On Thu, 2006-03-30 at 05:29 +0000, Sergey Dryga wrote: > Steve Smith blueyonder.co.uk> writes: > > > > > Read the date code. If its more then 3 years old probably dead more than 4 > > years old defiantly dead ! automotive batteries are made from low grade > > Definitly dead is a fairly strong statement. I might just get lucky, but both > my and my wife's cars have 5 year-old batteries, still running with no problems. > > My point, servicable period depends on number of conditions such as > temperature, load etc. Hard to make a blanket statement. Agreed. A person who says "4 years = definitely bad" is probably from a very warm area of the world. The number one non abusive killer of car batteries is heat. If you live in a climate that has extremely hot summers it can be "normal" for a battery to be gone after only 4 years. OTOH in the area of Canada I live in 5 years of life is expected, more is common. This is ignoring abuse of the battery. Car batteries are designed to start the car and that's it, they are not designed for constant low loads over long periods of time. NEVER discharge a car battery very much. Discharging a car battery to zero capacity will result in a heavily shortened life. TTYL ----------------------------- Herbert's PIC Stuff: http://repatch.dyndns.org:8383/pic_stuff/ -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist