Nissan Micra (1992 - 2003) - 01 1.0 Twelve month old battery: recharge and fit | Technical matters | Back Room Forum

Tue 5 Jan 2010 11:10

01 1.0 Twelve month old battery: recharge and fit - mikem004

A brand new battery has been sitting on my garage floor for the last 12 months. It was bought in error for my previous Micra and was never used (it turned out that my old car needed a new alternator).
As the battery on my current Micra seems to be a bit sluggish in turning the engine over, I charged the "brand new" battery up 2 days ago, on overnight charge.
Today, I fitted the new battery. It started the car up with no problems, but the dashboard showed a "battery low" light that went out immediately when I started the engine.
This normally doesn't happen. The "battery low" light is usually never shown.

Is this expected behaviour when fitting a new battery? Will I have to take the car out and fully charge it up (I'm snowed in at the moment)? Battery was over 13 Volts with the engine turned off.
Thanks
Mike

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Tue 5 Jan 2010 11:32

01 1.0 Twelve month old battery: recharge and fit - Peter.N.

Leaving a battery uncharged for twelve months will do it no good at all but if its working OK you may have got away with it. If you have charged it during that period it should be allright. If its reading 13v that's a good sign but it might take a while to come up to full capacity.

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Tue 5 Jan 2010 12:24

01 1.0 Twelve month old battery: recharge and fit - mikem004

Thanks. The "brand new" battery is a cheap one. So I will use with caution.
The old one is a Bosch. I put it on the charger and it read "Charged" after an hour.

So I might refit the Bosch and take it for a long drive.
Mike

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Tue 5 Jan 2010 18:52

01 1.0 Twelve month old battery: recharge and fit - Peter.N.

If the Bosch showed full in an hour, that indicates low capacity. If you are charging at say 10 amps and the battery is 50ah it should take approx 5 hours to fully charge. To be fully charged in an hour indicates a capacity of only 10ah (assuming a 10a charge rate)

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Tue 5 Jan 2010 19:09

01 1.0 Twelve month old battery: recharge and fit - mikem004

If the Bosch showed full in an hour that indicates low capacity. If you are

charging at say 10 amps and the battery is 50ah it should take approx 5

hours to fully charge. To be fully charged in an hour indicates a capacity of

only 10ah (assuming a 10a charge rate)

Yes. But the Bosch wasn't fully discharged. It was still capable of firing up the engine 1st time, but sounded "on the way out" to my inexperienced ears.

Mike

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