What have you been doing today?

[Mottie]

6 years - been on the car from new.

Possibly getting near to the end of its life. The way I look at is if a new battery costs you £100 and you expect 8 years service out of it, changing it at 6 years means that you have only possibly 'wasted' £25. What you have to consider is to get your moneys worth out of it, would you be happy chancing it for another two years of starting in all weathers, each time, every time and the possible aggro you'd have if it caught you out away from home when you really needed that car to start? Batteries are best changed at the first sign of letting you down - they rarely get better by themselves.

 

[Justin Passing]

From experience - purely accidental: buy one of those USB outlets which gives you the battery voltage,, like

£5.
I got a bit suspicious about a battery then noticed it was a couple of tenths of a volt lower than it had been.. Got a new battery,, and it had got worse by then.
Buy on ebay - plenty of good suppliers mahoosively cheaper than somewhere like Halfords.

Anyone remember the old Lucas Pacemaker batteries? Light grey with a red top. They used to fail with zero notice.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I got a bit suspicious about a battery then noticed it was a couple of tenths of a volt lower than it had been.. Got a new battery,, and it had got worse by then.
Buy on ebay - plenty of good suppliers mahoosively cheaper than somewhere like Halfords.

Tanya, in Wales - best price, and they will still be there to honour the guarantee, should you need it.

Many cars these days have built in dash diagnostics, which allow you to see the battery voltage.

 

[Mottie]

Many cars these days have built in dash diagnostics, which allow you to see the battery voltage.

Eh? I’ve yet to see one on a dash! Maybe with a diagnostic reader but that just removes the need to open the bonnet and connect a meter to the battery.

 

[securespark]

Mottie, saw this and thought of you...

Spaniel miraculously survives 90ft fall off cliff

Penny the spaniel was walking with her owner at Old Harry Rocks in Dorset yesterday when she went over the edge. She sat at the base of the cliff waiting to be rescued by lifeboat crew.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Talking of batteries, ours is getting a little hesitant. It's old and has covered plenty of tarmac. It's a Bosch S6 AGM fitted in 2011 but they are ruinous, so might replace it with an S5 wet.

The S5 wet is as much as the S6 AGM cost me in '11.....

 

[crystal ball]

Tanya, in Wales - best price, and they will still be there to honour the guarantee, should you need it.

Many cars these days have built in dash diagnostics, which allow you to see the battery voltage.

I just bought another from them good service, its Tayna btw based in Rhyl

 

[ReganAndCarter]

Buy on ebay - plenty of good suppliers mahoosively cheaper than somewhere like Halfords.

Yes, by far the best value. Have used the same company on Ebay for a number of batteries. Lucas calcium batteries, delivered to my door for a fair bit less than a Halfords budget version. 5 year g'tee.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Eh? I’ve yet to see one on a dash! Maybe with a diagnostic reader but that just removes the need to open the bonnet and connect a meter to the battery.

Mine uses a sequence of presses of the trip reset button, to bring up lots of diagnostic data, such as battery voltage, the fuel level of each side of the tank, build date, instantaneous fuel consumption and lots more.

 

[securespark]

Wondering if my CTEK charger (which has a desulphation mode) will refresh our S6 AGM?

 

[Mottie]

Wondering if my CTEK charger (which has a desulphation mode) will refresh our S6 AGM?

Worth a try. What model CTEK do you have? If you have start/stop on your car and that stops working even on a fully charged battery, it’s a sure sign the battery is on its way out.

 

[Mottie]

On the way home from our break in Sussex and less than 10 minutes from home, we get a call from the cottage owner - I've left my house keys in one of the drawers.

Luckily Mrs Mottie had taken her keys with her so no problem getting in but I’ve got to wait for my keys to be posted back to me. Grrr.

Having to get them posted to my sisters house as it had our house and my mums house keys on the ring.

Blimey, people knock the post office but my keys were posted last night and my sister has just phoned me to tell me they have arrived!

 

[Odds]

Had fun this morning after the boiler cut out and found the circuit had tripped off.
The culprit?
A triple socket feeding the freezer and washing machine needed a new fuse. Remember those days when fuses were everywhere? Damned if i could find one. Until i dug deep in the tool box (evicted a snoozy spider) and came up with afresh pack. Huzzah!
Gladly the sun shone during the crisis rather than having to hunt about in the rain, which usually is the case.
Phew! Time for tea and toast.

 

[Brigadier]

Blimey, people knock the post office but my keys were posted last night and my sister has just phoned me to tell me they have arrived!

Ahhh, but was your sister's address correct?


I ask because misdelivery seems to be de rigueur in my cul-de-sac; my neighbour is frequently having stuff addressed to him posted through my letterbox.

Worst one was a guy further up: last week, he knocked and asked if I'd signed for anything of his (I hadn't; time of signing was when I was at Screwfix).
Worst for three reasons:

- RM could tell him, to the minute, when it was signed for (albeit only a squiggle, so no clue who);
- RM couldn't tell him the address at which it had been signed for - that hadn't been recorded - only that someone in the cul-de-sac had done so;
- it was the bloke's wife's death certificate.

 

[securespark]

Worth a try. What model CTEK do you have? If you have start/stop on your car and that stops working even on a fully charged battery, it’s a sure sign the battery is on its way out.

MXS 5.0

Thankfully, the FR-V does not have stop/ start, but the car spends lengthy periods stationary but occupied, with drains on the battery, so I (rightly or wrongly) thought AGM would be better.

It has performed well until now. We once left the headlights on for 2 hours and it started no problem!

Regarding brands, I have always regarded Bosch/ Varta as the gold standard.

But are there any brands that are as good?

Are there any with warranties of more than 5 years?

 

[Mottie]

Ahhh, but was your sister's address correct?


I ask because misdelivery seems to be de rigueur in my cul-de-sac; my neighbour is frequently having stuff addressed to him posted through my letterbox.

Worst one was a guy further up: last week, he knocked and asked if I'd signed for anything of his (I hadn't; time of signing was when I was at Screwfix).
Worst for three reasons:

- RM could tell him, to the minute, when it was signed for (albeit only a squiggle, so no clue who);
- RM couldn't tell him the address at which it had been signed for - that hadn't been recorded - only that someone in the cul-de-sac had done so;
- it was the bloke's wife's death certificate.

Well, it was actually posted as ‘signed for’ and they didn’t even knock at the door - she just heard them from through the letterbox.