Car batteries: High Cost, Low Lifespan

[JJReyes]

4 hours ago, KurtVD said:

Solar panels...who’s gonna invest thousands of $/€/£, knowing that it’s gonna take more than 15 years to get even (financially)? 

I wasn't thinking when making the suggestion.

In the past, I used to bring to Philippines, as gifts, small solar chargers for cellular phones. The solar charger had a battery for power storage which can be transferred to a cell phone. It was a novelty item costing less than $10.00 each. You can also buy large solar sheets, but again, they were novelty items. 

Our visits to more remote rural areas shows more usage of solar energy.  Road signs have 8" x 10" panels for nighttime illumination. Home patios have foot path lighting each with a small solar panel on top for battery charging. Most unique was a solar GPS collar for cattle so ranchers can keep track of their herds.

[robert k]

Possibly heat soak from being under the hood is part of the problem. A hood scoop with the opening towards the windshield may help. While driving, it will cause a vacuum pulling hot air out of the engine compartment and when you stop, it allows the heat to escape more easily. If you drive a commercial type vehicle or a high riding pickup type vehicle, the battery could go on a box welded/bolted to the frame which would get it out of the 75C+ temperatures under the hood when you shut the engine off.

I, and I suspect that many other foreigners drive more days than not, if not every day or more than once every day, which probably leads to more and longer heat soaks. I have had a good Motolite battery last only months in my Toyota Tamaraw. Of course the Tamaraw really should have had a larger alternator to carry all the extra fan load from the front and rear air and radiator fans.

I have one of those lithium battery jump starters. They work by giving a pulse of electricity. If you have an old style diesel with glow plugs, they don't work well because the glow plugs will discharge the pulse in the few seconds they are drawing before you can actually start the vehicle. I bet it works a treat for gasoline engines though.

[KurtVD]

16 hours ago, JJReyes said:

I wasn't thinking when making the suggestion.

In the past, I used to bring to Philippines, as gifts, small solar chargers for cellular phones. The solar charger had a battery for power storage which can be transferred to a cell phone. It was a novelty item costing less than $10.00 each. You can also buy large solar sheets, but again, they were novelty items. 

Our visits to more remote rural areas shows more usage of solar energy.  Road signs have 8" x 10" panels for nighttime illumination. Home patios have foot path lighting each with a small solar panel on top for battery charging. Most unique was a solar GPS collar for cattle so ranchers can keep track of their herds.

All these devices are great inventions, and they work fine, if they have a little backup battery. But if you want to power a home with solar panels, you need large panels, voltage converters, a large battery (pack) and its charger, and lots of wiring that has to be done the right way, and this will cost a lot of money (the panels are not that expensive anymore, it's the additional stuff which makes it expensive). Plus you have to keep on eye on the system all the time and understand how it works, otherwise you won't produce as much as you could, and the return on your investment will taken even longer. Unfortunately it's not as easy or as straightforward as mounting a few panels on the roofs and connecting the wires to a box. I think that's a big reason why you don't see more solar panels in these sunny countries, since a lot of them have high electricity prices and occasional brown outs, so you would think solar makes sense.

[KurtVD]

14 hours ago, robert k said:

Possibly heat soak from being under the hood is part of the problem. A hood scoop with the opening towards the windshield may help. While driving, it will cause a vacuum pulling hot air out of the engine compartment and when you stop, it allows the heat to escape more easily. If you drive a commercial type vehicle or a high riding pickup type vehicle, the battery could go on a box welded/bolted to the frame which would get it out of the 75C+ temperatures under the hood when you shut the engine off.

I, and I suspect that many other foreigners drive more days than not, if not every day or more than once every day, which probably leads to more and longer heat soaks. I have had a good Motolite battery last only months in my Toyota Tamaraw. Of course the Tamaraw really should have had a larger alternator to carry all the extra fan load from the front and rear air and radiator fans.

I have one of those lithium battery jump starters. They work by giving a pulse of electricity. If you have an old style diesel with glow plugs, they don't work well because the glow plugs will discharge the pulse in the few seconds they are drawing before you can actually start the vehicle. I bet it works a treat for gasoline engines though.

Yes, there is heat soak under the hood. However, these vehicles are all tested under extreme conditions and are built to withstand temperatures even higher than in the Philippines. Also, car batteries are specifically built for the environment where they're used - right beside a hot engine, where they're supposed to last at least 4 years, I would say. 

 

RE Your Toyota: Unless you installed anything that drew a lot of power yourself, the electrical system of a car is usually more than enough powerful as it is, and Toyota cars haven't been know to have weak electrical systems. Most cars with A/C have a two fans, that shouldn't be a reason that a battery doesn't last. Instead, rather than a larger alternator, you could try to find a battery with more power (Ah) that still fits (although that might be difficult to find). Your alternator will be able to charge it just as well.

 

[jimeve]

On 5/30/2018 at 7:13 PM, Dave Hounddriver said:

Did they get it started by jump starting?  If so that is one bright side.

Yeah, needed a new alternator P9000 fitted.

[Happyhorn52]

The fact that Motolite the leading battery manufacturer in the Philippines doesn't offer a warranty greater than 24 months should tell you something. Don't expect you battery to last much longer than the warrant period.

Enduro - 15 months

Excel - 24 months

Gold - 21 months

[JJReyes]

On 6/1/2018 at 6:32 AM, Happyhorn52 said:

The fact that Motolite the leading battery manufacturer in the Philippines doesn't offer a warranty greater than 24 months should tell you something. Don't expect you battery to last much longer than the warrant period.

Enduro - 15 months

Excel - 24 months

Gold - 21 months

Is the current practice in the Philippines similar to the United States wherein the battery warranty is pro-rated?  I once purchased a car battery with a four years warranty. It conked out after two years. I had to pay 50% of the cost for a new one.

In the past, a four years warranty mean't the batteries will last four years. If it conked out at anytime during this period, the manufacturer would replace it at no charge.

 

[OnMyWay]

8 hours ago, JJReyes said:

Is the current practice in the Philippines similar to the United States wherein the battery warranty is pro-rated?  I once purchased a car battery with a four years warranty. It conked out after two years. I had to pay 50% of the cost for a new one.

In the past, a four years warranty mean't the batteries will last four years. If it conked out at anytime during this period, the manufacturer would replace it at no charge.

 

I'm not sure about all brands but Intrepid said earlier in this thread that his Motolite was not prorated.  They just gave him a new one, no charge.

[Dave Hounddriver]

33 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

Intrepid said earlier in this thread that his Motolite was not prorated.  They just gave him a new one, no charge.

What we are not sure of, is whether that was a one time thing because the employee was not trained in battery warranties or whether it is a general policy.  It would cost them quite a bit if this was their standard procedure.

[OnMyWay]

12 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

What we are not sure of, is whether that was a one time thing because the employee was not trained in battery warranties or whether it is a general policy.  It would cost them quite a bit if this was their standard procedure.

I'm looking at the warranty paper that came with my Motolite batteries. It says if the battery fails within the warranty period it will be replaced with the same battery.  The warranty period remains the same as the first battery.  So, if your 21 month battery fails at 18 months, you should get a new one and it will have a 3 month warranty.