When you are planning for your much-awaited gateway trip to your nearby sightseeing after the hectic lockdown of COVID-19, the last thing you need is to be standard with a dead car battery. We have all been there at some point in our lives when our car battery dies without showing any prior warning signs, and now we are stuck on a remote highway. Statistically speaking, on average a lead-acid car battery lasts around 42 months, but this time period is subjective to some variables like usual journey length, hot or Cold weather, or the performance of my car’s charging circuit. Extreme Exposure to each element can shorten your battery life. Although there are a certain number of ways, that may help you in increasing the car’s average battery life.

We have contacted mechanics from some of the leading car battery maintenance service centers. The collected guidance is nothing less than a secret mantra to prolong your car’s battery life. Let’s have a look at them.

1. Start your battery engine from time to time

How often do you take your car out of the garage for a spin? If it’s less than once or twice in a month, you need to at least start your battery engine at regular intervals. Your battery under the hood tends to lose its charge in case it is not used for a larger period of time. To avoid this, it’s advised to take it for a ride at least once a week. You don’t want your car battery to lose its charge completely, and then it will need a jumpstart to start ignition.

2. Disconnect your terminals

If you intend to move out of the city or you are certain that your car is not going to be used for a long time, we suggest you disconnect the terminal. Even in this pandemic lockdown, your car’s battery is probably draining rapidly as the terminals are connected and the circuit path is complete. This slow discharge without any usage will eat into your car’s battery life. This tip will also save you the trouble of push-starting your car engine upon arrival.

3. Frequent Inspection of Car battery

Let’s talk about the science behind the automotive battery. Your car battery generates electricity through a series of predefined chemical reactions within it. The most obvious choice for major car battery brands in the UAE is the lead anode and sulphuric acid. Each cell of a lead battery consists of alternate plates made of coated lead oxide and lead alloy grid filled with sponge lead. Both of these cell rods are filled with a sulphuric acid solution, which works as an electrolyte. However, the presence of excessive acid can lead to a greenish deposit accumulating over both terminals. Yeah, the same greenish hue present on a car battery, when you pop up the hood once in a while to refill windshield wiper fluid. This is known as corrosion.

To avoid coating of corrosion, what you simply need to do is to wipe it off every week. If coating is much, pour a mixture of baking soda and water to dissolve it off. Then wipe off the same coating with a sponge/cloth. You can also apply the petroleum jelly around the terminals to shield it off from corrosion.

4. Minimal usage of car battery when Ignition is turned off

Minimize the usage of the car radio and interior lights, headlights when the ignition is off. Every car has an alternator, which uses the rotational energy of the car engine to charge your car battery. But if the car is not moving, and you are putting up all the load on the car battery, it will hamper the life span of a car battery. Don’t forget that the car battery’s primary use is to spark plug or the ECU (engine control unit) and not play loud music.

5. Maintaining a feasible water level

Car batteries often require some level of distilled water to keep up inside acid at a diluted level. Upon continuous reaction, this diluted water gets empty and thus began the corrosion. So you need to maintain a feasible water level, make sure you fill diluted water at frequent intervals.

6. Secure your terminals & connecter cabels

Make sure your connected cables and terminals are connected properly and your car battery is secured in its mounting location. If it’s not, the constant jostling around can lead to short circuits within the car battery. It can also damage your car’s electrical circuit and that’s a possible health hazard. So if you ever listen to the rumbling of battery while driving, take it to car battery service centres for inspections.

These helpful set of habits will certainly prolong your car’s battery life. Nevertheless, if the problems occur, you should not hesitate to contact your car battery maintenance services. Most of the major car battery brands in UAE ensure free servicing of car batteries within their life expectancy.