Anthony Nguyen

ygmn

IMHO - you are lucky it lasted 10 years.
Put that in the battery museum,

kajtek1

Is it flooded or AGM?
Flooded batteries in older brothers lasted up to 17 years, where 12 was common.

nguyenphananh

my is 2007, stamped on the battery is 04/2006..... still working perfect!!

2MERKS

Have you seen this notice?
You may have been wondering why the “Battery protection: Convenience functions temporary unavailable” warning came up. Your car still runs and drives normal.

if so, I'll start looking into getting new main and sbc aux battery in your near future!

nguyenphananh

there is no sbc aux battery in facelifted cars

cetialpha5

Check the voltage, if you're above 11.5, you're good to go for a while. My 2008 has the same factory battery, has an 11/2007 date stamp on it. Depending on the temperature, it's anywhere from 11.5-12 volts.

To check voltage, turn the car to the on position without the car running, then while the temperature is showing, hit the reset button 3 times.

You only get a warning about low battery voltage and when convenience items are disabled when the voltage drops below 11 volts.

You could throw it on a charger, I noticed the alternator doesn't like to give it a full charge as the last time I charged it, it was higher than it had been before.

2MERKS

yes, your correct! Simple brain fart!
Appreciate it.

albert walker

I also have a 2007 with the original battery. Car has 170k miles on it. I am concerned how long i can go and how to know when it needs to be changed. I have never had a car battery last this long. I figured it would fail this winter but it still keeps cranks well.

78degrees

At 11,5V the battery is practically dead.
12,2V equals 50% charge level while 12,7V is 100%, 11,5 is so low I'm surprised your car starts. The voltmeter has to be wrong..

cetialpha5

You forget that those state of charge charts are based on no load voltage on a battery. When it's connected to the car, it has a load. That's why MB doesn't start to cut off items with battery low messages until the battery goes down to 11 volts. Also voltage is temperature based, that 12.7 volts is at 70 degrees, voltage of course will be lower in the winter.

cetialpha5

Oh and I did charge up the battery once when I left the lights on, it was at 12.5 volts, indoors no load voltage so probably 70 degrees and about 80%. of a new battery. Still good to go.

78degrees

The load on a battery in the car with everything turned off should be very low, such low consumption will not make any significant change in the battery voltage.

cetialpha5

I'm an electrical engineer. You get the battery voltage when the dash is on and you have it switched to the temperature display then hit the reset button 3 times. Circuits with a load on the battery are different than a battery with no load.

78degrees

Who are stupid enough to measure the voltage with instruments on? This will not give a correct answer of what the voltage is..

The built-in measuring is only good to show if the alternator works or not. The voltage measured is normally not even close to correct (yeah, I've tested it both with the engine on and only ignition on)

cetialpha5

Right. The correct way to get the no load voltage is to disconnect the battery and measure it with a meter. Most people here reporting voltages are using the voltage that's reported by the dash. So if you go by that voltage, then of course it will be lower than the no load voltage which is what most state of charge battery charts reference.

kajtek1

No load voltage can tell you if the battery is dead, or still alive, but will tell you nothing about its performance.
I ended up with 2 battery testers. The load tester gives you indication of capacity, when Solar tester will tell you cranking amp.
Takes 2 electrical testers to actually tell what you can expect from chemical box.

Strigoi

I had a 2002 Dodge Durango I bought new and the original battery lasted 12 years.

kajtek1

With all those technology issues, it is hard to compare battery life.
One sample is regenerative charging in newer cars, who shortens battery life for fuel/emission savings.
Years ago I could not figure out why new dual batteries die when I move my truck around the yard, idling it for few minutes.
Later only learned that for 7.3l Powerstrokes Ford, who used lot of power for glow plugs, Ford made 14.5V charging, who was killing glow plugs.
So in computer era, they made a program that Powerstroke would not start charging till minutes after engine starts, so GP would run on battery power only and not see killing (charging) voltage.
That is why moving the truck around the yard, it never come to charging cycle, running on batteries only.
So conclusion is, that unless you know what system you have, you can't assume anything about it.

NewShockerGuy

Personally if one gets 10 years out of a battery, I'd call it good and just get a new one. Batteries are cheap. Being stranded somewhere and or waiting for a jump is a pita.

The original battery on our 09' died back in January. So the life on that was 9.5 years...lol. Most of the time I end up replacing batteries 4-5 years on the rest of our vehicles.

-Nigel