Battery sulfating?

[Carnut]

I bought my PT Cruiser brand new in 2001, the OEM battery lasted 8yrs.

During that time the Cruiser didn't see a whole lot of driving, with 5 drivers none of my rides get driven much.

So, I have invested in some trickle charger/maintainers for some of my batteries and quick disconnects on a couple.

I replaced the PT Cruiser OEM batter last fall with an Autozone redtop battery specifically for the PT Cruiser. And then didn't drive it very much, eseentially leaving a charger/maintainer on it full time. Then in June of this year that battery went completely dead, it wouldn't take a charge of any sort from my industrial starter/charger after a couple of overnighters of trying.

So, I took it in and got a free replacement and installed it in my Cruiser and essentially let it sit with a charger/maintainer on it, only driving about once a month for a few miles.

So Friday, dead battery again. Again I do the charger fast charge, then slow charge overnighter and no go.

Back to Autozone and exchange for a new redtop battery.

This a real dead battery, not a bat cable problem, the cables are pristine. With charger hooked up electric to the car is great. With a charger on battery just a dead battery.

Have checked on the internet about trickle charger/maintainers and there seems to be some discussion with RV types about how to maintain batteries and the topic of sulfation comes up.

I've never heard of this problem before in regards to chargers.

Now I also have those maintainers on a couple of my other batteries and never have had a problem yet and those Batteries are more than a couple years old. I had that same maintainer on the Cruisers OEM battery for several years before it finally expired and I just presumed getting 8 yrs was about all I could expect.

So, anyone got comments on sulfation or Autozone batteries?

[wayne petty]

just curious...

what sort of voltage does your battery maintainer put out when its hooked up??/

have you verified that its actually working...

something around 12.7 to 13.2 volts... is where i would like it to be..

fast charging a deeply discharged battery will RUIN it...

slow charging at 17 volts at 0.25 AMPS. for several days.. if you have NOT tried to charge it... or boosted the car and let it run..

anything over that quarter amp will set the sulfate and harden the spikes and plates and prevent the battery from being recharged...

the high current from the alternator will damage a deeply discharged battery...

i have a current limiting power supply...   adjustable voltage and adjustable current ... so i set the voltage with the leads disconnected to 17 volts...  then clamp them and adjust the short circuit to 0.25 amps..

i then hook up the battery and walk away.... for a few days...



just a few thoughts....

[chimp koose]

There was an article in hot rod or car craft last month about charging those type of batteries. I dont remember how it is to be done but you can bring them back from the dead with a few simple steps and regular equipment.

[Carnut]

Ok, I just got the battery exchanged at Autozone.

Guess I'll see how long this one lasts.

I do hope I didn't kill the other 2.

Still don't understand how the OEM battery lasted 8 yrs under the same regimen and conditions.

I've decided to use a different trickle/maintainer on this new battery.

I'm using a Sears maintainer that claims in the literature that it has an automatic desulfate mode.

Hope it works better.

[wvcab]

we put 3 brand new autozone yellow batteries in 3 different cabs last october, since then everyone of them has died, one cab has had 3 different batteries, and the other 2 cabs have had 2 batteries each, all under warrantee. they (autozone) wheel their little test cart out and test the battery and the altenator, and everytime it says the battery is bad.  put a new battery in and everything tests ok.

i am believing they have crap batteries.