Art161

Which battery type would you recommend for my particular use--AGM or conventional? I am currently using the OEM Motorcraft.

I usually drive the car for about 35 miles, mostly highway, on the weekends. It is parked during the week. There is a trip of 400 miles or so once a year.

So the problem is I am not getting a full charge on the battery, causing the battery to lose capacity. I can not use a battery tender, because I park in an apartment house garage with no electrical outlet available for my use.

The electrical system has been checked, and the report is that the alternator is okay, and that the parasitic current draw is within specifications.

Somehow I think there is no really good solution to this problem, other than driving the car more. It is a case of choosing a battery type that is preferable in this situation.

Thanks for your advice.

deekum1627

i dont use mine as much either but when its time for me to get a new one i will get the optimum

157dB

A red top Optima battery FTW.

degeze

I guess you could go with a different type of battery but $ for $ I would suggest choosing one with just more CCAs.

Art161

I was thinking the same thing at one point, but then thought that maybe I would be going in the wrong direction. Here is my present thinking, but I could be incorrect (wouldn't be the first time). I think the problem is that the battery is not getting charged fully. If I put in a battery with more capacity, then it would take longer to charge it fully. If that is the case, a battery with more capacity would only make the problem worse.

Maybe I need to stick with the stock battery and plan on buying a new one every two years.

Nuke

You didn't mention what the problem is... I'm assuming the battery is dying on you in a short period of time. Before trying to get a different battery, are you sure you've not been leaving anything on? Shaker system? I really don't think a different battery type is the solution if you have a drain somewhere other than parasitic. A larger CCA battery may increase the amount of time until THAT one drains but based on your driving habits, even a half hour drive should be adequate since the ONLY thing that's draining the battery is the parasitic and the startup cranking (unless that 35 minutes is mostly at idle with all of your accessories on).

owero01

There has been a problem with the stock battery. There have been numerous post on this forum about battery drain. You should just get a new one to replace the one that is in there. I replaced mine with a DieHard.

Texotic

If you aren't turning your shaker HU off before you turn off the car, it can drain your battery.

Art161

I'm trying to act before I wind up with a no-start condition. So far that has not happened; the car has always started fine.

My weekly drive is about 35 miles, of which about 30 are highway. I always have the radio on, and sometimes the air conditioner. It is fairly rare that I have the wipers and headlights on. I don't think I get up anywhere near 6000 rpm. If you get in that vicinity, then I think the alternator defaults to 13.5 volts charging until you turn the key off, rather than the higher charging voltage you would expect at highway speeds.

I recently took a highway trip of about 75 miles, followed by a highway trip of about 50 miles a couple of days later. After the first run, I waited about 8 hours for the surface charge to wear off, and got a reading of 12.53 volts across the battery posts. After the the second trip I got a reading of 12.50 volts upon waiting 8 hours. I use a Fluke multimeter, so the quality of the meter is good. Any meter can go bad, but please read what I consider to be confirmation of the voltage through the hydrometer readings. This type of driving is only charging the battery to about 80 per cent of capacity based on voltage. When I did my testing after the first trip, I also removed the battery caps and measured the state of charge with a hydrometer--just the floating ball type hydrometer, not a sophisticated type. This showed between 50 per cent and 75 per cent charge.

After sitting for a week, the voltage is usually down to about 12.2 or so, which is about 50 per cent of capacity based on voltage.

These following tests were performed by my dealer. A parasitic current drain test showed 40 mA. Some have reported lower parasitic drain, but Ford considers anything that does not exceed 50 mA to be within specifications. There was a starting cranking draw of 185 amps at 10.57 cranking volts. The report said "battery is good."

I turn off all accessories when the car is parked, including the Shaker 500. I do not have an alarm system. I think a bulb staying on would completely drain the battery, and would have shown up on the parasitic draw test. Anyway, I pulled the rear seat back down to look in the trunk, and the trunk light was off.

As I said previously, the battery has not failed me, but the readings just don't give me much confidence that it really is "good."

I hope that I am being realistically cautious, and not , but if you think that is the case, just say so. Thanks.