XSeries-forum

This time it’s the VW one bought July last year. Went flat last week, only 3 weeks after being topped up on charger. The little window was completely red. Recharged but took 3 days to go green. Flat again in 48 hours. Checked for drain, only 6 mA. Halford tells me that if red it means it is low on fluid or the alternator is faulty. As the car is being refurbed I told them the engine has only been run for about an hour in the seven months and has been topped up monthly on trickle charger. Ah well sir, it’s been over charged and burned off the electrolyte. After some further discussions the battery was replaced so a happy ending.

Doesn't matter what you say they have a good reason for not replacing.
I had one from CES a Yuasa that failed so i took it in the said it was flat and needed charging i knew straightaway what was coming.
Sir you will have to leave it with us to charge and test phone on Monday.
So i phoned they said they had taken it of charge on Saturday morning and found nothing wrong.
I went to the depot later and they went in the back for the battery and brought it to me so i asked them to test it again.
Soon as they put there meter on it it showed 13v so they must of had it on charge until i showed up.
That was there test 13 volts sir good battery i just said keep it for yourself and walked out.
Strange thing is a local garage spending 4k a month with them stopped buying from them around the same time.
They where told the reason weeks later but where told that there bad attitude had got the better of them and treating a life long friend and college like an idiot was the last straw.
Just hope CES look on forums like this one.

Sorry for the rant above they just pi55 me off.

You would have to be using a pretty mean constant current charger to boil off the electrolyte - and that’s a simple weight test to check. Given the recharging process creates water anyway (partly why sealed batteries can be sealed), that was IMHO a bullshit response from a ‘not interested’ staff member.

I’ve been charging two of our car batteries regularly, and one is on permanent charge (OK it’s a conditioner/charger) with no signs of damage.

These places seem to have a policy of ‘we’re right, you’re wrong’ unless faced by a customer who actually knows more than they do and can shoot their arguments down. It’s the same right across the motor trade, is well known, but remains ignored. The trade bodies are as much use as a fire extinguisher on a volcano!

You can't over charge a battery with the likes of a ctek charger that's the whole point of them, I keep one connected 6 months of the year
You can also have 13 volts but virtually no current capacity on an old battery so checking voltage is of limited use only good to see if a cell is dead.

When I worked in the Police Garage we had a massive resistor type battery drop tester. That found a bad cell in about 1/2 second! Could draw a decent spark too!! We also had a charger that could boil a battery in about 5 minutes. Proper test engineering back then...

I have used the oil type drop tester many times years ago boy did they show a bad cell fast.
H&S said no to them so they have the digital things now i don't trust.
My own tester is a Draper one with a switch on it and a thick coil in the box that will warm your hands on a cold day.