My Battery Died today! It was 16 years old - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

connerm · #1 08-30-2009, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kmaysob

i set the battery in a bucket and filled it with cool water, about 2 inches from the top of the battery. i hooked the charger up and let it charge for 24 hours, keeping a close eye on the water level in the battery its self and making sure the water in the bucket stayed cool.D

What could go wrong? Kidding.

Curious to know the voltage reading when you start the car with the reconditioned battery? I usually ditch a battery when starter draws it down to 10.3 volts.

kmaysob · #2 08-30-2009, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by connerm

What could go wrong? Kidding.

Curious to know the voltage reading when you start the car with the reconditioned battery? I usually ditch a battery when starter draws it down to 10.3 volts.

i actually never put a meter on it after intstalling it in the bike. i could tell just by the sound that it didnt drop much.

im sure someone will get on here and argue with me shortly. about how it wont work, or its dangerous, even though i stated that this is close to how exide does it.

brandlj · #3 08-30-2009, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingdoc1

How did you determine the age of the battery? What did the date code on the side say? A battery with a date code ending in 3 is much more likely to be 2003 than 1993. Normal battery life is 3-4 years, 16 years is unlikely.

OOPS..... I stand corrected. I pulled my receipts and the battery was installed new in May 1996. That means it is 13 years old. I agree that normal battery life is 3-4 years though on newer cars. Our 2003 Honda Odyssey battery lasted 4 years, my daughter's 2000 Camry lasted 5 years.
Now, the battery in my 1967 VW Beetle that is driven about 1000 miles per year has been in there since I replaced it in 1997. Remember, old cars have like nothing that will draw the battery down while it sits. I do not even have an electric clock in the Beetle. It is garage kept and I charge it about twice a year with a trickle charger.
As I said earlier, the battery in my 07 BMW has to be on a trickle charger when it sits for a week at a time. Even though BMW claims it has a SLEEP mode, this car will continually drain the battery. Too much electronic stuff in it.

pawoSD · #4 08-29-2009, 11:40 PM

My white MB battery is about 2.5 years old now....working great. My dad got just over 10 years (based on the date stamp) from the Energizer that was in one of his SD's....it just gave up one day, real low voltage, no start.

Actros617 · #5 08-30-2009, 05:17 PM

if you really like that battery so much, i would check the water in the battery. Other wise i would just buy a mercedes battery at your local MB dealership, I think MB battery are made by bosch.

LNGfish · #6 08-30-2009, 11:15 AM

Just changed mine it was an Advanced Auto Store Titanium. It lasted 5 years. I put back in same battery as 5 years is a good life to me. I hear Interstates are the best but I have no supplier and Advance tests and installs. 13 year is amazing also! I hear the clocks drains batteries on a 300SD so when I garage mine I Trickle charge it.

babymog · #7 08-30-2009, 04:46 PM

The reason that Exide can equalize-charge a battery bank is because the battery bank is designed for the cycle. Car batteries, ... are not.

Deep-cycle flooded-cell batteries differ in many ways from car batteries: the plates are usually thicker and fiberglass-reinforced to handle the heat of long charge cycles and stay together when sulfated, the space beneath the cells is usually deeper to handle more sluffed-off lead-sulfate from operation and charging/equalizing, etc.

Also, for equalizing batteries the voltage must be carefully controlled, not just an open charger with a voltage floating higher as the load decreases. Active boiling must be controlled.

Shotgun-style equalization as outlined above might or might not work, but remember that you're creating lots of hydrogen gas (which is of course explosive), overheating a battery that isn't designed for it, and boiling sulfuric-acid. Might work, might fail, might be catastrophic. I only equalize batteries that are designed for it, with proper safety and procedural steps taken, using a computer-controlled charger/inverter designed for and matched to the battery bank.

Oh, and the original battery still starts my wife's '96 Ford with 110,000miles, even when she leaves the dome lights on all night.

