What Causes Automotive Batteries to Fail?

Every Automotive Battery comes with a particular span of life that eventually has to end someday. As the owner of the car, you just cannot change the occurrence but the best thing you can do is to extend the life of the cell. Proper maintenance along with the right knowledge are the most important things that one should have to get a long life of the battery for the car.

There are certain causes that accelerate the death of the battery. Only proper knowledge and precautions can save you from premature aging.

How does a battery fail?

Normally, the active material of the cell’s plate sustains discharge current. When it is no longer able to hold the power, it is considered dead. During the discharge and charge cycle of the battery, the material of the active positive plate sheds for the expansions and contractions. 

Due to this, the normal capacity of the plate is lost with time. Along with that, brown sediment called mud accumulates at the bottom of the case and short out the plates of the cell eventually. The short is the final nail for the battery as it will have an instant death eventually.

If you want to investigate the reasons for the failure of the battery, then you will get factors like hot weather, growth of positive grid, metal corrosion of positive grid, shrinkage of the negative grid, plates bucking and water loss.

Along with these, the vibration, heat, fast charging, overcharging and deep discharge accelerate the aging process of the battery.

Top Reasons For Car Battery To Fail

Short Trips: If you use your car frequently for short trips, there is a huge scope that it will affect the health of the battery drastically. Ignite the engine takes lots of power of the battery and when it starts, the cell charges itself.

As the charging rate of the battery is quite low, it takes a few times to regain the full power and for that, you need to drive the car for some time. When you take short trips, the battery does not get time to recharge. As a result, you may have a drained battery within a few days.

Extreme Weather: Whether too much hot or too cold, the external weather can take a toll on the health of the battery. It can be seen that the car battery can work best around 30° Celsius. If the weather is cold enough then it will need more cranking power. 

On the other hand, during the summer days, the battery can suffer from a huge amount of heat produced under the bonnet. It can cause the loss of electrolytes and increase the damage due to corrosion damage.

Incorrect Battery: Every car has some fixed requirement for the battery as the criteria should match. With the increasing number of car models along with varieties of battery, it is designed to work with a specific fuel-saving system. 

If your battery’s type and size do not match with the requirement, it cannot perform well. You must select the Automotive Battery that is recommended by the manufacturers.