Car battery completely drained - Too late to save?

[lukejo]

+1. I recently picked up two (separate purchases) with the AAP $50 off $125. If it is starting fine now, and it is in the car I drive, being only 2 years old, I would just let it ride. If it was my wife's car, I would replace ASAP with AAP deal.

 

[Shannow]

Every time I get a new battery, sometime in the first three months, something happens to send it dead flat 2-3 times...Still get 3-4 winters out of them (My Nissan which had a couple of flats when battery was fresh held up for a month in the States and still started the diesel well), just wonder what they would be like not having had that happen. nearly worth buying another battery and flushing/filling old one with alum for giggles.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: 440Magnum

I would put it on a trickle charger for several days. Bringing a totally dead battery back very slowly is the key. It can't hurt. Yes, the deep discharge probably took some life out of the battery, but even if its a couple of years old you might still get a lot of life out of it with a slow initial recharge. IME what REALLY hurts a battery isn't the deep discharge, its getting a jumpstart and letting the alternator cram 150 amps into it for the first few seconds, over 100 amps for a couple of minutes, then 50-80 amps for the next 10 minutes, then 30 amps for a few hours. Back when cars had 30-amp generators that was less of a problem. A "smart" charger like this one can also work wonders for bringing an aging battery back to life: http://www.cloreautomotive.com/sku.php?id=502

I have been meaning to do a bit of a 'maintenance' charge with a trickle charger I have on the Jeep's battery. It's been sitting for a few weeks due to 'tire issues' but has to get inspected next month so I'm not pulling the battery!

 

[D189379]

I should be able to leave it sit for another 3 or 4 days this weekend. I think I'll just throw the trickle charger on it and let it go all weekend, and then try to get a feel for how its holding up as it gets colder towards the winter.

 

[ddrumman2004]

Though not a car, I ran the battery down on my 06 Yamaha V Star over three years ago after leaving the key on. Boosted it off and it finally gave out this year about a month ago. Now I did keep it on a Battery Tender during the winter months after I ran it down. Eight years on the OEM battery......can't complain.