Battery Life?

WYOX19

True Classic
I bought the Queen from Bob Brown in 2012 and on the drive home to WY replaced the battery. The original battery was an OPTIMA Yellow Top and I replaced it with the same brand/model. After 4 years of re-charging on and average of every two weeks, the battery gave it up and I'm in the market for a new one.
We no longer take multi day trips in the X, drive it only on dry roads in the winter and most outings are under 6 hours. The battery has been charged about every two weeks as the clock seems to run it down to low to start the car.
I'm thinning that the OPTIMA Yellow Top is still a good choice for my conditions and was wondering if it would be better to disconnect the battery as opposed to charging and or a trickle charger? What say Ye?

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4 years doesn't seem like much

I just replaced the battery in my Peugeot 406 coupe last month. It was still the original (Fulmen brand) battery, so 12 years old.

It wasn't broken either: the replacement was simply preventative maintenance.

That said, the car was used regularly, so this is better on the battery.

Shameless excuse to post a photo of the "other" car ;-)

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Cheapest battery you can find that fits. I bought it when resurrecting the car 6 years ago, abused the daylights out of it, running it flat several times (lost charging) letting it go flat in storage, abusing it with bad starters. Asking it to start the car in sub zero temps. It just keeps going. Expensive batteries are snake oil. IMHO. :eek:mg:
 
Most batteries only last 5 years, if that. If you are running it fully depleted & recharging, I would say you are shortening the lifespan doing so.

Makes more sense to get a trickle charger & maintain a steady state. That's what I do in the off seasons.
 
Trickle charging is the way to go

I have a battery tender Jr. it works great I plug it up in between drives. Battery always works well. It charges the battery at like 1.2 amps and floats when it is at full charge.
 
Battery Life

I installed a new battery when I first bought my x in 93, and it was on a trickle charger since 94 with out the car ever being run. When I started working on it this spring the would start the car, but it was getting weak. Replaced it rather than messing with it.
I like Interstate batteries myself. :)
 
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Optima red top in the SAAB, it is 10 years old, no problems.

Optima Yellow top in the 74' exxe, it is 5-6 years old driven a few miles each week, no problems. Denso 80 Amp alternator at 14.5 volts running.

The oldest Optima here is pushing well past 12 years old in the TR-3, no problems. Also Denso 80 Amp alternator at 14.5 volts running

Optima batteries must receive a charge voltage of no less than 13.7 volts or they die a slow death. This happened an Optima Red Top in the Saab before the alternator was replaced. The running voltage was 13.1 to 13.3, this slowly killed the Optima.

IMO, Optima or similar sealed batteries are absolutely worth the extra cost due to the lack of corrosive fluids that escape slowly eating away at sheet metal.


Bernice
 
I drive mine a lot, batteries like that. When it is going to sit more than a couple days I pull the negative cable. If it's a long time (a month) I'll throw a charger on it for a few hours once in a while. I'm just too cheap shell out 3x the price. YMMV :)
 
another low cost thought.

harbor freight has a low cost solar panel ($20) I have a few car's and when I was always in a company vehicle my personal car always had a dead battery. started installing the solar panels in everything and not had a that problem since.

(one of the door's got left open killing the battery. And the next day with just the solar panel it started on it's own.)
 
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