club.liberty.asn.au

Hi All,

I've been having some battery issue - won't hold charge. I don't think the car is draining more then usual when turned off, think the battery has died. So I'm looking to buy a new one and looking for suggestions. I don't drive every day, 1-2 times a week(often less), so generally need something that will hold charge for a long time, I was looking at a deep cycle battery for this reason, but wondering if anyone else has used these types or have an recommendations. Does getting a bigger then generally recommended for the car cause issues?

"Deep cycle' batteries are designed to deliver current slowly over a period of time and be recharged more slowly than a 'start' battery. Start batteries are designed to deliver high current for starting and do not cope with high discharge rates like a deep cycle, basically it's not suitable.
Test the resting current draw of the vehicle (Google it for procedure) to see if something is draining it, I suspect you just have a dead battery. If its over 4 years old, you are on borrowed time with it.

Optima Yellow Top batteries are rated for both Starting and Deep Cycle use. I have one in my Lib, and they have been great for me. Let me know if you want to know which size fits our GTBs, I can check. My last one lasted 7 years in my old Merc. They are expensive but worth it imo.

+1 x100 on yellow top batteries.....They are very good!

Just ensure you dont get the fake ones.....They do exist....Buy from a known source...

d51

hi All,

thanks for the replies. The battery was not very old. Was an NRMA one from October last year. NRMA came out this morning and replaced it under warranty. He said it was leaking and wouldn't hold or charge - when he started it he said he could smell it cooking and apparently eventually 'explode'.

So the new one has another 3 year warranty, but will see how it goes, I don't drive much and he reckoned that their batteries really need to be driven at least weekly and when they drop below 70% they don't recover.

Other then the usual things (ecu/radio preset/memory seats) there shouldn't be any additional drain, But will still look to test for any parasitic draw when I get a chance

If the NRMA batteries are anything like the RACV ones we get down here, then they aren't the best quality.

The RACV batteries tend not to last and are flat out making the recommended current, even from new.

I personally would then trickle charge your battery when you can.....I use CTEK MXS5.0 and works very well....

jaydece wrote:I personally would then trickle charge your battery when you can.....I use CTEK MXS5.0 and works very well....

+1 for the Ctek 5.0, I have one as well. It's a great charger.

I don't rate NRMA batteries, only had this one because I was in a binned, if they didnt replace it I would not buy one from them.

What does the CTEK MXS5.0 actually do? Does it charge up whilst driving then charge the battery when not driving?

i got a ctek mxs7.0 as well, i drive my car once every 2 weeks if not longer, and everytime i put it in the driveway i just hook the charger up to it and close the bonnet, the charge cycle is about 24hrs, and i put it on a few days before i jump in. highly recommend the ctek chargers.

triston wrote:
What does the CTEK MXS5.0 actually do? Does it charge up whilst driving then charge the battery when not driving?

It's just a plugin charger, that you connect when you have the car at home (needs 240V). There are different models, but all CTEK chargers are Smart Chargers that go through different modes (eg pulse charging) to refresh and maintain your battery. They can even regenerate some dead batteries.

You could either use it every few months to refresh the battery, or use it as a trickle-charger whenever the car isn't driven (like jarrenowen mentioned).