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Well after a fine weekend and no troubles, came to start car yesterday evening and completely dead.
Jump started and took it for a decent run out.
Alarm set for 5:30am this morning and car turned over before dying.

What batteries have you guys got and what do you recommend?

Thanks,
Nick.

How often do you use your car?

I don't use mine that often, and the cold weather means the uses more power on start up.

I have used Bosch batteries in my cars which work well.

I also use one of these which keeps them topped up. Definitely worth getting. Has served me well over the years, and on sale now.

http://www.halfords.com/motoring/bulbs- ... ry-charger

Daily without fail! And usually a decent weekend run.
Had a few sluggish starts a couple of months ago and never since.

I've got a big ass Varta one - same spec as OE but probably half the price. Think I bought it from a camping/caravan battery website

Varta Silver. It's been flattened 3 times and revived with a CTEK MXS 5.0 in recon mode. The Varta is still going strong and it holds charge longer, the OEM Bosch just isn't as good and it's 18months younger than the Varta.

^^ Varta Silver FTW!!1

see if you can see any labels on your battery which might say what year and month it was built , if its original battery , its at least 10 years old now so its fooked anyway

A new battery is only around £120 so might be worth just firing a new one in. Check your charging is ok too.
Oooo yeah, go for Varta as said above.

I paid 95 bucks, including delivery from Battery Megastore on Spamazon. Search for I1 - Varta Silver Dynamic Car Battery (020) and you'll find it.

Thought it was very reasonable TBH, and arrived within 2 days.

Varta VA0 DE 000 915 105 AK

What's the voltmeter on the dash showing while you're driving?

EcurieEcosse wrote:I don't use mine that often, and the cold weather means the uses more power on start up.

Being pedantic, but the cold weather doesn't use more power, it simply slows the chemical reaction in the battery making less amps available.
The charge is still there and if you warm the battery up then it'll burst into life (granted, not very practical).
Ironically, a cold battery also has a longer standby time - it loses charge slower.

Problem is once a battery drops below a certain level, small crystal form on the metal plates which further reduce the charge capacity.
A decent conditioner should be able to restore many batteries back to operational life. Although as said previously if approaching 10 years then probably worth investing in a new one.

When was the alternator done?

bam_bam wrote:When was the alternator done?

Rule 42?
Mine's gone way past 3 years so i reckon it's waiting for the most inopportune time to give up lol

adsgreen wrote: The charge is still there and if you warm the battery up then it'll burst into life (granted, not very practical).

Ha! That brings back memories of taking a battery out of an old snow-covered renault and warming it up in front of the fire for an hour. Worked a treat.