someone had once forwarded me car maintenance information that suggested replacing batteries early. if I understood this correctly, as the batteries age, it gets harder and harder for them to be charged, and thus causes extra wear on the alternator. likewise, a weaker battery makes for harder starts and thus the starter gets premature wear. (if memory serves me)

does anybody do this? if so, do you use some sort of voltage test to see how worn down the battery is, or do you just replace it after a fixed amount of time?

 

I did. I got a nice Hawker battery from the GoFastLab in the S2Ki marketplace. Saved 13 lbs. too. Since it is a depp cycling dry cell, you will not stress the alternator.

Money well spent.

PM ludedude, he will get you dialed in.

 

Battery life depends upon how it's used. One cannot predict when it will begin to diminish in performance. If you have a voltmeter, you could periodically test it after it has sat overnight. A good battery should not drop below about 12.5V after sitting for a few hours. When it starts to hover around 12V or below, that's your hint. If you have some way of monitoring the voltage while the car is running (like a Passport radar detector), immediately after a cold start, the voltage will go up to about 14.1V or more. It should settle at between 13.8 to 14.1V within a few minutes. Failing to do so might indicate that the battery is not taking a charge very well or that the alternator is not charging very well.
Without a meter, your only clue might be a longer cranking time with a slower crank before the engine lights up. Till that happens, you shouldn't really worry about the battery so much.
If you have huge energy draw like with a big sound system, this is a different story. Both battery and charging system will work harder.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by tritium_pie
someone had once forwarded me car maintenance information that suggested replacing batteries early.

 

If you have fully discharged the OEM battery a handful of times from using it to power accessories with the engine off, you might have to replace it soon. This happened to me. My battery became unable to hold a full charge and the slightest additional drain would cause it to not start the car. After I left the fans on at Thunderhill, just after a session, I had to have some of the guys jump start me. Nothing worse than hearing smack-talk from Lotus owners about how a Honda is supposed to be 'reliable' and how ironic it was for them to give ME a push.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by yellafeva
Your car is only a year old.

 

I don't know why, but I never thought about my battery. I have an 01 with a little over 27K miles on her. Obviously, I'm coming up on three years. Is that about the replacement cycle on batteries?

So it's not good enough just to go by the visual indicator on the battery? Mine is telling me that the battery is just fine. How much $ is an OEM battery?

 

Maybe a little off topic, but...anybody know if you can charge the Hawker with a regular battery charger? Just making sure, since from what I understand it's a dry cell battery.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Uncle Fester
I don't know why, but I never thought about my battery.

 

Xviper,
I never had a float on my oem battery. A few people had commented on that. Funny how it died early too.

I did run it down a few times.
I used to have 600 watts of audio (all gone).
I suppose I was a candidate for that.