<VV> Battery Life Re: dead

[FrankCB at aol.com]

Nick,
    The factory battery that came with my 95 TransSport  lasted over 10 
years and I'm STILL using the replacement battery which now has  SEVEN years on 
it and is still going strong.  Of course I do CHEAT by  hooking up a 
Battery Tender Plus into the cigarette lighter when I'm not using  the car for a 
few days.  This device ($50 - $60) has 3 automatic charging  rates.  It 
starts with the maximum one (displaying a solid red light), then  automatically 
changes to a mid level rate (flashing green light) and then  finally changes 
to the low level maintenance rate (solid green light) which can  safely 
remain indefinitely providing about 13.3 volts to the battery.
    This car also has an engine block electric heater  (400 watts) in the 
cooling system (cost $19 extra from the factory) which is  turned on about 4 
to 5 hours BEFORE I want to drive the car on these icy cold  mornings.  With 
both the battery charger and the block heater the car  starts instantly 
even on these cold winter mornings (and with 160,000 miles on  it).  They're 
also a big help if you have to remove a layer of ice or  frozen snow from the 
windshield before you can even start driving.
    Frank "chillin' out" Burkhard
    Boonton, NJ
    
 
 
In a message dated 11/19/2012 12:30:25 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
starship at worldonline.co.za writes:

Wow -  three years out of a battery?  That's not bad going.  I
have had  a whole string of them fail just after the 1 year guarantee  had
expired.  In some cases they replaced them anyway. But now I've  decided to
change  brands.

Nick