Under sizing a battery will ultimately lead to premature battery failure. When the battery is undersized for an application, plates and other components must work harder to deliver the required power levels.
This places a significantly higher level of physical stress on all battery components, which speeds up the natural aging process and shortens battery life.
It is important to know that you can never purchase a battery with too much power for your vehicle. Therefore, it’s always best practice to purchase the highest power battery available within your price range. The less a battery needs to work to deliver power, the longer its total service life. In addition, on those days where actual power draw is higher than usual, such as in very cold winter temperatures, the battery will have more available capacity to draw upon.
There are three key trends in the industry which are demanding more power from batteries and keeping them operating in a partial state of charge. Traditional flooded batteries are not designed to operate in a partial state of charge environment, which is why vehicle manufacturers are moving to AGM (absorbed glass mat) battery technology.
These three trends are: Efficiencies (with start stop technology and Mirco Hybrid), connectivity (Touch screens, WIFI, Remote starters) and Autonomous driving (Lane departure, collision avoidance, adaptive cruise control and park assist)
Impacts of weather on batteries
Excessive heat speeds up internal corrosion within a battery that damages plates and other internal components, reducing available power and ultimately shortening battery life.
On the other hand, extreme cold reduces a battery’s ability to generate power. Ironically, extreme cold is also when an engine requires additional power to get it started. This is why so many batteries fail unexpectedly during the first cold snap of the year.
Batteries also recharge more slowly in cold weather, so if you are running your heater, lights and windshield wipers in heavy traffic, your alternator may not be able to fully charge your battery while you’re on the road. A partially charged battery may not have enough power to crank the engine over the next time you try to start your vehicle.
AGM batteries perform better in colder temperatures than regular flooded batteries. An AGM battery may therefore be the smarter choice for heavily accessorized vehicles in colder climates.
The more discharged a battery, the high the risk of it freezing in very cold temperatures. A frozen battery could suffer irreparable damage and need to be replaced. Therefore, you should ensure your charging system is maintaining your battery at or near full charge, particularly during the winter months. In addition, it’s good practice to store batteries fully charged and as close to room temperature as possible.
Click here to visit the NAPA Batteries by East Penn Manufacturing booth.
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