My Amazing 12-year old battery...

[Yosemite_Sam1]

It's an original Toyota battery when I bought my new truck.

Zero maintenance and I thought it's dead, which is long overdue for replacement anyway, when it did not crank nor rev the engine.

Checked the voltage and saw it still have 11.1V.

Being new in battery revival, I put on the charger showing it already have 13.6V in 2 hours of charging.

But the lights are not yet green to indicate it's fully charged. Left it overnight.

By morning it's showed 12.4V, the charger gone green. Tried to start the engine with it and it went alive in just one try.

Got an internet recommendation to leave the engine and the lights on and measure voltage (think this is the alternator test). It is showing voltage of 14.3V.

I'll check again after a week with battery and truck exposed in sub-zero weather. Otherwise, it's out for replacement.

[Yosemite_Sam1]

Found a cheap cigarette light jack adapter for USB where the middle has volt-meter. I find it relatively accurate. It reads 14.3V when the engine/alternator is running and 12.3V with engine off.

Dang, those cheap Chinese products can be useful too -- sometimes.

[drsteve]

I replaced the OEM Delco maintenance free battery in my 2006 Silverado last spring. It still cranked, but it was getting slow on cold mornings. I figured 13 years was pretty good, decided not to press my luck.

The truck has 100K miles.

[WTP-GC]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

twodownzero wrote:
I replaced the batteries in my 2005 Ram for the first time in May of 2018. I took delivery of the truck in March 2005. Is 13+ years a good run or what?

Not the case any longer! I replaced mine on my 15 RAM at 4.5 years. Too many die at 4-5 years so it made sense to just get new ones when "I" wanted to.

With all the electronics weird things happen when the batteries are not 100% on the newer trucks.

I replaced the batteries in my 2014 RAM in 2019 as well.
My old 7.3L PS Ford batteries lasted 10 years before replacement. They were branded “Motorcraft” so I drove to the Ford dealership and got new ones...for less than what the more common brands cost at the parts stores.

[philh]

My mom had a battery that was about 10 years old. She had AAA and told them to bring a battery out when they came to start her car. Oh no, we'll get your van started. She said no bring a battery, this one has failed.

Long story short, they came out, discovered the battery post had come off the battery, which she already new 🙂

[Yosemite_Sam1]

mkirsch wrote:
WHY was the battery dead in the first place?

Did you leave the headlights on?

Did you not drive the truck for several months?

Was it fine the night before, and dead the next morning? If this is the case, the battery is shot and needs to be replaced immediately. It has failed and will no longer hold a charge for long.

It must be that we've not ran the engine since we hibernated from camping for the winter.

After the re-charge, I was able to restart the engine, turn on the lights, radio, etc. and rand the whole gamut of stress tests, headlights while engine is off.

The voltage indeed drop and I re-charge the battery again and it's holding a steady voltage after that that experts say is an indication that battery is still good.

Thanks everyone for the input.

[Cummins12V98]

twodownzero wrote:
I replaced the batteries in my 2005 Ram for the first time in May of 2018. I took delivery of the truck in March 2005. Is 13+ years a good run or what?

Not the case any longer! I replaced mine on my 15 RAM at 4.5 years. Too many die at 4-5 years so it made sense to just get new ones when "I" wanted to.

With all the electronics weird things happen when the batteries are not 100% on the newer trucks.

[twodownzero]

I replaced the batteries in my 2005 Ram for the first time in May of 2018. I took delivery of the truck in March 2005. Is 13+ years a good run or what?

[mkirsch]

WHY was the battery dead in the first place?

Did you leave the headlights on?

Did you not drive the truck for several months?

Was it fine the night before, and dead the next morning? If this is the case, the battery is shot and needs to be replaced immediately. It has failed and will no longer hold a charge for long.

[RoyJ]

There're also battery testers that measure the inductance/resistance of the lead cells, essentially a modern version of the carbon pile load tester.

One of the quickest ways a battery dies is sulphation - leaving it in a less than full state of charge. Unlike lithium ions, lead acids LOVE to be kept at 100% charge. I have 14+ batteries between my vehicles, toys, equipment, etc. All except my daily drivers sit on a tender at 13.0 - 13.4v

[wilber1]

Yosemite Sam1 wrote:

wilber1 wrote:
I seem to get about seven years out of my truck batteries. The voltage may look good but a load test can tell a different story.

If I may, what's a load test and how do you do it?

Would that indicate if the battery is dying or about to be dead?

Yes it would.

You need a load tester. It puts a load on the battery for several seconds and measures the voltage drop under load. I bought one at Harbor Freight on sale a few years ago. Less than 30 bucks if I remember right. I know, Harbor Freight but it's good enough for the amount I use it. At least it should tell me if I need to get a battery checked with a good quality tester.

The dealer does a load test on our Audi battery every time it goes in for service. Six years and still good but it is located under the cargo compartment floor where it isn't exposed to weather or engine heat.

[Yosemite_Sam1]

GaryUT wrote:
The battery in our truck was still going strong when I replaced it at 9 years.

Since we boondock in the middle of nowhere, usually out of cell range, I didn't want to chance it any longer.

My thoughts exactly -- that's why I want to pre-empt it unless I'm throwing good money when my battery still have some kick left on it.

[Yosemite_Sam1]

wilber1 wrote:
I seem to get about seven years out of my truck batteries. The voltage may look good but a load test can tell a different story.

If I may, what's a load test and how do you do it?

Would that indicate if the battery is dying or about to be dead?

[wilber1]

I seem to get about seven years out of my truck batteries. The voltage may look good but a load test can tell a different story.

[ford_coupe]

had 2003 dodge ram 3500 dualy original battery still in ewhen i sold it in2017