Secondhand electricity?

[sierraman]

Last battery I bought cost £38 for a fiesta and lasted four years possibly more.

[Timewaster]

Dave numbers out sounds to me like you dug up an electricity main!

3 phases a neutral and a street light feed?

If it was then You were bloody lucky it was disused.

[fordperv]

I have bought both scrapyard batteries and new batteries, the other day my saph was showing signs of the ancient bosch battery not quite being man enough, I went to a local place and got a yuasa professional 095 for £48, they don't have any demand for square lug batteries any more so jumped at the chance to sell it to me cheaper just to get it gone

[dave21478]

Dave numbers out sounds to me like you dug up an electricity main!

3 phases a neutral and a street light feed?

If it was then You were bloody lucky it was disused.

 

It was in the middle of nowhere. I suspect it was a load of old shit that had been buried there in the past.

[gordonbennet]

Yeah jump leads worthy of the name cost an arm and a leg and you still won't know if they're any good till you get a fully flat largish Diesel to start.

 

In my old job i had to jump lots of vehicles, the worse of which were Transit/LDV Diesels, LTi Taxis and Japanese 4x4's, we never used el cheapo jump leads yet a completely flat Tranny or Terrano/Maverick might need three sets of leads in parallel before you could get enough current across to start the thing, yet a good jump pack with short leads would do the job on its own.

The yardies (lads who pull the cars at large compounds not the other sort) at my old place had a Transit minibus for ferrying the lads round the compounds, that was fitted with motherfuckin leads roughly 5/8" dia cable alone, directly permanently fitted to the van battery and a  foam covered wooden pole bolted to the front that the equally motherfuckin croc clips resided on when not in use, despite being about 20ft in length they would start any vehicle.

 

Weirdly the odd times i've had to jump 24volt to start a lorry with a 12/14 litre engine its been a piece of piss with the same leads that wouldn't start a Tranny on their own, buggered if i know, voltage/resistance loss due to distance with 12v not the same with 24v?

[mercrocker]

I always keep a Clarke jumpstart pack in the T25 mainly because I keep leaving things switched on. My local motor factor is a Yuasa stockist and I haven't had a problem with one yet. They also made me up some weapons-grade jump leads! I did used to buy secondhand batteries and tyres but there doesn't seem much point while I can afford new ones. When the Cowley was delivered from the scrappy where I found him 5 years ago they left an old Bosch on it (car was a non-runner). Its still on the same battery - probably would have gone through a new one by now....

[myglaren]

I've had bad experiences with new Bosch batteries over the past 6 or so years, short lived, fings aint wot they used to be wiv once good names, Varta seem to last as do Yuasa, the latter not so easy to find though.

I bought a new Bosch battery for the C5 earlier this year.  Really wanted a Varta as that was the one originally fitted (not the one in as it was a crap looking thing with no name on it)

It was £56+VAT and I later discovered that the Bosch and Varta batteries all come from the same Bosch production line.

 

The previous C5 had a Varta fitted and it was suspect so a Yuasa was fitted, kept the Varta as a spare but it turned out there was nothing wrong with it so it was swapped back in.

When I was going to donate the Yuasa to a good cause, discovered it to be completely buggered due to neglect (left in the bin cupboard and forgotten, no electrolyte left  )

I'm taking better care of the noname one, it was still working fine but old and crap looking, didn't want to risk it failing in winter as battery swapping in a C5 is a bit of a pain if you are in a hurry.

[twosmoke300]

I can remember my dad swapping leads round on cf vans to jump them off at 24v

[gordonbennet]

I used to get years out of Bosch's, but the more recent examples have been short lived crap.

 

The huge Varta that was on the Volvo 940 Diesel when we bought it must have been 8 or 10 years old that i know of when BiL's dogs finally chewed it to buggery, my sister used to jump her Volvo 24v lorry off it when the junk went flat regularly over any long weekend, even the 24v surge when the lorry fired up never harmed the car or that battery, it used to turn the car over for minutes at a time when the glow plugs started to fail one after another, never once slowing up, mind you it was big sod think it was 100ah jobbie, would its modern replacement fare that well?

