Battery quality?

[RoverFolkUs]

6 minutes ago, Spurious said:

Any opinions on the Halfords 4 year calcium batteries? The Audis Yasua has finally bitten the dust, losing a volt per hour when at 12v. It's got a date stamp of 2015 on it, so it's done okay to get this far. 

Looking at the Safety Sheet, it seems Halfords ones are made by Yasua. Which aren't brilliant but don't seem crap. Or is it all a crapshoot and I just buy whatevers the cheapest? 

ie this one which is about £70 after discount. 

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/batteries/car-batteries/halfords-hcb075-calcium-12v-car-battery-4-year-guarantee-950600.html

 

 

My picasso has got one of those in, not my first choice but I can leave it for 2 months and I'll start right up absolutely fine. (Since curing the battery drain which condemned seven batteries in its lifetime based on the paperwork!! 🤣)

It's only ever died once in the winter when I left it for a couple of months, which I can forgive it for. 

Think of it this way, £70 for a battery that will last you 4 years, if it doesn't then you'll get it replaced and then maybe it'll last 6/7/8 years between the two for your £70 🤷

Bosch have been my go to lately, was fitting Exides for a couple of years and only 1 has come back under warranty out of however many years of fitting them 

My Focus had a Yuasa which was fitted in 2015 and died in 2021 so 6 years was forgiveble. I only put an el-cheapo "Platinum Prestige" and roughly 2 years later it's not the best tbh. It's got another years warranty and I'll be surprised if it lives past that if at all. 

[Datsuncog]

Ex-Halfords parts desk monkey here.

The own-brand batteries made by Yuasa are about 800 times better than when Lucas made them for us... not that that's saying very much.

But while the 4-yr Calcium units are maybe pricey enough compared to what ECP will flog you, very very few of them ever came back as faulty.

I processed our store's returns each week and it was rare there was a calcium battery logged as FAGO - and if it was, generally it had failed right towards the end of the warranty period. In which case the customer was given a new one, no quibbling - and with a fresh 4-yr warranty.

If you're like me and running old nails with a projected lifespan of weeks/months then the cheapest battery out will probably do, but if you're popping it into something half-decent  then I think you could do worse than a Halfords Calcium.

£70 with discount sounds alright, to be fair.

[RoverFolkUs]

I don't rate the new Starline ones at all from ECP.  Had a breakdown come in, car just bought, previous owner had fitted a Starline one a couple of months prior and it was simply no good and wasn't holding a charge. I'd be intrigued to know who's making them

[Metal Guru]

Have to say the Yuasa battery I have is well over 10 years old . 4 1/2 is about my previous best (Varta).

[artdjones]

Back in the 80s one of the big car hire companies in the UK did a study of battery longevity. They compared Lucas in Montegos, Exide in Sierras and AC Delco in Cavaliers. After the test was over( I can't remember if it was 2 or 3 years), the vast majority of Lucas had failed, about 50% of the Exides, and almost none of the Delcos. So bad batteries have been around a long time. 

 

[Tetleysmooth]

I found out yesterday that my Focus 1.6 petrol needs a battery in tip top condition. I've only had the car a few weeks and it's been a brilliant starter until yesterday. I pick my warehouse manager up at the station most mornings - no, it's not me brown nosing, I drive past the station at the time his train arrives, so it would be rude not to. Anyway, I collected him yesterday, went to drive off, and the Focus wouldn't start. The battery spun the engine over ok, but it just wouldn't fire. The warehouse lad came out to us and brought a NoCo jumpstarter. I connected it and it fired up straight away. Drove to work absolutely fine. I had a busy day yesterday, so the warehouse manager ordered me a new battery online. He phoned me while I was out and said I could collect the battery from the Woking branch of ECP. I went to the branch and was quite surprised to see them plonk a Lion battery on the counter. Then they gave me the bill and off I went. I don't like Lion batteries. After a bad experience with Mrs T's old Pajero which had 2 fitted. She had them fitted while out one day on her own, and they really didn't last long. It wasn't until I got to my next site in Belgravia that I checked the paperwork. My boss had paid for a Bosch battery, and they gave me a Lion. Saucy bastards. He's going to try to resolve the issue today, although he's not on site. I really should have checked the bill before I left Woking, but I had the van parked awkwardly and was really in a rush to get to Central London. Check your paperwork people. Hopefully the Focus will have a nice new Bosch on it soon.

[Tetleysmooth]

By the way, has anybody else had this issue with a petrol Focus? The engine seemed to be cranking over fine, but wouldn't fire until we put the jump pack on it. Do these 1.6 Focii needs lots of power to start them. I tried it again when I got back from my run and it wouldn't fire again. I'm using the company Insignia again now.

