Hi guys. I'm after some expertise, which I know many of you have. I have a year old Yuasa battery, replaced under warranty, that has been stored in the house since November. I've been away for a few months and after returning last week I trickle charged the battery to full. I took the battery out to Belle today and tried to start her but she was dead. I then got her started with a portable external battery and drove her for about 20 miles and stopped. She would not start until I used the portable battery. I got home and borrowed my neighbour's huge fan cooled battery charger which seemed to fully charge the Yuasa in about 10 minutes. On normal charge speeds. Again, Belle would not start. Any ideas what's going on? Are Yuasa batteries rubbish? The previous battery lasted just over a year and then would not charge. It was replaced under warranty. Does anyone want to buy Belle?
Sorry to hear belle has issues, but don't sell her, just put aside until you can figure out what's wrong. So annoying when stuff like this happens, mine has hydrolic issue's at the minute but going to pop away until next year as I have too much going on just now, would hate to sell him but difficult if it's your only car, my battery I got from halfords, second one in 7 years and seems a good one, I just change it as I don't drive a lot and it runs flat etc, I have a battery charger tho. Try a halfords battery unless someone else comes along with some advise, good luck.
Yuasa batteries are, in priniciple good. They are often used as manufacturer's original installation on BMWs and suchlike. There were some fakes around for a while but a reputable seller wouldn't have these in their supply chain. It's possible that you're suffering from 'Classic Car Battery Syndrome'. No lead-acid battery likes being unused for prolonged periods and can self-discharge to the point of being unrecoverable. I only use my classic from May to Oct and pretty much accept that batteries have to be replaced frequently. A good run though, as you describe, should put enough charge on the battery for a restart; even if the battery is a bit on the weak side. So it's worth a check with a voltmeter if you have one. With battery installed and ign 'off' the voltage across the battery terminals should be 12.6v (or 12.0 at least). With the engine running the voltage at the terminals should be 14.4 volts (14.0 minimum): if less than this it implies a charging problem warranting further investigation. Copens are great cars! And so much fun! But they are now a bit older and need more love and hands on attention.
Hi our Copen is only used for a few months in the summer. It has a Bosch battery made in Spain. S4 018 40Ah 12V. This is the replacement one put in over three years ago. It is kept on a simple Tronic H-3056 trickle charger from Lidl, while it is in the garage. If a battery isn’t used for a while it may need a deep charge to bolster the amps this could probably take up to several days on a trickle charger. If you fast charge you stand the risk of damaging the internals. Some batteries come with a good trade name like Yuasa that’s ok if it’s made in Japan, other than that I would steer clear. There are a lot of cheaply made copies around.
