Top Ten Starting Battery Tips
- Wear glasses when working with a battery, because it might explode.
- Keep your non-sealed battery properly filled with distilled water and the top clean. The plates must be covered at all times.
- To prevent permanent sulfation when not in use and especially in hot weather, keep your battery continuously connected to a "smart" or maintenance charger or recharge your battery at least one per week. Cheap unregulated "trickle" chargers will kill your battery.
- In hot climates, keep your battery as cool as possible and non-sealed Low Maintenance or sealed AGM batteries are recommended.
- When buying a replacement battery, be sure it matches your charging system & Cold Cranking Amps (CCA) requirements, physically fits, and is fresh.
- Keep the battery cable mating surfaces and terminals free from corrosion.
- Avoid a deep discharge of your battery. This could kill it.
- For longer battery life, do not add acid or additives and keep your battery securely fastened.
- Use chargers (or settings) that will recharge batteries over eight to ten hours.
- Thaw out a frozen battery before attempting to jump or recharge it and always jump batteries positive-to-positive and negative-to-negative. For negative grounded electrical systems, the last negative connection should be to the frame or engine block away from the battery.
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