The most important characteristic of a car battery is its ability to hold charge as there is nothing worse than going to start your car and finding that the battery is flat.
With car batteries the general rule is that prevention is better than cure as you never know where you might be when your battery goes flat.
The key to preventing battery flatness is two things, firstly being aware of the batteries charge by reading the gauge and secondly by using a car battery charger to top up the charge on a battery if you know you won't be using the car for a while.
Most car batteries have a gauge on them which shows you how much charge the battery is holding at a given time, this gauge should always be full and if it isn't it could either mean that your battery is lacking water or that there are lead sulfate crystals on the lead plates inside your battery which have bonded tightly.
If water levels in a car battery drop it means that the concentration of sulfuric acid will rise making it harder for crystals to dissolve back into the liquid and therefore harder for the battery to hold charge.
If the water levels are correct then the only way of returning charge to normal levels will be by taking they battery out of the car and giving it a slow (preferably overnight) charge with a trickle charger.
If topping up water levels and deep charging the battery does not led to a return in charge levels then it unfortunately means that the lead plates within have been damaged beyond repair.
As mentioned earlier if you know that you aren't going to be using your car for a period of more than a month it's a good idea to get out your car battery charger and top up the charge on your battery.
The reason why this is important is that anything other than full charge means that there are lead sulfate crystals on the lead plates inside your battery, leaving these here for a long period of time will strengthen the bond and eventually it will become unbreakable meaning your car battery will never be able to hold full charge again.
With car batteries the general rule is that prevention is better than cure as you never know where you might be when your battery goes flat.
The key to preventing battery flatness is two things, firstly being aware of the batteries charge by reading the gauge and secondly by using a car battery charger to top up the charge on a battery if you know you won't be using the car for a while.
Most car batteries have a gauge on them which shows you how much charge the battery is holding at a given time, this gauge should always be full and if it isn't it could either mean that your battery is lacking water or that there are lead sulfate crystals on the lead plates inside your battery which have bonded tightly.
If water levels in a car battery drop it means that the concentration of sulfuric acid will rise making it harder for crystals to dissolve back into the liquid and therefore harder for the battery to hold charge.
If the water levels are correct then the only way of returning charge to normal levels will be by taking they battery out of the car and giving it a slow (preferably overnight) charge with a trickle charger.
If topping up water levels and deep charging the battery does not led to a return in charge levels then it unfortunately means that the lead plates within have been damaged beyond repair.
As mentioned earlier if you know that you aren't going to be using your car for a period of more than a month it's a good idea to get out your car battery charger and top up the charge on your battery.
The reason why this is important is that anything other than full charge means that there are lead sulfate crystals on the lead plates inside your battery, leaving these here for a long period of time will strengthen the bond and eventually it will become unbreakable meaning your car battery will never be able to hold full charge again.