Dry cell battery...recharge or rebuy?
 

I have a Hawker Genesis battery in my car. I let the car sit for 6 days without starting it. Today I go to start it and it barely turns over.

Is this normal for a dry cell battery if I don't run my car daily or is it time to get a new one? How long should it hold a charge for?

Thanks in advance!

It may be to toast - but are you sure the problem is not in your charging system instead of the battery?
Have the battery tested at your local auto parts store first.
It's amazing how often a loose or worn alternator belt can cause these problems. A healthy battery would last longer than 6 days.
Check for corrosion on the terminals and INSIDE the wires close to the battery terminals. They sometimes self destruct from within. Also, are you running a heavy enough guage wire from/to the battery if it is a remote mount? Remote mounts require a MUCH thicker guage due to the distance, and usually offset the weight loss of a smaller battery. Food for thought before spending big $$ on a new battery just to have the same thing happen again. I would also look for a new generic dry/gel cell from Batteries Plus instead of replacing it with a "brand" name. Batteries, like gasoline, are pretty much all the same, unless you are going ultra high end which are mil spec, and a totally different animal, and usually 3X the price. You should also have your alternator checked for output while you're at it....they have been know to fail. If the alternator is bad do not - repeat - do not buy a rebuilt unit. It's a PITA to fork out big bucks for an OEM but in my experience it's worth the money for a new one.:cool:

naaah ,the batterys probly fine,
it probably just needs a jump.

I let my FD sit for a couple weeks, and the battery drained
away pretty quick.

usually batteries last a while before they die completely,
just remember to drive it around for a while to recharge
it after you jump it.

My car sits for days/week all the time...on a regular basis..damn garage queen...

Never had a problem with my dry cell..

Johnny

The factory alarm drains the battery slowly. I just keep my doors unlocked when I park it in the garage for long periods of time so the alarm doesn't come on. This only helps if you have a garage though.

Well I don't know how old the battery is but it looks brand new on the terminals with no evidence of cleaning done to it. I know my alternator is fine, at least it was before I installed the Greddy pulley kit to remove my air pump.

It's pettits battery relocation kit so I trust the wires they are using....may be time to get another one. I'll recharge it and see how it does by driving the car around every other day or so.

Thanks for all the replies!!! I feel better now!

a battery every 3 months
 

I heard of one guy that his battery would die every 3 months, apparently the heat under the hood drains the battery qicker than normal. I believe he got a sealed battery of some sort also moving the battery to the trunk might help.

I have the battery in the rear bin (driver side) with positive wire connected to the starter. Had it charged all night and ran it this morning with no problems. I'll have to see if it will keep the charge until tomorrow.

I'm not 100% up to speed on the Genesis batteries, but I know that a DEEP-CYCLE dry cell can be fully discharged at least 1000 times before it can no longer recharge. That's not to say that the Hawker Genesis is or isn't a deep cycle, I don't know. If you fully discharge a regular battery, you run the risk of damaging an actual cell, thus preventing it from recharging to full capacity, if at all. Hope this helps.

Jason

BCNU is correct. If you do recharge do not use any more than a 500 ma charger to do it. 2 amps will cook it, guaranteed. You need to bring it back to life SLOWLY. Divide the amp hour rating of the battery (ie 14) by the charger output (ie .5) and that's how many hours it should take (28) on that charger to bring it back from full discharge. Do not use your alternator to charge the battery -it's not designed to do that and you can cook that sucker!:D

I just got done putting a hawker (925) in my fd.. and I remember in the literature that these batteries apparantly don't appreciate having a large parasitic drain.. you wired up for an aftermarket stereo? Something draining the battery? These dry-cell batteries have amazing charge-retention.. something like 2 years if the temp doesn't get too cold. It should have sneezed at 6 days. But whatever.. they website (http://www.odysseyfactory.com/) has more detailed info on re-charging..

I take it back! Follow the instructions on that website! Very enlightening. They have VERY specific ways to charge these batteries. They are very unusual that they have long shelf life AND can also come up with some very impressive cranking power. Much different than the one's I am used to, as they are designed for long life only and very low output for electronics use ie solenoids~!
Very cool stuff/Technology marches on..........My method will not work - it' only good for maintaining it once it is fully charged.
One hell of a battery, but I'm sure it ain't cheap!;) :doh:

Actually the battery is pretty cheap (about 100). Saves you about 20lbs of weight. Charging is the only issue, but not a big deal if you drive daily I assume.

Only thing that can drain the battery is the radio (even when car is off, will it drain that much) and the fan mod after the car shuts down.

And here I was thinking I was intelligent just b/c I'm an eletrical computer engineer. Go Hawker... that's some pretty impressive technology. I think I'll stick w/ my Optima yellow top.

Jason