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Does letting a new battery go dead and then later recharging cause long term harm?
Wiki User
∙ 12y ago
In short, yes; letting any type of battery go completelydead will ruin it. Why did I italicize completely? Because there are not as many scenarios as you think where you will cause your battery to go all the way dead.
Quick Note - I realize there are two main types and even more sub-types of batteries. Most cars have lead acid or sealed lead gel batteries; unless you have a newer car (very few models) or hybrid with lithium ion batteries. Both batteries will respond differently to getting drained and recharged. I am not enough of an expert to comment on the different results you will get, but if you have lithium ion batteries in your car you can probably afford to buy new ones; if not then check the cost before buying a car with li-ion batteries.
Back to the question, and back to my clarification. Take the following examples of how a car battery might go dead
1 - short in the system causing slow drain and car is left for hours/days preventing recharging of battery (because if small enough, the drain might not cause the battery not to start the car the next day, and then maybe first time car is left for 2 days you see the symptom)
2 - leaving an interior light on - most cars will drain battery SUFFICIENT TO NOT START THE ENGINE after one day. Ok, why did I caps all that? Because there is a big difference between "killing" the battery and "draining" the battery. Your battery needs a bit of "juice" to start the engine. Let me be a bit more specific.
3. Leaving the lights one - will drain most batteries pretty dead in a few hours, sadly..(HINT - toyotas and hondas know Americans are stupid and put in features to prevent this, I don't know ALL the other brands that do this, mostly luxury. They ARE worth every penny, just not new on the lot. I bought a 2003 Lexus rx 330 for $11K and the car was over $45K new in 2003 with all the features that it has. So is $11K a lot of money, yes, but a hell of a lot less than $40K+ the guy who bought it new paid. And because it is Japanese it runs just as good as the day it came off the factory. I love America, but we need to learn how the hell they get their cars to last so long!
There are a few types of "juice", volts, or push, amps, or flow, and watts, a combination of push and flow that most people understand as power.
Ok, so your battery fully charged is about 14+ Volts or so, you might have CCA (cold cranking amps) of anywhere from low 200s to above 400, the higher costing more and the Watts at any given time is the V x A.
Why does this matter? Because when you are "draining" a battery you need to understand you don't affect the two in a simple linear fashion. The voltage of your battery will drop, but the CCA, or the ability for your battery to let electrons, or "juice" flow out of your battery will diminish as well.
In most cases, when someone says a battery is "dead", they mean it won't start their car, necessarily that there is absolutely no charge, "juice" or chemical energy in the battery. But, since most people need their battery to turn the engine and not charge their cell phones, most of us don't care if the battery has anything left if it can't start the engine.
What can you do to prevent this? Other than the obvious, there are a few steps.
Check the levels in your lead acid battery.
Keep your battery paperwork for warranty returns as necessary
Install a battery saver device - too many to list
Use a trickle or low amp charger every night or once a week to top off your battery
Check your voltage with a multi-meter on a regular basis and write it down (i don't know anyone who does this, but it would really tell you the health of your battery)
Drive your car at least once a week (letting ANY type of motor sit for more than a few weeks is a BAD IDEA. ask anyone who owns a bunch of farm equipment they use once or twice a year. I can get almost anything running, but that is another story altogether.
In conclusion, check your battery, learn about electricity, buy a decent car, but not new, so you can save $30K and enjoy life.
If you need more help post another question and the universe will answer it for you.
Wiki User
∙ 12y ago
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