Battery Purchase - oh not another thread on this topic !!

Submitted: Monday, Jan 02, 2012 at 18:40

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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,

Begaboy

Greetings guys , as usual i am due to buy a few batteries all at the same time - normal and deep cycle. ( car - caravan camping applications )

now not going to ask for best one for this or that application or brands blah blah blah - My question is about the battery you may purchase. How do we know if a battery we are buying has been sitting on a shelf for 2 - 4 years before we buy it ? every battery i have ever purchased already has acid in it(with exception of motor cycle batteries ) - so that tells me straight away the moment the acid has been added the battery is beginning to break down - now if its been sitting for some time on a shelf this battery may have its life shortened Dramatically -

Im i wrong to think this way ? as i am now in a small country town - batteries sold here may not have as quick a turn around( sales ) as it would in say sydney )

your thoughts ?

Boc

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Reply By: Ozhumvee - Monday, Jan 02, 2012 at 19:21

Monday, Jan 02, 2012 at 19:21

You may well find that being either the only one or maybe one of two retailers that the batteries actually turn over pretty quickly.
We live in a little place of approx pop of 2k inc surrounding district and the local tractor/cumcar dealer quite often has to get batteries in if they are not run of the mill generic sizes.
I've bought quite a few from All Purpose Batteries on ebay, great to deal with, good prices and ship very promptly.

AnswerID: 473894

Reply By: Member - Serendipity(WA) - Monday, Jan 02, 2012 at 19:52

Monday, Jan 02, 2012 at 19:52

I have read on Wikipedia that batteries are made with a date stamp like all tyres have a date stamp. I found this on 'http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_battery'

"Because of "sulfation", lead-acid batteries stored with electrolyte slowly deteriorate. Car batteries are date coded to ensure installation within one year of manufacture. In the United States, the manufacturing date is printed on a sticker. The date can be written in plain text or using an alphanumerical code. The first character is a letter that specifies the month (A for January, B for February and so on).[4] The letter "I" is skipped due to its potential to be mistaken for the number 1. The second character is a single digit that indicates the year of manufacturing (for example, 6 for 2006). When first installing a newly purchased battery a "top up" charge at a low rate with an external battery charger (available at auto parts stores) may maximize battery life and minimize the load on the vehicle charging system."

Cheers

Serendipity

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AnswerID: 473896

Reply By: Begaboy - Monday, Jan 02, 2012 at 19:56

Monday, Jan 02, 2012 at 19:56

In the last hour and some investigation - i did find this website - has some useful info on batteries of all types and what happens during storage ..

http://www.mpoweruk.com/life.htm

AnswerID: 473897

Reply By: Member - Michael and Chris (QL - Tuesday, Jan 03, 2012 at 09:00

Tuesday, Jan 03, 2012 at 09:00

Hi Begaboy, I use Cat batteries in all my machinery,trucks and my Patrol. When you purchase them they take them out the back and fill them with acid and engrave the purchase date into them. I also find the battery they make to be long lasting as they are designed to withstand vibration created by machines in the earthmoving industry. I have also found they are very good value as well. The only problem is that you can only buy them from a Caterpillar dealer. Cheers Mick

AnswerID: 473925