Car battery replacement Question

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joker08

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I have a 11 year old toyota etios, battery is 5 years old now and it feels like its about to die.
I work from home, I dont travel a lot. The issue is I do a lot of short trips.. picking up kids from school and crèche, drop and pic them off for extra class, going to the gym etc.
I am tired of constantly having to charge the battery to keep it from dying on me.
My question is there some sort of a high density battery or lithium battery replacement option for these kind of usage ? or should I just replace the battery and continue charging it once every two weeks like I am used to.
 
Just get a new battery and deal with not using the car so much. I have a similar lifestyle to you, WFH and a lot of short trips, although every few weeks we go visit my inlaws which is a longer trip. As long as I use my car daily I don't have to charge the battery.
 
Won't disconnecting the terminal help? If disconnected, nothing can drain it.
 
It's dead, just throw it away and get a new one, 5 years is more than a good run.

Also there is nothing wrong with short trips, as long as the battery is in good condition. Long trips are not any different, the battery might top up withing the first 10kms and not pull any more charge after that.
 
TheChamp said:
It's dead, just throw it away and get a new one, 5 years is more than a good run.

Also there is nothing wrong with short trips, as long as the battery is in good condition. Long trips are not any different, the battery might top up withing the first 10kms and not pull any more charge after that.
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My short trips are within 2-5 Km's
 
joker08 said:
My short trips are within 2-5 Km's
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Yeah, the fact that it lasted for 5 years proves the alternator is good enough to deal with the short trips.

If your new battery start giving issues maybe you can start thinking the battery doesn't get enough time to charge.
 
Just buy a new one and don’t bother charging it.

It only needs that because it’s ancient.

You basically had a 10% battery that gets pulled flat every time you drive.

If you had a new one it would have 90% left when you do that.
 
I thought I will play around a bit with the battery before I replace it. So I opened up the top to access the cells.
It was completely dry from what I could see. Filled it up with distilled water from Dischem and put it on pulse charge using a cheap pulse charger I had bought sometime ago from Takealot.
So far it's working fine. Let's see if it's able to hold the charge for longer.
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joker08 said:
I thought I will play around a bit with the battery before I replace it. So I opened up the top to access the cells.
It was completely dry from what I could see. Filled it up with distilled water from Dischem and put it on pulse charge using a cheap pulse charger I had bought sometime ago from Takealot.
So far it's working fine. Let's see if it's able to hold the charge for longer.
3dadbbb1401c3e7efdd15505735f5b4e.jpg
77a95e1b09220394d60e8e54d5b4528f.jpg

b9df6dcab6efb0f94adf62e9e391bf31.jpg
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I have that same charger.

Works well considering it’s just R300 or so
 
I don’t understand the complication? Drop it off at Toyota. Pick it up in the afternoon with a new battery. Move on? It’s not complicated lol.
 
A slightly bigger battery if it can fit. 5 years is the lifespan of a battery. Get a new one from Battery Centre. Do a search in you area for Willard usually a bit more cost effective.
 
Zuner said:
Who the hell goes to the stealership for a battery ?!?!?
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I've always taken my cars only to the manufacturer for anything they need. They know best what to do, and if its not done properly they are big enough to make sure the problems are fixed. That said i usually only keep my cars while they're under maintenance plans, but some I have not. Yes you pay a little more but it works out better in the end.
 
neoprema said:
I've always taken my cars only to the manufacturer for anything they need. They know best what to do, and if its not done properly they are big enough to make sure the problems are fixed. That said i usually only keep my cars while they're under maintenance plans, but some I have not. Yes you pay a little more but it works out better in the end.
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Each to their own, however no, they do not always know best, it's actually rare to find dealerships with great mechs that really know what they're doign and are not in it to make a quick buck.

The extra you pay is not worth it, for certain things it can be like a cambelt, a battery is the perfect example of what is not, stealerships just rebrand the same stuff you can buy elsewhere and charge you extra for it, while a battery replacement is a very low risk item.
 
Zuner said:
Each to their own, however no, they do not always know best, it's actually rare to find dealerships with great mechs that really know what they're doign and are not in it to make a quick buck.

The extra you pay is not worth it, for certain things it can be like a cambelt, a battery is the perfect example of what is not, stealerships just rebrand the same stuff you can buy elsewhere and charge you extra for it, while a battery replacement is a very low risk item.
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They are in the business of selling cars, fixing them is an inconvenience so they usually charge you a fortune hoping you'll run away, which happens most of the time, but if it doesn't, they have more than enough headroom to pretty much replace everything and hope it works.
 
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