Keeping an old car battery?

[bungeejumper]

Cheapskate seeks advice from similar.

I've just replaced the wife's slowly-fading five year old car battery with a brand new Varta one from the excellent Tayna (www.tayna.co.uk), and it went in smoothly and easily, and I'm now sitting here looking at the old battery and wistfully thinking "hmmmm, I could still do quite a lot of things with that......"

Such as running our 12 volt solar water feature on the days when the sun don't shine. Or firing up some evening lighting for the summer soirees that we organise for our village. Or......just having a spare battery around the place.....

Yeah, I know, it's ridiculous. Everybody says I should recycle the old battery and rid myself of it, because I'll only trip over it in the garage twice a week and say a lot of bad words. I could keep it on a trickle charger if I had one, but I wouldn't want to spend more than fifteen quid (or thereabouts) on a charger, because I'd be spending good money on something that's a bit exhausted really.

So, to get to the point. I have a couple of 12 volt plug-in power adapters that were originally intended for routers and rechargeable torches and suchlike, and I'm wondering whether they'd be any use as topper-uppers for the 12v car battery? Anybody tried it?

BJ

[Imbiber]

It is dying, put it out of its misery now.

[pochisoldi]

Cheapskate seeks advice from similar.

I've just replaced the wife's slowly-fading five year old car battery with a brand new Varta one from the excellent Tayna (http://www.tayna.co.uk), and it went in smoothly and easily, and I'm now sitting here looking at the old battery and wistfully thinking "hmmmm, I could still do quite a lot of things with that......"

Such as running our 12 volt solar water feature on the days when the sun don't shine. Or firing up some evening lighting for the summer soirees that we organise for our village. Or......just having a spare battery around the place.....

Yeah, I know, it's ridiculous. Everybody says I should recycle the old battery and rid myself of it, because I'll only trip over it in the garage twice a week and say a lot of bad words. I could keep it on a trickle charger if I had one, but I wouldn't want to spend more than fifteen quid (or thereabouts) on a charger, because I'd be spending good money on something that's a bit exhausted really.

So, to get to the point. I have a couple of 12 volt plug-in power adapters that were originally intended for routers and rechargeable torches and suchlike, and I'm wondering whether they'd be any use as topper-uppers for the 12v car battery? Anybody tried it?

BJ

Charging a battery to feed something which can be easily be run directly (via a PSU) from the mains is a waste of money.
The process of turning electrical energy into chemical energy and back to electricity is about 85% efficient.
On top of that you lose 5% of the charge every month.

In any case if the battery is that old that it's failing to accept a charge from an alternator in a car, the efficiency is likely to be even lower.

If you can find a good & cheap solar panel to top the thing up, it changes things, but "good" and "cheap" are mutually exclusive when it comes to new solar panels.

The battery's time has come to meet its recycler followed by it's maker...

[oldapple]

For 127kg of old vehicle batteries he'd gathered over time, son got £98 at a local scrapyard last week. He never misses a trick.

[Maroochydore]

Everybody says I should recycle the old battery and rid myself of it, because I'll only trip over it in the garage twice a week and say a lot of bad words.

If you're careful you'll only trip over it once a week and save yourself a lot of bad words.

I keep an old battery in my garage alongside my battery charger, in a plastic storage container. I keep the battery fairly well charged just in case my car (or my neighbours as happened a week or so ago) needs a jump start. Easier than faffing about trying to get another car alongside so the jump leads will reach.

[bungeejumper]

Thanks guys, the commonsense is much appreciated. Maybe I should have said that the intended use of this battery was for running stuff right down at the bottom of the garden where the mains don't normally go. (Or I'd never have bothered with the idea at all.)

On the related subject of solar panels, we have an 11 watt 12v panel driving the pump, and that's really quite a lot. Enough for the pump to drive a 40mm thick jet of water six inches into the air, or alternatively a pencil-thick jet to more than three feet (for a conventional fountain head). I think we paid about £90 for the pump and the panel. Well pleased with that.

BJ

[twotwo22]

Scrap dealer....£9 in wallet...move on

[jfgw]

I've just replaced the wife's slowly-fading five year old car battery

A fading battery is unlikely to be much use.

Maybe I should have said that the intended use of this battery was for running stuff right down at the bottom of the garden where the mains don't normally go.

You would need an inverter (readily available) to convert to 230V. With a new battery, you might be able to run a hedge trimmer for an hour or more depending upon the size of the battery and hedge trimmer. If the battery is failing, you would be better off with a pair of shears.

I suggest an extension lead. Get one on a proper reel, not one of those akward plastic things.

