Don't get left in the cold!

As cold weather approaches (for people in cold weather areas), it's good to do a little maintenance and make sure your battery makes it through the winter.

Colder temps make it harder for car batteries to work. Their usable capacity goes down quite a bit as temperatures fall. So if there is something else going on, like a battery that is starting to wear out, or a parasitic load, take note to do something about it so you don't find yourself stranded.

What is a parasitic load? A parasitic load is something taking energy from the battery when the car and everything in it is turned off. Pretty much every car has a little bit of drain on the battery because the computers need to keep time and memory when it's turned off. Sometimes it is more drain than when the car was new, and sometimes the battery is worn enough that it can't keep the designed drain from wearing it down.

Sometimes a daily use car starts fine, but if that same car is left for a time, perhaps a couple weeks, it always starts hard afterward. There could be something that has changed that is drawing more power from the battery, or the battery might not be up to snuff.

If a car has a parasitic load sometimes it is a very difficult electrical puzzle to solve. A battery maintainer might be the most inexpensive and simplest way to solve the problem.  If one knows the car will be left for a while, just hooking up a maintainer will ensure the car always starts. Or if one knows the temperature will get extremely low, hooking up the battery maintainer then might be a good idea, too.

Cleaning the battery will be a good idea, too. When temperatures swing from relatively warm and cool or cold, condensation will always be occurring. And dirt on the battery can hold water and connect the 2 poles of the battery leading to a parasitic load.

If one is storing a battery, the best advice is to keep it clean and keep it charged. One needs to keep it clean for the reasons just mentioned. But keeping it charged is because a partially run down battery, one that is below 80% charged, will have deterioration on the plates due to sulfation.

Charge a stored battery every 2 or 3 months. Every battery self-discharges even without any load, and lead acid more than most other chemistries. So that is what prompts the top-off charge. And if the battery will be stored inside the car, it's not a bad idea to remove the negative battery cable to be sure no load can be on it.