[Wanderer]

The stock battery of my Polo 1.2 TDI lasted for about 4.5 yrs and 61000 Kms. The practice I follow is, to never switch off engine on traffic signals.

[Mortis]

Just got the 3rd battery for my Chevrolet Beat Petrol. Again I felt that it had to be done prematurely due to fault of others. Original one lasted 3 years but got discharged fully 3 times in the span of a month and had to be jump started cos sevice centre guys didn't use a shim and tighten the cable properly.
The replacement Bosch also was just replaced because I haven't been using my car much due to road closure at SNDT Juhu. My brother's driver during this time has been starting the car 4 times a day to move it so that he can park my brother's car in the garage and then remove it again in the evening to protect it from the sun/rain. So yeah the battery got deeply discharged because of low running and multiple starts

[GTO]

Just like planned obsolescence, are batteries designed to fail at a certain point in time?

It is EXACTLY 5 years since I got a new battery for the Jeep (related thread) and it has died out . The timing is so uncanny - as if the battery came with a clock inside to self-destruct.

[Garth]

On my third battery on my Skoda Rapid 2012. First one (OEM) gave up after 29 months. Second (Exide) after 32 months. Third one has done its duty for 27 months till now.


Sorry for the noob question, but are the neighborhood shops able to check battery health? If so how?

[Mortis]

They check the Specific Gravity of the Acid in the cells , Cranking Voltage/Amps and also the voltage coming from alternator at idle and when revved

[tazmaan]

Originally Posted by GTO

Just like planned obsolescence, are batteries designed to fail at a certain point in time?

It is EXACTLY 5 years since I got a new battery for the Jeep (related thread) and it has died out . The timing is so uncanny - as if the battery came with a clock inside to self-destruct.

This is one doubt I have been having not only with batteries but a lot of other devices.

My Honda Jazz battery lasted 30 months and the Isuzu V-cross battery lasted 29 months both were original company fitted Exides.

I firmly believe there is some kind of industry secret behind this especially smart phone batteries.

[amitk26]

The warranty of any product is kept slightly longer then Mean Time Between Failure ( MTBF). With modern production process its possble to tightly control MTBF.

If components fail before or long after the MTBF it means that std. deviation is very high which in turn means poor quality standard.

If suppose products fail long after warranty, it means product is over-engineered which means less profit to manufacturer.

If they can keep MTBF 1 day above warranty and make S.D. zero it will be ideal situation from manufacturer's point of view.

[mxh]

Originally Posted by GTO

Just like planned obsolescence, are batteries designed to fail at a certain point in time?

It is EXACTLY 5 years since I got a new battery for the Jeep (related thread) and it has died out . The timing is so uncanny - as if the battery came with a clock inside to self-destruct.

I experienced the same thing with the Sonic battery which came fitted in my Honda City. As soon as the 2 years warranty ended, the battery failed. I replaced it with an Amaron Pro battery with 5 years warranty but I guess you have the issue with Amaron as well.

[arindambasu13]

Originally Posted by mxh

I experienced the same thing with the Sonic battery which came fitted in my Honda City. As soon as the 2 years warranty ended, the battery failed. I replaced it with an Amaron Pro battery with 5 years warranty but I guess you have the issue with Amaron as well.

Did you install the Amaron with the same battery capacity as your OEM Sonic battery, or did you go for a higher capacity one? What was the cost of the new battery - can you please share?

[mxh]

Originally Posted by arindambasu13

Did you install the Amaron with the same battery capacity as your OEM Sonic battery, or did you go for a higher capacity one? What was the cost of the new battery - can you please share?

Same capacity. It was around Rs 3900, Amaron Pro model.

[Shashwat B]

In my cars -

1. Hyundai elantra 2005, battery was replaced in 2011-2012 after having driven about 60,000+ kms
The second replacement was carried out in 2017.

2. Scorpio vlx 2008 - Battery was replaced in 2013/2014. Not sure about the kms covered. The same battery is working well till date.

[pjbiju]

Originally Posted by pjbiju

After 6 years and 7 months, I replaced the OEM Amaron battery of my Swift Petrol today with the S435R Bosch battery at a cost of Rs. 3363 (Battery MRP was Rs. 3750). The Bosch battery carries a warranty of 18 months. The OEM battery still showed it was in good health (by voltage reading) and I have had no problems in cranking the car. However since I am planning to make a long trip around Diwali, wanted to change the battery just to be on the safer side. I am keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that the Bosch battery also lasts for at least 6 years.

After about 6 years and 9 months, my Bosch battery died (or at least I think so). Yesterday morning, the car failed to crank. After I push-started the car and kept it running for 10 min, I was able to crank the engine to life. But did not want to risk it any further. Looked at various options available at Batterywale.com and Batterybhai.com. Zeroed in on "Amaron 35 Ah Battery | AAM-FL-00042B20R" listed at an MRP of Rs. 4716. It was available at 3360 and 3399 at the above portals respectively in exchange for the old battery. But was not sure if I would get the battery delivered on the same day, being a Sunday. Went scouting around my neighborhood and luckily found a shop at less than a km from my house. He had the same Amaron battery and offered it at 3500. He came home and fitted the battery. This now comes with 55 months of warranty (0-30 replacement and 31-55 Pro-rata).

[2000rpm]

Originally Posted by GTO

Just like planned obsolescence, are batteries designed to fail at a certain point in time?

It is EXACTLY 5 years since I got a new battery for the Jeep (related thread) and it has died out . The timing is so uncanny - as if the battery came with a clock inside to self-destruct.

GTO, the batteries are not planned for obsolescence, but the warranty periods are back calculated.

Based on the quality of materials used and nature of technology, the failure rates of batteries are projected and the period where more than x% of batteries are expected to fail are marked as warranty tenure. The x% of batteries which are expected to fail are provisioned as warranty costs across the warranty tenure (2 yrs or 4 yrs or 5 yrs)

Anything above this, the company will have to provision for higher warranty costs.

Also, any error in projections (on either sides) will results in deviation from budget.

[lurker]

Originally Posted by GTO

Just like planned obsolescence, are batteries designed to fail at a certain point in time?

It is EXACTLY 5 years since I got a new battery for the Jeep (related thread) and it has died out . The timing is so uncanny - as if the battery came with a clock inside to self-destruct.

depends upon usage and electricals I guess. My 2010 maruti eeco is still running on stock battery. Nothing special done to date. Just kept terminals clean and sprayed with a silicon lubricant and water topped up.

[Darkman]

My polo's stock battery (60Ah)gave up within a span of two years. It was an unbranded one without any label/sticker. Replaced with Roots 65Ah battery. My cousin who runs an electrical shop insisted on getting the 65Ah . He stated that it provides better cranking power during cold starts.