Scrap dealer....£9 in wallet...move on

Bank transfer these days. Take photo ID and proof of address.

Check for a minimum payment (one I have used is £20) - you may need to make up the value with some other scrap. Car batteries vary in size - a small one will be worth a lot less than £9. Copper and brass are worth taking. Lead is less per kilo but is quite dense. Stainless steel and aluminium are still worth a bit. Iron (includes steel) is probably closer to 10p per kilo.


Julian F. G. W.

[DrFfybes]

Thanks guys, the commonsense is much appreciated. Maybe I should have said that the intended use of this battery was for running stuff right down at the bottom of the garden where the mains don't normally go. (Or I'd never have bothered with the idea at all.)

On the related subject of solar panels, we have an 11 watt 12v panel driving the pump, and that's really quite a lot. Enough for the pump to drive a 40mm thick jet of water six inches into the air, or alternatively a pencil-thick jet to more than three feet (for a conventional fountain head). I think we paid about £90 for the pump and the panel. Well pleased with that.

BJ

Having gone along the same lines a few years ago, I had a small Maplin folding Solar Panel (bought to keep the car topped up until I realised the lighter socket was switched with the ignition and the battery is in the boot) and the old car battery. I rigged up a couple of Freecycle garden lights and some old motorbike indicators with a bit of bell wire.

Used 2 or 3 times, mainly as you needed to be down there when it went dark in order to switch the lights on (no solar cell on them) and we got eaten by insects after 15 min. Fun as a project though.

Paul

[digitaria]

I had a small Maplin folding Solar Panel (bought to keep the car topped up until I realised the lighter socket was switched with the ignition

You can get a solar panel which plugs in to the OBD socket (if your car is recent enough to have an OBD socket). That socket is not switched.

Regarding the uses for old car batteries, I have a shortwave radio which can run off a 12V source - and if you do any shortwave listening, it can be sensible to run off batteries, because a lot of radio interference runs through the mains. Powerline ethernet (network signals employing mains wiring) plays particular havoc with sensitive radios.

[JohnB]

My latest electricity renewal on Economy 7 quotes 25.82/unit day, 4.26 night. That 6* ratio makes me wish I had a timeshifting battery system. I looked at UPS for my desktop and screen, but they wouldn't last long enough, and a house battery pack is many grand, so would be took long term an investment.

But as the wind turbines roll on, it will become a common problem, perhaps solved by electric cars and much cheaper home batteries as the ex-car market is flooded.

As a kid I used a 12V battery to power my model railway...

[monabri]

To dispose of your battery simply hide it behind your car on the drive. The {stereotype deleted] will soon have away with it ( and any other things not bolted down)...well, that's what happened to my old battery. No need to drive to the dump.

Moderator Message:
The stereotype used has been reported as breaching site rules. Accordingly it has been removed (chas49)

[csearle]

To dispose of your battery simply hide it behind your car on the drive. The [stereotype deleted] will soon have away with it ( and any other things not bolted down)...well, that's what happened to my old battery. No need to drive to the dump.

They are so quick around here that anything metal lasts no longer that 30 minutes.

The last time the guy that ripped out my kitchen put the cooker on the drive and it was gone within 15 minutes. Trouble is they took the opportunity to snoop around my back garden and helped themselves to about £1000 worth of copper cable that I was collecting for recycling.

Sometimes they are of service; someone's they just thieve.

C.

Moderator Message:
The stereotype quoted has been reported as breaching site rules. Accordingly it has been removed (chas49)

[richlist]

We can put out virtually anything (except bags of household waste) at the front boundary of our property......and it's gone within 24 hours. ......usually collected by guys who pick up scrap metal. We haven't had to take anything to the local tip or pay anyone to take stuff away for years.

Address withheld for obvious reasons.

Our local council are also absolutely brilliant......we can report any waste, flytipping, household rubbish, uncollected stuff to them online and it's gone within 48 hours.

[Imbiber]

If you do decide to keep the battery please ensure that at least one terminal insulated, an accidental short circuit could be disastrous. A screwdriver, hacksaw blade or similar dropped across the terminals could result in a fire very quickly.

[88V8]

If you do decide to keep the battery please ensure that at least one terminal insulated, an accidental short circuit could be disastrous. A screwdriver, hacksaw blade or similar dropped across the terminals could result in a fire very quickly.

Or it could explode and split the casing and then you'd have acid everywhere.
The underbonnet layout of my Rambler makes it very tempting to use the battery as a tool parking place. Ooer, missus.

V8

[richlist]

My Mercedes 12v battery is now 8 years old and still going strong.

The key fob battery is also the original and working perfectly.