How to Avoid a Flat Battery
Faulty or flat batteries are one of the most common causes of vehicle breakdown. Here are reasons why and precautions that can be taken.
Batteries are vital to a car and without one a vehicle won’t move! A car battery is a rechargeable battery and supplies electrical energy to the vehicle’s starter motor,
lights and the ignition system.
Very often a battery will become flat when the vehicle is used for shorter journeys rather than for longer journeys. This is because by using the vehicle for short journeys, it won’t give a battery the opportunity to recharge properly, and the electrical charge is being taken out but not put back in.
The reasons for a flat battery are the lack of use of a vehicle and when something has been left on, for instance a car radio. The battery also goes flat when there is a fault with the battery or the vehicle’s system charging the battery, for instance faulty battery cables, and also through battery corrosion and battery age. Batteries can also fail because of excessive vehicle vibration, over charging and extreme summer and icy weather.
In order to preserve the battery charge and safeguard against a breakdown, there are some simple steps that can be taken.
Testing and assessing your battery
You can either test your car battery yourself using a home battery tester, or get your service centre to test it for you. Service centres will have more accurate and sophisticated testers that utilise specification data and also assesses the battery’s current condition.
Charge your battery
If you principally use your vehicle for shorter journeys, then make sure you regularly test your battery and put it on a trickle charger overnight to boosts its charge. You can do this simply by removing the battery carefully from your car and placing it somewhere safe to charge.
Full vehicle charging check
In order to prevent any problems, especially during the winter months, you can take your car to your service centre and they will be able to check that your vehicle’s charging system is in full working order. They will do this by testing the battery and checking the charging system in your car with their professional testing equipment. If there is a fault they will be able to investigate and examine the source of the charging fault and take remedial action.
