Is the guy at Advance Auto full of it?
 

Here's the story. I went to pick up my son after his cross country practice. It was a nice day out so I turned off the car and listened to the radio (about 25-30% of full volume) while I waited. His bus was pretty late getting back. I was sitting there for about 30 minutes. The only other thing that was running was the blower fan which was on medium. The battery weakened to the point of not being able to start the car. I thought that was a bit too fast so I decided to just walk down the street to Advance Auto to buy a new battery. The guy there said that a battery older than a couple of years would probably not be able to hold a charge under those conditions for 30 minutes. That seems crazy to me. I know a car battery is made for cranking and not deep cycles but it should have more AH than that, no? One thing to note is that the battery in the car is one from Advance Auto and it still under partial warranty. Sounds like they don't want me to return my weak!$* battery.

Re: Is the guy at Advance Auto full of it?
 

30 minutes with blower motor and radio on...
i would think most if not all batteries would have a hard time starting a car after that.
the blower motor uses alot of juice.

Re: Is the guy at Advance Auto full of it?
 

Well, if the blower fan was on, that would mean you had the car in the "ON" position, not the "ACC" position. In the "ON" position, more than just the blower and radio are on. The whole ignition system is also primed and ready to go. So, that includes the igniter, all the coils, the fuel pump, the radiator fans, etc. So, for 30 minutes for the car to sit in the "ON" position without the car being on with all that stuff going seems pretty reasonable to weaken the battery to the point of not being able to start the car.

I never leave the car in the "ON" position unless the engine is actually running. I don't want to burn up the coils or igniter for no good reason.

Re: Is the guy at Advance Auto full of it?
 

Um, what? no. My XJR I left the lights on for 13hrs and it still started.

Most normal sized batteries like the SVX's should be able to do that for a couple hours without an issue. If you had the lights on and your foot on the brake pedal, maybe less.

should get 30min of just radio and fan even with a little riding lawnmower battery (aka honda battery)

Re: Is the guy at Advance Auto full of it?
 

My A6 has its original factory battery which is now 10 years old. I can leave the interior lights on all night, and it still starts fine. Unless you've got some sort of ultra-cheap battery, I'd say he's pretty full of it.

Re: Is the guy at Advance Auto full of it?
 

Agreed. The one in my parents Durango is still original and it's an 02 model year, so running over 9 years now at the minimum and no issues.

Re: Is the guy at Advance Auto full of it?
 

There are too many variables to say. I've left a door ajar overnight and found just the silly dome light drained the battery, but did the same thing with my silver SVX recently and it cranked right up. Never had a hint of trouble from the battery that came in my teal SVX 'til one day at a gas pump: Turned the key to leave and it didn't even have enough juice to click (and it was indeed the battery, not a starter relay thing).

Anything that rotates or generates heat will draw much more power than something solid-state, such as the radio. I'd be reluctant to sit for more than a couple of minutes with the blower running. And this rationale may be outdated, for all I know, but I too think it's not a good idea to sit with the switch ON without the engine running any longer than absolutely necessary.

dcb

Re: Is the guy at Advance Auto full of it?
 

Ugh, as usual the answers range from no way to absolutely. Well, I am going to get the battery tested to see for sure but it should have a 110 minute reserve at 25A draw. Maybe it is me but I find it hard to believe I was drawing 25A and it was only for 30 minutes. The battery is actually less than 2 years old as it turns out. It is under full warranty. Now, should I trust the guys at AA to do the test properly and be honest about the results?

I suppose it is also possible that my alternator is going.

Re: Is the guy at Advance Auto full of it?
 

What kind of battery is it? cranking/cold cranking amps? Maybe you got a weak ass battery to begin with? (low crank amps whatnot, generic battery)

I'll have to agree that it sounds like a crap battery to me. I have a 450 watt sub in my trunk and will sit with key set to ACC and listen to music for about 40 minutes or so several times before waiting on something and never had an issue. Of course, I did worry that it could drain/kill my battery but it never did.

You may be right about the alternator though. If the thing is on its way out it could only be charging the battery minimal at best, never having a full charge to begin with... so you'd be running off half or low battery anyways.

I'd get them both tested.

Re: Is the guy at Advance Auto full of it?
 

Every situation is different. I let my Pearlie sit sometimes for a week and it would fire right up . Another time 3 days and it would be dead. woke up one morning to find I left my door ajar parked in my garage all nigh. Car fired right up. And once left the dome light on while in a movie and it was dead .Funny thing about batteries. If the day before you had been on a 100 mile ride it might have been ok , but if you started it up , drove 3 miles to work and then started it up drove to the buss and sat with the key in on position ( see above what was on in that position ) there was not enough energy left to kick it over. a lady friend of mine use to use up a battery every 2 years . She never left town and started her car 7 times a day .

Re: Is the guy at Advance Auto full of it?
 

advance probably doesn't want to warranty the cheapo battery. i see this a lot at the shop when people come to us for a second opinion. we test the battery after charging it and tell them it's weak, tell them how much our interstate costs, they decide to try and get it warrantied, they are denied. the only proper way to test a battery is out of the car with a carbon pile tester. those little battery testers aren't accurate and that's what the company wants. i would just buy a better battery and chalk it up as a learning experience. it's not just the brand of battery you are buying (only 4 companies actually produce batteries and thousands of brands sell them) but you are also buying the brand of service from whoever is selling it. the new subaru batteries say they are from johnson industries who makes interstate and optima batteries. i put a yellow top optima in my svx and left it in the garage with the dome light on for a week (not on purpose) and it fired right up.

Re: Is the guy at Advance Auto full of it?
 

Yep. I'd just get an optima red top or yellow top and move on.

Re: Is the guy at Advance Auto full of it?
 

I have an unrelated question for you. I have a battery backup sump pump. It was installed in January 2006. The batteries are deep cycle batteries from Interstate. They have been on a battery monitor/charger for these 5+ years. Any idea how long I should keep them before replacing them? I am starting to get some stuff seeping out of the caps so I suspect they are at the end of their useful life.

Re: Is the guy at Advance Auto full of it?
 

As expected, the battery tested out "good" at AA. I am going to get a current clamp for my meter and measure the draw under the conditions I had the car in yesterday. The alternator also tested out OK but it was "marginal" according to them. The voltage under low load was something like 13.8V and the voltage under heavy load was 13V. To me, it didn't look like the clips they were using were making good contact with the battery terminals.

Re: Is the guy at Advance Auto full of it?
 

from the horses mouth (our interstate rep) deep cycle batteries are designed to last 6 years. they were designed for the military and that's what was specified. i had asked the same question when buying my yellow top and ended up with a half hour lecture on all things battery.
also, they are probably seeping because they are being charged without being fully discharged. you may get more life out of them if you run them down before putting them back on the charger.