buying used car audio batteries

[justin smith 0]

so i see alot of people selling used batteries , capacitors, and batt-caps ect. (batteries are what im interested in) and i always thought that batteries and what not lose charge, voltage go dead or what ever you what to call it over time. so can you just keep them charged and they last forever? as always im lost lol

Edited March 31, 2009 by justiin smith

[shizzzon 461]

no, they will eventually die... that's why autozone sells batteries... gonna need em eventually.

testing float voltage alone wont tell u if a battery is 100% or near 100% operational. It has to simulate a load and then you meter it while it's "recovering" to see how well it recovers.

Also, you can put the battery on a trickle charger and charge it all the way up. Test the voltage when it's done charging and test again approximately 12hrs later. IF the voltage has dropped below it's normal float... then it's bad too.

As you can see, only way to tell is to have it tested or test it yourself so unless the person SPECIFICALLY has done this, you wouldnt know.

[seanbw 1]

just find a service shop that does free battery diagnostics (sears auto centers come to mind) and have them run a battery diagnostic on the used battery in question. if you're not buying locally then i guess you buy at your own risk...

[justin smith 0]

i was just wondering really thats about the fastest ive ever had a question awnsered here so right on guys even at 2:00am plus. so about how long give or take how it was treated is a good bateries (powermaster, kinetic) life span?

[shizzzon 461]

cant clearly give you an exact answer but if you keep em charged with the right size alternator, you should easily get around 10yrs out of em I would assume.

[justin smith 0]

wow thats crazy you learn something new every day

[kryptonitewhite 1]

so i see alot of people selling used batteries , capacitors, and batt-caps ect. (batteries are what im interested in) and i always thought that batteries and what not lose charge, voltage go dead or what ever you what to call it over time. so can you just keep them charged and they last forever? as always im lost lol

awesome question, good thread.

I went througha scare a month or 2 ago, I've had 6 optima red tops sitting around for 3-4 years, brand new.... voltage on some dropped down to 12.2 or somethin like that.... got them charged up, been great ever since!