Proper Battery Maintenance – Avoiding Car Trouble

     Your car’s battery is a very important part of your car’s system. Without the car battery working properly your car will not even start. Therefore, it is very important to take care of this part of your car. There are ways to ensure that your car battery is always in the most reliable shape it can ever be. A battery provides all the juice that your car needs to start and run all the fancy electronics that you might have in your car. A dead battery simply means that you cannot go anywhere, without the battery, your car simply will not start. Below are some of those tips that will definitely prolong the life of your battery.

Have a battery charger with you for regular or occasional top-ups. If you have a car that is rarely used, such as a summer vehicle, a hauler or a 4×4 a charger will be very handy. A car that is not used that often will not have its batteries charged by the alternator and may not start when used. Hook up the battery charger at least for an hour before you use the vehicle that has been parked for a long time. Again battery chargers are useful for seasonal equipment, such as the types of vehicles that I mentioned above. You will probably get by without the charger but having that assurance will be worth it.

Part of a battery’s maintenance is making sure that it has a good level of charge. Before, when the use of lead acid batteries is commonplace, you will have to need to check the battery’s electrolyte levels periodically. Now with gel type batteries, this is no longer the problem. These are what we call maintenance-free batteries, which are sealed and are expected to last for a set period of time. However, the advantages both to the owner and the environment make maintenance-free batteries the choice for most people. They do not require top-ups and are just basically plug and play and forget.

You can also go overkill and install a second battery to add to your existing one. The use of a battery isolator makes this possible. A second battery ensures that you always have back up. This is common practice for those who go on 4WD trips and campers as the extra battery will provide the juice they need for extra gear. If you also have high-end Audio in your car setup, this is also most useful.