[twosmoke300]

The petrol foci suffer with a one crank issue sometimes . But they always start . I believe it’s the fuel returning back to the tank overnight 

[dave j]

I have a Bosch battery in the camper that is only about 18 months old and it's not holding a charge any more. 

It's supposedly got a 4 year guarantee but I bought it off eBay so let's see how successful getting it replaced will be..

[bunglebus]

It's probably as much to with being ex-staff as anything, but I put Halfords stuff on mine. Always the best spec they do, so currently a 5 year guarantee intended for cars with stop start, I can't be doing with shit batteries causing problems when it's -200 outside. The previous one was also a Halfords that lasted about 10 years I think before starting to struggle on cold mornings. 

I do have a strange intermittent battery drain I think as a couple of times it was too flat to start it after 4-5 days parked. Been OK lately though.

Only caveat is the specs have gone down on Halfords stuff, the previous 3 year standard battery had a higher CCA etc rating than the current calcium supposedly high performance one

[leafsprung]

Find out who makes Volvo OE. I only changed the one in the XC70 last year or late 2021. It was date coded to the same year as the car; 2004! Which is frankly incredible for a big diesel with all the electric toys on 140000 miles. 

[EyesWeldedShut]

Ditto Bini - replaced the 2008 AGM battery in the wife's Bini at 140,000 miles and 14 years. Big battery though for a 1.6 D

[sierraman]

I’ve fitted loads of Halfords ones and they’ve all been absolutely fine. Again people knock Lion ones, they’re not the best I grant you but on an old banger that’s probably got 2-3 years tops left in it then it’ll probably see the car out. 

[SiC]

32 minutes ago, leafsprung said:

Find out who makes Volvo OE. I only changed the one in the XC70 last year or late 2021. It was date coded to the same year as the car; 2004! Which is frankly incredible for a big diesel with all the electric toys on 140000 miles. 

The AGM Varta in our 2010 A4 did 11 years and 210k miles until the fuel system shat itself. Stop/start used all the time and still working fine before the car broke. Admittedly the battery was starting to struggle a bit nearer the end (left for a week idle you got an energy saving warning) but still started everytime. 

[straightSix]

3 hours ago, sierraman said:

I’ve fitted loads of Halfords ones and they’ve all been absolutely fine. Again people knock Lion ones, they’re not the best I grant you but on an old banger that’s probably got 2-3 years tops left in it then it’ll probably see the car out. 

They haven't lasted anywhere near 3 years in my experience and ECP were cunts about exchanging under warranty because I didn't have the paper receipt 

[warch]

My Land Rover had a second hand battery fitted about 20 years ago (so originally fitted to a 90s Vauxhall), which finally gave up the goat last year whilst at South Shropshire recycling centre.

'Tell you what' said the nice cheerful council bloke, 'I've a got a load of batteries in that shipping container, I'll just go and see if any of them still work'. Came back 5 minutes later with a 70AH Varta, which transformed the starting performance (didn't even need the starting handle any more) for the princely sum of FA. 

[Tetleysmooth]

Is coppergrease a good conductor of electricity? I was thinking of putting some on the battery terminals when I eventually fit the new battery, or is it a big no no?

[bigfella2]

Batteries are just pot luck, I've had a Bosch silver replaced under warranty, as properly dead. I bought a £10 2nd hand Lion battery off my car scrapper mate that I had on my c3, that's still going strong after 4 years+ even leaving it long  enough to go flat and not to start on more than one occasion and that was still working when I sold the car.

Alot of it is how they have been treated in the past, if a car has been sat on a forecourt for months, or does a two mile journey to the post office once a week etc.

When I buy a battery I just go for a midrange Exide battery now and not been too disappointed. It's like anything you get good ones and you get bad ones. 

[Low ontime]

12 minutes ago, Tetleysmooth said:

Is coppergrease a good conductor of electricity? I was thinking of putting some on the battery terminals when I eventually fit the new battery, or is it a big no no?

Think petroleum jelly is the norm, no idea on copper grease

[Cavcraft]

17 hours ago, RoverFolkUs said:

I don't rate the new Starline ones at all from ECP.  Had a breakdown come in, car just bought, previous owner had fitted a Starline one a couple of months prior and it was simply no good and wasn't holding a charge. I'd be intrigued to know who's making them

ECP seem to own Starline, but I'm guessing there are  companies out there somewhere who supply myriad different battery sellers with the same battery and a different sticker.  If you think they're crap, then you need* to try ERA branded ones

Lion are hit and miss, had a couple that'd have been kicking round for quite some time and they're fine, yet a small newer one was knackered in no time. I think they have a decent warranty length though, not that that counts for too much if they do keep failing.