[twosmoke300]

Modern Bosch stuff is crap . I had a starter fail on a customers can after 2 months and the one I fitted to the wives car was faulty out of the box .

[Richard]

I trawled through eBay last year looking for the beefiest and longest leads I could get that weren't too expensive. I can't remember which seller they came from but these were the ones I settled on http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/381338314995at £25. Claimed 1200A and 5m long, and they've certainly been a massive improvement on the few times I've used them. They came in a round bag just over a foot in diameter, so they are fine to carry around in the boot.

[Bren]

My mate kept getting me batteries from scrappy that were fooked.

 

Eventually I bought one for our old fiesta that will start the SD1.

[PiperCub]

I've had bad experiences with new Bosch batteries over the past 6 or so years, short lived, fings aint wot they used to be wiv once good names, Varta seem to last as do Yuasa, the latter not so easy to find though.

 

Most Bosch stuff is shite these days so that's why I avoid them wherever possible.

 

Exide are good but would disagree with you about Yuasa - they used to be really good but the last couple of bike batteries I had from them were short-lived and the newish one my GTi came with died quickly too. /But if you are getting a 5 year guarantee with with it then maybe I've been unlucky.

 

Unless I'm getting shot of a vehicle soon, I usually buy new as round here, used ones seem to be too pricey to make it worth the bother. Plus as a shiftworker, I need something reliable. (A starter pack is always in the garage ready though.

[xtriple]

I buy new batteries nowadays. New genuine Honda one in the, er, Honda. Because it's tiny and a funny size no one stocks them so it had to be genuine - in stock, £80 fitted. The old one died 'cos of my neglect... as usual!

 

Both Bentleys had/have new batteries, neither of them bought by me, thankfully.

 

Back in the good old days when Quarry breakers was open to all and sundry (loved it there, Kyle thought of it as a second home!) I used to buy everything I could from there (and not buy all the stuff that fitted in my pockets!) and had loads of batteries, never had a problem with any of them. Granted, cars were only here to say 'hello' and then off to some other poor mug when they gave me a profit!

[HMC]

I tend to buy new ones, forked out for a new one for the range rover last week, which replaces the current one, itself bought new by me in 2007. 8 years isn't bad going IMO.

[HH-R]

I wouldn't buy a 2nd hand one but TBH if it did go Pete Tong it would just be from wherever is closest and open at the time!

[alfetta]

I've been buying part worn tyres of late. Generally a no-no, but I've been finding nearly new goodyears etc with basically 8mm of tread, for less than half a budget...I like recycling!

[steveo3002]

i always go for a new varta , ive had one last me over 12 years and its still on duty powering a lead light in the garage 

 

scrap yard isnt worth the petty money for me , but yeah if it looked near new then why not if the price is right 

[Des]

I get a few used batteries here and there for free, lots of cars around me sit parked up for 2 - 3 weeks as owners run out of money to fuel them shortly after payday, coz gummint austerity innit. Always the odd bonnet up and AA van action going on once a Month where some of these cars wont start after sitting a while, then a few batteries replaced, the old ones left on the pavement or conveniently dumped by the bins at my workshop. There's a bit of the 'Shite in a Bucket' about me so I'll happily hoover them up as there's a recycler one minutes drive away paying a fiverish each, I do give them a blat of charge first and find maybe one in five will work, a good example has been running an oversized version of a Poundland solar garden light in my back yard for a couple of years.

[andy18s]

The Mrs disco 3 had a new battery a couple of weeks ago.

Various gearbox/suspension faults were appearing at random times for no apparent reason

If the voltage isn't stable then the ecu will prioritise which systems get full.power,and which don't

£97 delivered was a good price and all is now back to normal

The P38 has a big foff deep cycle leisure battery on it,and spins it over like a washing machine! !!

 

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

[Rusty Pelican]

Battery as well as my Imp van it was for came from a scrappys in 91 - in 97 the battery gave up - i took it to my local Lucas depot ( remember them ) who tested it - confirmed its demise and then told me it was 14 years old so did rather well .

