Sealed 12v batteries that are drained too low - shoot me down?

[Jev88]

Hi all.
I read regularly in the forum's that if your 12V battery is allowed to go too flat it is useless (ordinary lead acid) and should be thrown away?

Over the last 6 Months I have followed this advice on a large 019 engine battery, a smaller 063 battery and a 100ah Leisure battery (MH, van and son's car)..... Except I kept all of them and put them on my ancient (but stepping) battery charger over 48 hours. All batteries holding Good charge and stable when left for a week in my cold garage at home.
So why the advice that any battery going below 12V should be regarded as ruined?

Genuine question.
I was happy to replace the leisure battery as unknown age and the 063 only cost £36 from local dealer.

 

[Jim]

All batteries are not equal, so it's hard to say. I used to use some ancient car batteries to power an electric net to protect chickens. They would be out on the frozen ground in Welsh winters and only get swapped when they were totally flat. I had a good reconditioner charger and these batteries would swap a week about and did it happily for years.

 

[chaser]

Hi all.
I read regularly in the forum's that if your 12V battery is allowed to go too flat it is useless (ordinary lead acid) and should be thrown away?

Over the last 6 Months I have followed this advice on a large 019 engine battery, a smaller 063 battery and a 100ah Leisure battery (MH, van and son's car)..... Except I kept all of them and put them on my ancient (but stepping) battery charger over 48 hours. All batteries holding Good charge and stable when left for a week in my cold garage at home.
So why the advice that any battery going below 12V should be regarded as ruined?

Genuine question.
I was happy to replace the leisure battery as unknown age and the 063 only cost £36 from local dealer.

Never like to argue with people who know about these things, but we have14 tractors that are all powered by batteries that have been totally flat many times , and some are what other people have chucked out because they have been told they are buggered because they have been flat.
Our present ambulance conversion was totally flat when we went to look at it , been standing over a winter, got it going with one of those jump charger things and we are still running on it two years later.
Edit running on the battery that was flat not the charger thing.

 

[andy63]

Genuine question

I think we are all agreed that lead acid technology likes as shallow a discharge as possible and to be kept topped up..
But I think its also obvious that while completely flattening a battery isn't ideal in terms of it's life that doesn't necessarily mean its for the bin.. And no doubt its capability may depend a lot on the use it's been put to.. Better quality batteries in terms of materials and build I'm sure will fare better...
You say your batteries are holding a charge so that's encouraging.. But you will only know how good they are by checking their capacity... running a known load and see how they get on with that.. ie capacity and recovery..
Andy.

 

[Odd-no-more]

My old work van had a totally flattened battery when I forgot to switch off the cooler box, the AA came and started the van, checked the battery and told me it had to be replaced, I declined and had the van for another 5 years on the same "ruined" battery.

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[Chockswahay]

A flat battery can be easily charged and used again and again ............. providing that it is only used for short periods (starting etc) and being recharged again via the alternator etc.

The problem is that if you wish to use the battery over a period of 2 or 3 days without recharging in this time then you will quickly run out of useable amps.

I had an old Beetle back in the day........ the battery was knackered............ but as long as the engine started by the second turn of the starter all was good.......... if I got to the third turnover then it was GAMEOVER!

That battery lasted 14 years......... the car nearly always started first time!

 

[The Wino]

I think theres a bit of truth in saying they are knackerd but only if you need them to perform as well as when they were new. Like most things though what really matters is do they do the job you want them to do not are they as good as new!!

 

[PhilDurrant]

In April this year we had to replace our starter battery with a Yuasa 95ah.This failed to start the engine but after a jump all was good. The following morning the engine failed to start again so we called out the Mercedes 24hr breakdown service.They raced the fault to the alarm and disconnected it and off we went to Greece.
3 days later, flat battery again. ADAC man said knackered battery so we went and purchased a jump starter which "solved" the problem
Long story short we got 3 independent garages to check the battery and all said it was knackered so we returned it to the supplier under the 4 year warranty.
They say its been over cycled and will not entertain the claim
Any suggestions

 

[HandyAndy]

In April this year we had to replace our starter battery with a Yuasa 95ah.This failed to start the engine but after a jump all was good. The following morning the engine failed to start again so we called out the Mercedes 24hr breakdown service.They raced the fault to the alarm and disconnected it and off we went to Greece.
3 days later, flat battery again. ADAC man said knackered battery so we went and purchased a jump starter which "solved" the problem
Long story short we got 3 independent garages to check the battery and all said it was knackered so we returned it to the supplier under the 4 year warranty.
They say its been over cycled and will not entertain the claim
Any suggestions

Bend over and take it up the tailpipe probably, as there's no way of proving it was or wasn't treated badly.

