Although unusal for me, i may of left the interiour light on for a week and if that was the case, the fair enough....but i needed to jump start the car to even get enough charge in the battery so i could plug the over night charger in - that said, although it started after a few turns ( unusal as it fires first time every time even after weeks of no use ) the battery charger was still charging after 12 hours.... does this mean the battery is on its way out ?

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Its not the size that matters.........
Rover Mini Cooper 1993 spi - current
Rover Mini Cooper 1998 ( Tahti Blue/white)
Rover Mini Cooper 1992 ( Brg),1987 Mayfair

take it for a big drive, and leave it for a week with the doors shut...

if the battery doesn't have any charge, then yeah, it's stuffed

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did I tell you that I won a trophy?

Quite possibly. Lead/acid batteries should never be discharged past 20% capacity. Below that you reduce the life of the battery.

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Too many cars, and too little time.

i reckon keep it going on the charger....before you pronounce it dead
With my BM, i have run the battery as dead as a dodo twice now (wouldnt even turn on the radio in the car )
put it on the charger for a good day and a half or so....and she's still going strong (although its dead zone is probably screwed up now )

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00' Forester GT

Take it to your local parts/battery place and get them to put it on a battery tester.

Should cost you about $10 and take about 2 mins.

Will give you a definte yes or no about your battery being stuffed.

I had accidentally squeezed my +'ve battery lead between the front subframe and the body on my cooper, then took it to get the exhaust done - when the exhaust man bumped it on to his hoist, it cut the shielding and dead shorted the battery - warranty job on that battery - "I swear, it just died"

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did I tell you that I won a trophy?

Little cheapo battery chargers only just trickle a charge in. Often as little as 2.5 amps per hour. An alternator will produce 35 amps per hour on a flat battery.

Various auto parts places sell a substance called cadmium sulphate and its a useful battery reconditioner. It removes sulphate layers from the battery lead cells and makes them more responsive to charging and then holding the charge.

Keep the charger on and if its an intelligent charger (senses the charge state of the battery) leave it on for days. Make sure that the electrolyte levels in the battery are right though.

But you cant beat a good thrash letting the alternator do the charging though.

Mike

I went to J Car and brought a battery trickle charger for cars and bikes, I made a lead from both terminals on the battery to a position just near the washer bottle in the boot so I could plug the charger in without removing everything to get to the battery, I leave it plugged in and on charge all the time the car is not in use, sometinmes for weeks at a time, so battery is always on full charge when ever the urge strikes me to take it for a run.

This may extend the life of the battery because it never runs flat.

Just a thought and not a bad investment. Charger has a maintenance feature that could bring a dead battery back to life.

I'm with davo111 on this one. have 2 trickle chargers 1 for the boat and the other for the MG, that way they are both in a ready to use state. Have been through to many boat batteries. About 40-45 bucks each great investment.

Having first hand experience on this topic here is what I think: If you completely drain the battery, recharging it may work and get it back to operating charge, but it's ability to hold it's charge for a long period of time, and the stregnth of the charge is significantly reduced.

I bought a brand new Bosch Silver series battery 2 years ago. It got flattenned once by me trying to start my car by cranking a nearly dead starter motor for far too long (long story). Anyway needless to say it died. I recharged it but it was never the same after that. Even after changing the starter to one of those newer pre-engaged ones, the battery would once in a while lose it's charge and was very weak if I left it for more than a week or so. Leaving me stranded and not able to start the car. Once it did start (clutch start) and I drove it for a long period, it would recharge, only to have the same thing happen in another week's time.

I got fed up and bought a 550CCA deep cycle, platinum series, heavy duty endurance blablabla 4WD battery (the biggest baddest battery that would fit in the box) and have never looked back. Parked her for 3 months in storage and she started first time got to be happy with that.

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Lillee - 1969 Morris Mini K

Thanks guys ! I think i will check the battery at a checker up the road and go from there. But thanks to ALL of you for your thoughts !

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Its not the size that matters.........
Rover Mini Cooper 1993 spi - current
Rover Mini Cooper 1998 ( Tahti Blue/white)
Rover Mini Cooper 1992 ( Brg),1987 Mayfair