It was a Varta IIRC 

[Tamworthbay]

Yeah jump leads worthy of the name cost an arm and a leg and you still won't know if they're any good till you get a fully flat largish Diesel to start.

 

In my old job i had to jump lots of vehicles, the worse of which were Transit/LDV Diesels, LTi Taxis and Japanese 4x4's, we never used el cheapo jump leads yet a completely flat Tranny or Terrano/Maverick might need three sets of leads in parallel before you could get enough current across to start the thing, yet a good jump pack with short leads would do the job on its own.

The yardies (lads who pull the cars at large compounds not the other sort) at my old place had a Transit minibus for ferrying the lads round the compounds, that was fitted with motherfuckin leads roughly 5/8" dia cable alone, directly permanently fitted to the van battery and a  foam covered wooden pole bolted to the front that the equally motherfuckin croc clips resided on when not in use, despite being about 20ft in length they would start any vehicle.

 

Weirdly the odd times i've had to jump 24volt to start a lorry with a 12/14 litre engine its been a piece of piss with the same leads that wouldn't start a Tranny on their own, buggered if i know, voltage/resistance loss due to distance with 12v not the same with 24v?

our old 'handyman' at work tried to jump start the transit minibus we had with a pair of pound shop style jump leads. I warned him they weren't up to the job but he tried anyway. The transit had two nice lines down the bumper where the leads had melted into it and it still didn't start.

[steve_earwig]

Weirdly the odd times i've had to jump 24volt to start a lorry with a 12/14 litre engine its been a piece of piss with the same leads that wouldn't start a Tranny on their own, buggered if i know, voltage/resistance loss due to distance with 12v not the same with 24v?

Indeed, twice the voltage is half the current, so it's less affected by the resistance of the leads.

 

I used to buy 2nd hand batteries when I was in GB (cheapest has to be the Bosch I, ahem, found in an abandoned XR2 in the dodgy underground carpark of the dodgy housing estate where a mate of mine lived) but, since coming out here, with very few people I can call upon in the event of a FTP I've been buying new (it helps having a mate in a car spares shop who gives me them at cost). Also, as has been mentioned, modern batteries don't seem to give you any warning any more, one moment they're fine, literally the next they're a paperweight. It's reckoned anything over 5 years is pushing your luck.

 

On the subject of leads, a lot of moderns don't like them as the stray sparks when you connect/disconnect can fry the electronics - it's the same as welding without a surge suppressor across the battery, so you can actually buy leads with suppressors across them now.

[twosmoke300]

I've been told putting the sidelights on helps minimise any voltage spikes

[Taff]

New or secondhand, it doesn't matter. Just remember to dispose of your failed one by throwing it into the nearest canal.

[CHRIS1980]

I bought a second hand one for my dads kit car. Turns out it was brand new on the scrapped Astra a few weeks earlier. £15 and a £5 discount if I returned the old one. I used to work at the same yard in my teens and we charged the same then. On my wife's car I would buy new but for my old nails it's used. My granddad used to put wood under his car batteries as he said in the winter the cold metal in the tray doesn't help them crank over. He said they used to do that in the merchant navy. Not sure if it works though.

[dave21478]

^^  When I worked at Halfords the battery supplier told us not to store them on the concrete floor in the warehouse as they didnt like the cold from it.

[twosmoke300]

My battery supplier told me the same thing last week 😄

[jonny69]

My daily is a 48 year old car and I don't carry jump leads.

 

The price of batteries these days makes me wince, but I'd never consider a second hand battery. Constantly getting a flat battery because either the dynamo was packing up because the battery was sucking too much or the starter motor was on its last legs as a result of either of those two was one of those things that used to make driving old motors a complete misery. I look for the longest warranty for the least hassle. I tend to go for Halfords because the battery is good enough for what it needs to do and it has a decent warranty. Also, they put the production date on the side of the battery - because mine is a slightly strange size, I can root through the stock until I find one with a nice recent date on it.