 

[Jev88]

In April this year we had to replace our starter battery with a Yuasa 95ah.This failed to start the engine but after a jump all was good. The following morning the engine failed to start again so we called out the Mercedes 24hr breakdown service.They raced the fault to the alarm and disconnected it and off we went to Greece.
3 days later, flat battery again. ADAC man said knackered battery so we went and purchased a jump starter which "solved" the problem
Long story short we got 3 independent garages to check the battery and all said it was knackered so we returned it to the supplier under the 4 year warranty.
They say its been over cycled and will not entertain the claim
Any suggestions

1) It is a starter battery so how can it be over cycled in 6 months?
2) Ask for proof you have overcycled.
3) Say you belong to a very large motoring community that will be delighted to hear of their poor service across their forums.
4) Tell them you are awaiting a return call from your local trading standards as they are failing to fulfil a warranty claim after 6 months when 4 years was offered.

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[pappajohn]

we returned it to the supplier under the 4 year warranty.
They say its been over cycled and will not entertain the claim

Which goes to show, most battery warranty isn't worth the paper it's printed on.
If they have no intention of honouring it in the first place you won't win no matter what you do.

 

[Allanm]

All batteries are not equal, so it's hard to say. I used to use some ancient car batteries to power an electric net to protect chickens. They would be out on the frozen ground in Welsh winters and only get swapped when they were totally flat. I had a good reconditioner charger and these batteries would swap a week about and did it happily for years.

Similar here. I used two old batteries that were destined for the recycling centre, but they ran a low powered electric fence for a year or so, being swapped and charged regularly. Over time though, even though they showed a full charge off the charger, the amount of time they could run the fence got shorter. 4 weeks each at the start, just a few days after a year.
The new batteries ran the fence for around 8 weeks.

 

[Pausim]

In April this year we had to replace our starter battery with a Yuasa 95ah.This failed to start the engine but after a jump all was good. The following morning the engine failed to start again so we called out the Mercedes 24hr breakdown service.They raced the fault to the alarm and disconnected it and off we went to Greece.
3 days later, flat battery again. ADAC man said knackered battery so we went and purchased a jump starter which "solved" the problem
Long story short we got 3 independent garages to check the battery and all said it was knackered so we returned it to the supplier under the 4 year warranty.
They say its been over cycled and will not entertain the claim
Any suggestions

How do they know it has been over cycled? Do they have log of events to prove this? What is the wording of the guarantee, does it specify a limit on depth of discharge and number of cycles. I suspect that they are trying it on, have no proof and are just guessing. Perhaps you should contact Yuasa UK direct to complain about the dealer. +44 (0) 1793 833555 or info@gs-yuasa.uk

 

[Hilewaychile]

Which goes to show, most battery warranty isn't worth the paper it's printed on.
If they have no intention of honouring it in the first place you won't win no matter what you do.

I have to disagree. I had a battery from Q/Fit for my Jeep Cherokee, g/tee 2 yrs. About 2 weeks before the end of the g/tee period it went u/s. Q/fit replaced it with no quibbles at all.

 

[PhilDurrant]

How do they know it has been over cycled? Do they have log of events to prove this? What is the wording of the guarantee, does it specify a limit on depth of discharge and number of cycles. I suspect that they are trying it on, have no proof and are just guessing. Perhaps you should contact Yuasa UK direct to complain about the dealer. +44 (0) 1793 833555 or info@gs-yuasa.uk

We never got sight of the warranty and the guy at the dealers had no idea what what cycles were. Have tried contacting Yuasa direct but got ignored, you can only contact them through the dealer network

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[two]

Hi all.
I read regularly in the forum's that if your 12V battery is allowed to go too flat it is useless (ordinary lead acid) and should be thrown away?

Over the last 6 Months I have followed this advice on a large 019 engine battery, a smaller 063 battery and a 100ah Leisure battery (MH, van and son's car)..... Except I kept all of them and put them on my ancient (but stepping) battery charger over 48 hours. All batteries holding Good charge and stable when left for a week in my cold garage at home.
So why the advice that any battery going below 12V should be regarded as ruined?

Genuine question.
I was happy to replace the leisure battery as unknown age and the 063 only cost £36 from local dealer.

You may be measuring charge, rather than capacity. Whilst they may hold charge, it may not last very long. That does not matter for some applications but is more important in a motorhome. If you are likely to abuse batteries, you could accept the fact and be prepared to replace them with fresh ones each year. Otherwise get better quality and avoid draining them.

 

[Jev88]

You may be measuring charge, rather than capacity. Whilst they may hold charge, it may not last very long. That does not matter for some applications but is more important in a motorhome. If you are likely to abuse batteries, you could accept the fact and be prepared to replace them with fresh ones each year. Otherwise get better quality and avoid draining them.

Easy way to measure capacity?

 

[mitzimad]

weve had batteries kicking around the yard for ages and used them after charging without problems

 

[HandyAndy]

This is one good reason to not honour a battery warranty!!

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