Might check into the source of the US Bosch batteries, I've been told that they are JCI / sourced in the US.

gatorblue92 · #8 08-30-2009, 05:04 PM

im on 12 years on my interstate battery in my 240D

babymog · #9 08-30-2009, 11:21 PM

IMO, the death of many batteries in vintage cars (definately including diesel Mercedes through the late '90s) is incomplete charging and frequent/shallow cycling. Put a big alternator on your 'Benz to charge while idling with the lights on, and your battery will thank you.

lupin..the..3rd · #10 08-31-2009, 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by babymog

IMO, the death of many batteries in vintage cars (definately including diesel Mercedes through the late '90s) is incomplete charging and frequent/shallow cycling. Put a big alternator on your 'Benz to charge while idling with the lights on, and your battery will thank you.

On the same note, the death of many alternators in vintage cars is caused by driving around with a near-dead battery. A worn-out battery that is no longer accepting a charge puts a huge strain on the alternator and will eventually burn it out. I replace my batteries after 6 years whether or not they're showing symptoms of a dying battery.

Hit Man X · #11 09-01-2009, 01:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by babymog

IMO, the death of many batteries in vintage cars (definately including diesel Mercedes through the late '90s) is incomplete charging and frequent/shallow cycling. Put a big alternator on your 'Benz to charge while idling with the lights on, and your battery will thank you.

This killed my Die Hard in my SD just recently... well the fully working HVAC system did. The puny alt was just not able to charge the car at idle/my city driving with the lights on, blower on max, HVAC relays on, clutch engaged, etc

Bought a 150A, problem solved. I never encountered this issue on my other stuff as I have upgraded the alts in all of those already... did not dawn upon me to be proactive and swap it. Oh well.

I was told the big issue with the small alts and these batteries is that they are almost all not Maintenance-Free which does not allow them to charge well.

Sev · #12 09-01-2009, 02:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hit Man X

This killed my Die Hard in my SD just recently... well the fully working HVAC system did. The puny alt was just not able to charge the car at idle/my city driving with the lights on, blower on max, HVAC relays on, clutch engaged, etc

Bought a 150A, problem solved. I never encountered this issue on my other stuff as I have upgraded the alts in all of those already... did not dawn upon me to be proactive and swap it. Oh well.

I was told the big issue with the small alts and these batteries is that they are almost all not Maintenance-Free which does not allow them to charge well.

the earliest 150amp mercedes alternators i'm aware of started in '94 with the 500e. possibly earlier with the r129.

which alternator did you use on your w126 300sd? would be curious since my 300dt has essentially the same engine

brandlj · #13 09-01-2009, 08:40 AM

UPDATE:

I am driving the BMW this week. I pulled the battery out of the 300SDL and have been charging it with a trickle charger for two days now. I charged it for 6 hours on Sunday. It went to 13.04 Volts and then on Monday it settled at 12.5 volts. I charged it Monday for 6 hours and it went to 13.1 volts and I could hear it " cooking". I unplugged and this morning it was still at 12.5 volts. I will let it sit all day then charge it again tonite. I know it would be a whole lot easier to just go buy a new battery, but I do not need the car this week and I want to play with the battery and charger. I am going to do this till Friday night and then re-install it on Saturday and see if it works.
If it does not work, Saturday it is new battery day.

babymog · #14 08-31-2009, 11:00 PM

So true, the alternator really needs that big capacitor and so do the car's accessories.

Bama1 · #15 09-01-2009, 01:06 AM

John,
O'Reilly Auto Parts can generally get anything you want in a matter of a few days... I generally avoid AutoZone cause they tend to try to sell you whatever is on the shelf instead of taking the trime and trouble to order the part you prefer.
If the battery lasted that long, I highly doubt that you have issues elsewhere in the charging system...If it ain't broke, don't fix it...However, It is probably a good idea to replace your battery cables if they are the same age or older.

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/home.oap