How to Charge a Car Battery Everything You Need to Know

The vehicle battery is one of the most important elements for everything to work properly. Thanks to this we can from starting the engine to putting any electrical component into operation. However, it is also one of the main causes of car breakdown, usually due to poor maintenance that depends on multiple factors.

Therefore, it never hurts to know how to charge the battery of our car, a task that may seem simple at first, but that requires some advice. The average duration of a battery can be between 3 and 5 years approximately, which can vary depending on the times we use the car, the temperature or the climate, and the maintenance we do on the battery.

Also, you must bear in mind that each battery has a different duration depending on the manufacturer. If that day has come when your car won't start, it's time to recharge the battery… But what options do we have?

How to charge the car battery?

To charge the battery of our car we have three options: the first and most obvious is to contact our insurance to receive the help of a professional. Another possibility is to connect the clamps to another car to charge the battery or, failing that, to have a car battery charger.

Any of these options is valid and, depending on our needs -or the rush we have-, we will choose the one that best suits our case.

Tips to take care of your battery

To extend the useful life of the car battery we can follow a series of tips, simple and easy to carry out tricks that can prevent us from being stranded with a discharged battery. The first piece of advice is to avoid extreme temperatures, that is, park in places above 30ºC or below 5ºC, although this is not always possible.

The battery makes its greatest effort when we start the engine, so when we travel too short we are giving it more work than normal. The key is to try to avoid shorter trips since by turning off and starting the engine the car battery suffers more than usual and does not have time to regenerate that charge that it has lost.

A good trick to extend the life of our battery is to step on the clutch every time we start. This way the battery will have to make less effort and just start the engine. Electrical components can drain a lot of batteries, so it is better to use them with the engine running.

If we are going to go on vacation and leave the car stopped for a while, it is best to disconnect one of the terminals of the car battery, specifically the negative terminal. In addition, it is important to clean these from time to time, since over time a white crust tends to appear that can decrease their useful life and degrade them.

When should I change the battery?

If we have tried to recharge the battery by all means but the car does not start, it is time to buy a new one. If we have an ammeter we can measure the charge of the available battery, but otherwise, we will not be sure that it is completely discharged. In some cases, it will be enough to know the age of the battery to buy a new one click here.

In any store or specialized workshop you will have a wide catalog of car batteries at your disposal, although you should bear in mind that cheap is expensive and, therefore, it will be better to invest a little more in a good battery from a well-known brand.

The process of changing batteries can be somewhat more complex, so we recommend that you go to your nearest workshop or have the help of a professional. Also, if your car has been stationary for a while, don't forget to carry out some basic maintenance tips.