ferm? spare? etc....?

charlie_the_tuna · #1 12-01-2014, 02:45 PM

so I put my battery on a load tester and it reads good. when the truck is running the voltage gauge shows 14+volts. I drive the truck about 4 minutes, twice a day, to and from the station. now, after 3 or 4 days, the battery gets run down and it doesn't have enough power to turn over. HELP!! is it that i'm not running it long enough to charge it up??

THEFERMANATOR · #2 12-01-2014, 03:32 PM

That's not very far to bring the battery back up. I know my mom drives a short 5 minute drive to work, and she had to start taking a trip to the store every 3 or 4 days to keep the battery up because she got tired of putting a battery charger on it. I would get one of those small chargers and hook up to the battery, and run the cord out through your grille. Plug it in at night, and unplug it before you leave. No more concerns about a dead battery from short trips. Another option is to have your alternator checked to see exactly what it is putting out when cold. I know my alternator will charge at almost 16 volts when I 1st start it to bring the batteries up quickly, and will hold 15 volts for another 5 minutes or so.

phatdaddy · #3 12-01-2014, 06:58 PM

Charlie, not sure from your post, was the truck running and battery connected wne you put the load tester on it? If so this might skew your test.

Like ferm said, very short run time, especially in cold weather.
How old is battery?
I have had really good results with the cheapo $10 trickle chargers from harbor freight.

charlie_the_tuna · #4 12-01-2014, 07:40 PM

nah, pulled the battery and my buddy has a digital tester. battery is about 2 years old. I was pricing new batteries and couldn't believe the cost. we used to get new batteries for like 35 bucks. dam things are over a hundred now.

spareparts · #5 12-01-2014, 08:09 PM

you can make a small battery maintainer out of a couple old cell phone chargers. Go thru the pile of old chargers you have laying around(everyone has a pile), Find one thats 14V and figure out which wire is positive with a volt meter. Hook the wires up to an old cigarette lighter charger plug, when you aren't using the vehicle, plug the cig lighter plug into the lighter in the car, and put power to the charger. It won't charger up a dead battery, but it will keep one topped off.

the daydreamer · #6 12-02-2014, 06:59 AM

we had battery problems with BMWS. LETS SAY YOUR BATTERY IS AT 100% CHARGE. YOU DRIVE ONLY 4 MILES TO WORK AND 4 MILES BACK. JUST AS A NUMBER YOUR USEING 20% OF YOUR BATTERY ON A SHORT DRIVE. YOUR ARE USEING A/C OR HEATER FAN.RADIO,HEADLIGHTS,WIPERS. THE CHARGING SYSTEM CANT KEEP THE BATTERY CHARGES. IN SHORT YOU ARE USEING MORE THAN YOU ARE PUTTING BACK. THE BEST THING IS DRIVE IT LONGER AND USE A BATTERY TENDER. THIS WILL HELP EXTEND BATTERY LIFE AND KEEP IT CHARGED.WHEN A BMW CUSTOMER HAS THIS PROBLEM BMW WOULD NOT COVER THE COST OF A BATTERY!!!!TELL SOMEONE THAT JUST SPEND 60K ON A NEW CAR THEY NEED TO SPEND 400 TO 500 FOR A BATTERY!!!!! BMW CALLED THIS UNFAVORABLE DRIVING CONDITIONS!!!!!!

smokeonthewater · #7 12-02-2014, 09:52 PM

it takes15-30 min of drive time to recharge a battery after starting.... as mentioned above install a maintainer or drive longer

MAYBE consider a solar charger on the dash or roof

randlemanboater · #8 12-03-2014, 10:12 AM

I just ran into this on my sons car last week. The battery would test ok but on cold mornings after start up some times, all of the electric accessories on the car (heater fan, radio, lights) would shut down if car was operating below 2000 rpm.

The lady at Advance Auto said that modern cars run most everything off the battery at low rpm and if you only run your car a short time at low rpm, the battery never recovers...my son drives 1 mile to school.

So as stated above, trickle charge or drive farther.

phatdaddy · #9 12-03-2014, 01:10 PM

Must be contagious , wife's 98 toyota had to jumped at work to get home, I thought she left lights on,door ajar, etc. charged it overnight, cranked fine in the morn ,at lunch, and ride home. No crank this morning.
Four year old battery
Cheapest I can find is $125

THEFERMANATOR · #10 12-03-2014, 01:42 PM

If you have a SAMS card, they had about the best prices I could find earlier this year when I was looking. If not, go to advances website and look across the top of the page. You can alsmost always find a 15-20% off coupon for orders over $50, and get a $25-50 coupon for a later purchase. Order and pay for it online, and pick it up in the store.