Car Battery - Varta versus Amaron

[Discoburg]

On 6/18/2021 at 12:03 AM, Mkl22 said:

Must be Malaysian mech. Bad advice from them with regardless to this way of changing batts. 

Most car battery shop mechs do it that way.🙁

[Mkl22]

3 hours ago, Discoburg said:

Most car battery shop mechs do it that way.🙁

i can only say, you will get their typical response as "I do so many time nothing wrong one, must be your car not good!" should anything go wrong. if its just the fuse, then lesson learnt. if its the ECU or any other onboard CPU, do you think he will pay for it?

reputable workshops will never do it this way, cause i'm sure they have had their fair share of mopping up and sorting out the replacement of ECU from these hack jobs.

Just read from a chat group for merc w124 that one mechanic fried a ECU module by replacing the battery this way. lucky the owner had a spare used one. the ECU is rather rare in the market.

Edited June 19, 2021 by Mkl22

[Blueray]

i reckon usage pattern plays a part too.

in my friend's case, frequent short trips and power doors (MPV), battery goes flat at 18 months.

so now he just changes battery every 15 months. 

[Kb27]

10 hours ago, awhtc said:

So far so good - touchwood.  Anyway, I did not know this was not the safest method then.

It's not a good way.

Alternator is a lot of coil windings, equals high inductance (L) that can cause surge during connection and disconnection. It's called transient surge, and voltage that is normally 14V can go very high. Transient can damage electronics. Major electronics in the car are the expensive ECUs.

Battery soaked up the transient, it's like a giant capacitor (C). When you remove the battery, while the alternator is running, there's that surge.

[inlinesix]

1 hour ago, Blueray said:

i reckon usage pattern plays a part too.

in my friend's case, frequent short trips and power doors (MPV), battery goes flat at 18 months.

so now he just changes battery every 15 months. 

Get WS to check during service.

My car has a brake fluid reminder of 24 months after it was reset.

By 24th month, brake fluid is looking good using brake fluid checker

[Blueray]

1 hour ago, inlinesix said:

Get WS to check during service.

My car has a brake fluid reminder of 24 months after it was reset.

By 24th month, brake fluid is looking good using brake fluid checker

he had a flat battery once at 18th month mark, heng it was at home.

so he decided not worth the hassle and stress from a flat battery, just change every 15 months. 

[Fcw75]

On 6/8/2021 at 10:55 AM, awhtc said:

I have developed a car battery dying phobia after a few expensive and inconvenient incidents 😟  Anyway, the car battery is a spare and will eventually be used once the current one dies.  I can really wait until it almost dies via battery testing then immediately switch over instead of pre-maturely changing it.

 

I have just checked the Bosch battery prices and I think the sellers here are pricing them at another higher level from Varta batteries 🙄

 

Frankly, dead battery in SIngapore is a small issue. Help will come easily, just a bit inconvenient. 

Imagine kenna a dead battery at a rest stop on Canada highway in winter. I kenna before, I was so grateful that a lady motorist stopped to help me jumpstart my car and she had the jumpstart cable in her car. 

[awhtc]

I used the newly arrived battery tester on my recently installed car battery.

Some images to share on the quick test results.  The battery tester is quite simple to use and the user interface is very clear.

[Fcw75]

6 minutes ago, awhtc said:

I used the newly arrived battery tester on my recently installed car battery.

Some images to share on the quick test results.  The battery tester is quite simple to use and the user interface is very clear.

Looks good. How muchie and from where?

[Volvobrick]

I have already invested in a lithium jump starter. Do no need to check battery health. If needs to jump-start every few days, then it's time to replace the battery. On average every 3 years perhaps. 

[awhtc]

@Fcw75 It is $41+ from Shopee.

 

 

[awhtc]

@Volvobrick My strategy is to just change to a new car battery if the battery tester shows that the battery is wearing down.  I will skip the jump-start part as I think it is bad for the car's electrical system and electronics.  From my experience, a very weak battery will not be able to jump-start and I will still need to change to a new battery anyway.  The lithium-ion jump-starter is also a fire hazard in the car.

[Kb27]

36 minutes ago, awhtc said:

@Volvobrick My strategy is to just change to a new car battery if the battery tester shows that the battery is wearing down.  I will skip the jump-start part as I think it is bad for the car's electrical system and electronics.  From my experience, a very weak battery will not be able to jump-start and I will still need to change to a new battery anyway.  The lithium-ion jump-starter is also a fire hazard in the car.

In Sg, after one year, most batteries will start to show significant damage. Check the CCA at that time and every few months. If it drops below 75% of the spec (in your case 632A), you should consider changing it out.

Also, check the CCA only when the battery is fully charged, 12.6~12.7V, SOC is 100%. If it's drained/discharged, CCA will read much lower and give you a "false" reading.

Edited June 30, 2021 by Kb27

[Discoburg]

On 6/30/2021 at 12:35 PM, awhtc said:

I used the newly arrived battery tester on my recently installed car battery.

Some images to share on the quick test results.  The battery tester is quite simple to use and the user interface is very clear.

Can test on my car batt?

[Mkl22]

1 hour ago, Discoburg said:

Can test on my car batt?

I can test for you. For a small fee! Hahahaha. Joking. 

[Mkl22]

On 6/30/2021 at 1:53 PM, Kb27 said:

In Sg, after one year, most batteries will start to show significant damage. Check the CCA at that time and every few months. If it drops below 75% of the spec (in your case 632A), you should consider changing it out.

Also, check the CCA only when the battery is fully charged, 12.6~12.7V, SOC is 100%. If it's drained/discharged, CCA will read much lower and give you a "false" reading.

I would also chart the internal resistance. Gives a good idea of how the battery is degenerating over time. 
I would say maybe from new you just need to check every 3mths. And then after the battery is 1 year old, monthly check by the tester and track both SOH and internal resistance. Should be more than enough to give an idea of the lifespan of the battery. 

[Watwheels]

Might as well get a battery monitor and permanently connected to the battery. Less than $40 bucks. Then you can stare at the figures and chart all the time on your mobile phone. Only consume 1mA power. Wont drain your battery.

https://www.lazada.sg/products/ancel-bm300-12v-car-battery-tester-bluetooth-car-motorcycles-battery-monitor-with-electric-charging-cranking-test-voltage-test-alert-battery-analyzer-for-android-ios-device-i1199770062-s4814358248.html?spm=a2o42.searchlist.list.17.4db94c2faekOnV&search=1&freeshipping=1

Edited July 2, 2021 by Watwheels

[awhtc]

2 hours ago, Discoburg said:

Can test on my car batt?

The meter should work on almost all car batteries as the battery options are very wide in its menu.

If you are referring to helping you to test, it will be quite a hassle to arrange for a periodic meet-up and driving over to test for a few minutes.

Hence, I suggest you get a meter yourself to periodically check on your car battery, and it is only $41+ 😃