Why is it that the car battery will fail when you are late for a meeting or dead tired after working two shifts, and want to fly home? Because you fail to care for it properly. 90-95% car battery failures are due to non-maintenance and poor driving. So it’s time you learned the most common reasons for battery failure, which you can take care of easily.
Fully Discharged
The most common reason for battery failure is the battery being discharged completely. Remember that the battery gets charged while running. So you can never drive it to discharge. If you leave car lights on overnight or keep it idling in long traffic jams, it can kill your battery completely. You will need to get it charged externally to get it up again.
High Temperature
Battery power deteriorates with high temperatures. If you live in a hot climate, your battery can get overheated and fail completely more frequently. Remember that the underhood temperature of a car is 5-7 degrees higher than the surroundings.
Loss of Water
Like us, a battery needs water for its proper functioning. Even in normal temperature conditions battery loses water, and more so in hotter conditions. So you need to top up your battery frequently with distilled water.
Battery Sulfation
If lead-acid batteries are not fully charged periodically, a thin layer starts forming over the lead plate due to sulfation. Sulfation increases internal resistance of the battery, reduces its power storage capacity and eventually leads to battery failure. This problem normally occurs when the car sits in one place without being used for a long time or runs for short distances without giving the battery a chance to get charged completely.
Alternator Failure
Alternator is the device used to charge the car battery. Alternators also facilitate supply of electrical power to car systems when the car is running. So, a car battery can function properly only when its alternator operates correctly. You need to get the alternator checked periodically to ensure smooth working of your battery.
After reading this, you must be feeling more confident about being in control of not just the car but its battery operations as well.
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