My money would go on a Bosch, Exide or Varta.

 

[N Dentressangle]

The brilliant thing about Halfords batteries is the guarantee.

I've had two new batteries out of them under guarantee, no hassle each time. The receipt's on my emails, so easy to find, and you just have to take it back into the shop to sort it out. Try doing that with Tayna or another distance seller.

A Halfords trade card or similar makes them only a fiver more than internet stuff too. So I'm Halfords FTW all the way.

[SiC]

What's the trick to get a Halfords Trade Card? Do you still need to show proof of working in the trade?

[bunglebus]

My son in law showed his NVQ mechanical engineering qualification. 

I got mine as a consolation prize about 20 years ago when all the service centres got closed down, as I was working there at the time - technically that meant I was actually employed by the AA as they bought the garages off Halfords, but they gave us all a card anyway

[RoverFolkUs]

9 minutes ago, SiC said:

What's the trick to get a Halfords Trade Card? Do you still need to show proof of working in the trade?

You'll need some sort of proof but the enforcement of the elegibility criteria is roughly depicted by the below image: 

You'll just need a spoof business card or headed letter or advert or whatever and you'll be fine. The staff generally do not give a toss.

I recall someone on here doing exactly that, I can't remember who or when though 

[N Dentressangle]

3 hours ago, RoverFolkUs said:

You'll just need a spoof business card or headed letter or advert or whatever and you'll be fine. The staff generally do not give a toss.

That's how I got mine. Work of fiction - they didn't give a toss.

I think the new 'Motoring Club' replicates most of the discounts these days, mind

[Datsuncog]

I was working for Halfords when the Trade Card was launched, think it might have been around 2006 or so.

There were 'incentives' for stores to sign up trade customers. Bonuses for the top store in the area, that sort of thing.

Instructions from Head Office in Redditch on precise eligibility criteria were... vague.

So you had a bunch of teenagers on a mumbled promise of riches, running round trying to sign up anyone who came through the door.

Old giffer looking for a bottle of Triplewax and a Value sponge? Certainly sir, and would you like to sign up for our trade card? There's discounts...

Harrassed mother in looking for a Zafira headlight bulb? Not a problem madam, and did you know it's cheaper if you're a Trade Card holder?

So the next thing we knew, we'd signed up about 800 customers through our store, many of which were employees and their scratty friends and extended family members... lovely.

Until the Area 6 weekly budget target dropped, and suddenly the store manager twigged that we were now expected to lift about £14,000 a week from Trade Card holders, based on the *very high* number of sign-ups we'd achieved...

Fuck me, we'd have been doing well to lift £100 a week from Trade customers. 99% of our sign-ups only ever came in to buy Jelly Belly air fresheners and South Park demister pads, none of which counted as a trade purchase. You'd get the odd punter looking filters and a brake pad set, maybe a replacement door mirror, but that was it.

So we never got near store budget again.

And we didn't get any rewards either.

In fact, "failing to achieve Trade Card targets" was used as a reason to deny us any quarterly bonuses, going forward.

So, although I didn't realise it at the time, some staff then took it upon themselves to award their own bonuses... and suddenly our stock losses jumped too.

All in all, it was a total disaster. It got worse a few months after launch when we were ordered to bin a load of our older spares stock like coils and starter motors and gasket sets, so the rare time any genuine members of the motor trade did pay us a visit for an urgent part, chances were we wouldn't have it.

"We can get it in for you, for next Wednesday..."

"Naw, yer alright son. I'll away and try Motortune."

But fuck it, I've still got mine nearly twenty years later and I still use it - even though they seem to be heavily pushing this Halfords Motoring Club as their latest wheeze...

[andy18s]

I can remember buying a battery in MotorMania and being asked "you want a 2 or 3 year warranty on that?"

I asked what the difference was and got told " about a fiver"

Exactly the same battery,just a different box ticked on the receipt

[PhilA]

On 1/19/2022 at 5:29 AM, NorfolkNWeigh said:

 As with most things, batteries are so cheap now it doesn’t really matter. But a couple of years,ago I got so fed up with Cheap ECP Lion stuff failing after a year, I started putting the receipt in a sandwich bag and taping it to the battery , intending to actually see if they’d honour the “ guarantee”. Since then I haven’t had one fail, obviously!

Funny, they've tripled in price here yet remained just as bad as they were.

[Noel Tidybeard]

varta are the batteries supplied to honda if i'm not mistaken

[Cavcraft]

In fairness, Halford's trade card gets a decent discount on tools etc too. I don't know what battery prices (with card) are like, but they used to knock a lot off.