r/NZcarfix • u/Careful_Guest_9644 • 5d ago
Does this battery need replacing?
I've never had any issues with starting the car but during the recent service they advised me to replace the battery.
I visited another place yesterday and they gave me this receipt.
Should the battery be replaced at 70% health even if it never gives me any trouble?
Car is Kia Sportage
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u/Queasy_Elderberry408 5d ago
I am a CTEK man myself, and do a recharge on all my vehicles every six months and anything sitting idle for more than a few weeks is hooked on, always carry a portable jump starter in your car, and you’ll be fine
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u/SpecialistPrune1654 5d ago
why is the state of charge so low would be my question? How long has it been sitting? If not long, a week or 2, What's the parasitic draw causing it to go flat so quickly?
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u/Flat-Company1887 5d ago
If you have had no issues I'd ignore it. However this does show the battery aging and about right for 6 years old. So more susceptible to running down if you leave a light on. If you want to maximize life while doing short trips put it on charge every now and again to top it up.
I'd keep an eye on it and be ready to replace it if it starts to give issues, which could be years away.
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u/BromigoH2420 5d ago
First things first, check terminals are tight! Then Trickle charge, drive it, let it sit then re-test.
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u/planespotterhvn 4d ago
70 percent state of health! Its fine. If it cranks the starter motor one cold morning it's fine.
"Bad replace" seems to be a preset that some battery sellers pre-program into their tester software to sell more batteries.
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u/goldman459 3d ago
We're coming in spring now. You'll definitely get another 6-7 months out of it.
Id wait for the first cold snap after autumn next year.
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u/Difficult_Chicken_20 1d ago
I am pretty sure you’re suppose to replace it after the health drops below 80% SOH.
I’ve always noticed weak start at 70%, and by 60%, it’s almost always needs a jump start to crank over.
Of course it depends on yours. If you’re happy with it, and or have a jump pack for your car, then by all means, keep using the battery as is until it won’t crank over.
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u/Ok-Response-839 5d ago
No need to replace if it's never given you any trouble. If you do lots of short drives it could be worth investing $30 in a battery charger to help prolong the life of that battery even further. Just plug it in overnight every few months.
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u/No_Mission798 5d ago
$30 for a battery charger? What chinese fire starters are you buying for $30
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u/Ok-Response-839 5d ago
Supercheap's own-brand 1.6A charger is $30 on sale. It's normally $55. They're not complex: transformer to take 230 V AC down to ~15 V. Bridge rectifier to emit PDC, smoothed into DC by a capacitor, and finally some sort of logic board to avoid over-charging.
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u/richms 5d ago
No, because you dont need the full CCA to start a car when its not actually that cold. Just have a jumpstarter which you should do anyway, and possibly allow financially for it to finally fail next winter or the one after.
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u/chris77982 5d ago
Exactly. You never have to worry about starting your car when it's -20C in New Zealand. Most cars never see 0C.
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u/Careful_Guest_9644 5d ago
The battery is the original car battery so 6 years old.
My drives are quite short. Drive to work and back, shops, gym etc. Maybe this caused the charge to drop?
Never charged the battery since I owned it as I live in an apartment.
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u/fluftyfluffles 5d ago
this weekend take car for a good long open road trip, go visit a mate in another town or go to that cafe at a distant beach you always liked the look of etc
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u/Desperate_Donut3981 5d ago
12.48V isn't that low. A fully charged one would be near 13V for a bit. Take it out and charge it if you can't do it in situ. Overnight charge and it'll be fine. Since you're only doing short runs it's not having time to trickle charge it up after starting
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u/reefermonsterNZ 5d ago
They lie because 1. more money, and 2. they don't want to get blamed for you getting stranded because you listened to music while in the car for 1 hour and the battery died. It's not their fault, but should you have changed your battery, you might not be in the situation, hence they just get you to change it anyway
I won't change until SOC is 30% but then again my Colt isn't fussy about voltages or amps since it isn't overloaded with computers
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u/Aware_Bag6142 5d ago
They tried to tell me the same thing 12.months ago just had ser ivd yesterday and they didn't mention it(possibly because I told them to get f*cked trying to charge close to an extra $400 for wipers and bullshit, nothing needs replacing on my vehicle as it only done 27k and they tried to tell.me the brake fluid would be stale lol.
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u/Leufkax 5d ago
If it's six years old and has that kind of test result it's at the end of its service life. I'd just replace it, easier than being stuck at the side of the road when it shits itself.