life.................................................................

Submitted: Wednesday, Oct 15, 2008 at 18:34

ThreadID: 62571 Views:3404 Replies:6 FollowUps:5

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Battery Power

In this article we explain why you might need an additional power source independent of the starting battery installed into your vehicle and we look in detail at types of batteries,

Willem

Yes, bloody batteries again!!!

About August last year I had trouble with the Waeco fridge and did a post here to that affect. I got about 50 replies with a lot of different ideas and one of them was that I should look at updating the battery for a new one. This I did but the Waeco problem was still there (The Waeco was taken back for warranty work twice on the same issue and eventually repaired and is running well now. The problem had been a corrupted card of some sort)

The XTrail battery I removed was OME with no brand name and 4 years of age and so I stuck it in a plywood box, placed it next to the overflow drums to one of our rainwater tanks, connected a 12 volt pump to it and used it for bucket watering of the garden. In April I trickle charged the battery and it has not had anything done to it since.

Today I pumped around 250lts of water for the trees and the little pump is still buzzing away so the battery still has some life left in it.

I still have 2 x N70ZZ Overlanders in the garage which had been replaced earlier this year and maybe they can be kept running for a while too.

Cheers

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Reply By: Member - Mark G (NSW) - Wednesday, Oct 15, 2008 at 19:07

Wednesday, Oct 15, 2008 at 19:07

WILLEM

........a bit hard on the gear arn't ya mate? LOL.

AnswerID: 330039

Reply By: cheetah - Wednesday, Oct 15, 2008 at 19:18

Wednesday, Oct 15, 2008 at 19:18

Had a mate come to work one monday morning to find his grader had a flat battery. As he was gettin jump started we noticed the battery was 19 years old. yep 19. we thought it time he got a new one, he didnt. the battery went for another 3 years before he sold grader (with the battery in it). Hows that for battery life. Bloody good batteries them CAT ones.

AnswerID: 330043

Follow Up By: Member - Hughesy (NSW) - Thursday, Oct 16, 2008 at 08:04

Thursday, Oct 16, 2008 at 08:04

yeah I had a CAT battery in an old FJ45 that I bought once. The regulator was stuffed in it and it used to boil the battery. It took me about 6 months before I replaced the regulator and all I did was top the water up occasionally. Battery never even looked like dying and I sold it with the abttery still in it.

I asked a Cat dealer about one for my HZJ105 but they told me they don't have any with the terminals in the right spot that are low enough not to hit on the bonnet - bummer!!!!

Isn't it funny how the "no name" factory batteries that new cars come with seem to last 4-5 yrs but as soon as you buy a replacement one they are flat out lasting 2 yrs???!!!!

FollowupID: 597599

Reply By: Member - Phil S (WA) - Wednesday, Oct 15, 2008 at 19:42

Wednesday, Oct 15, 2008 at 19:42

hey Willem,i have just posted a message about my Waeco that is giving drama after only 6 weeks.so what was the problem with yours.Warranty is one thing but when u r on the road it is rather inconvienient especially when ur fridge is down. regards phil

AnswerID: 330048

Follow Up By: Willem - Wednesday, Oct 15, 2008 at 19:58

Wednesday, Oct 15, 2008 at 19:58

Phil

As stated above the 40l Waeco had a defective card in it and used to flash the ERROR light and not cool down. This was after using it for 14 months without problems. The first warranty job wasn't successful as the problem re-ocurred. The repairer told me that Waeco explained that they had installed a defective lot of starter cards supplied to them. Now the Waeco runs well. It is only used in our runabout(Xtrail) and on a recent trip to Alice Springs performed well. I have a 5yo 32lt Engel and Twozone in my GQ Patrol and a 23yo Engel which lives in the shed as a drinks fridge.

Cheers

FollowupID: 597530

Reply By: Member - Axle - Wednesday, Oct 15, 2008 at 20:48

Wednesday, Oct 15, 2008 at 20:48

G/day Willem, Stop worrying mate!! Pensioners just got a big hand out, all your breakdowns and repair issues are now taken care of!!.....hahahahaha.

Cheers Axle.

AnswerID: 330064

Reply By: Member - Paul W (VIC) - Wednesday, Oct 15, 2008 at 20:54

Wednesday, Oct 15, 2008 at 20:54

Just after i bought my 100 in 2003 i replaced the 2 OEM starters with 2 optimas and threw the 2 OEM ones under the saw bench where they sat for 4 years, they had been charged and used to start my neighbours truck on one occassion some years earlier but that was it. when i cleaned up i decided to chuck them out and checked out of curiosity how they held charge, one had 12.7 and the other had 12.6v still in them. took them to my auto lec mate and load tested them and both passed. just shows how good jap made ones are.

AnswerID: 330066

Follow Up By: Member - Kiwi Kia - Thursday, Oct 16, 2008 at 07:31

Thursday, Oct 16, 2008 at 07:31

Hi Paul, And are the Optimas still ok ?

FollowupID: 597594

Follow Up By: Member - Paul W (VIC) - Thursday, Oct 16, 2008 at 19:41

Thursday, Oct 16, 2008 at 19:41

yep both are in good nick,only once in 5.5 years have i jump started it (prior to owning a 4 stage charger) as it sat for 7 months not being used. now use it a bit more regularly.

FollowupID: 597716

Reply By: Member No 1- Thursday, Oct 16, 2008 at 08:00

Thursday, Oct 16, 2008 at 08:00

makes mine look like crap
In jan 08 went to BL (auto elec) and got a new battery for standalone carrier (as existing being only 12months old cooked when i put it on smart charger)....any way i had only used this one for three days fishing keeping the freezer cold with it being charged up each evening from the genny.

went to use it a couple weeks ago and it wouldnt charge up....
this short life problem has now occured 3 times (with same name batteries) from same BIL..... so got another new one from him...different type this time and of course under warranty..... again

excide was the name...... i'll see how this new one goes

AnswerID: 330104