Lead acid battery is used in car because it can stands many cycle of charge (when engine runs) and discharge (when you start vehicle or use 12V power without running engine e.g. alarm and door locks or even when you left the car not being driven for too long i.e. self-discharge).

However, there is a shortcoming of lead acid battery i.e. it cannot be left over-discharged or being in discharged state for too long period of time. This will lead to a phenomenon call sulfation or formation of lead sulfate in the battery which is irreversable and reducing the ability to accept and store charge thus reducing the battery capacity.

Based on this, there are some steps that one could try to practice to prolong the lifespan of your car 12V battery:

1) Try your best not to use the battery when the engine is not running e.g. leaving the car door open for very long which turns on the room lights, turing on radio or headlights without engine running, letting your kids play with the power windows etc.

2) While waiting to pick up people, whenever it is possible and safe, do not leave the headlights on even if the engine is running. Apart from putting stress to alternator, the headlight assembly will heat up, causing lens to turn yellowish or fade faster.

3) Do not always full blast your air cond blower. If you get into a car that was parked for too long under hot sun, open all windows when start driving to allow hot air to escape will be a better solution.

4) If you install any aftermarket audio system, rever camera, alarm or lighting, make sure the wiring are donw properly, does not create any shorts and unnecessary circuits are turned off together with ignition to prevent power drain when the car is parked.

5) Avoid short trips (e.g. less than 3 minutes) engine start and stop. Starter motor draws a lot of power and a 3 minutes trip may not be long enough for the alternator to recharge back the power consumed (especially if it is a night driving with headlights, aircond and audio system full blast).

People may ask, when my car is running, my alternator is on and my battery would be recharged so why I have to worry of keeping 12v accessories turned off to save power? The alternator for smaller cc car (usually those 1500 and below) are designed not to load the combustion engine too much in order for the engine to have more power to move the car and maintain the car's high fuel efficiency. In order to maintain the load to be small, the alternator produces lesser power. Usually designer calculated the power output to be slight over the regular consumption of all the 12V accessories under normal use (daytime could be hotter so aircond use more but headlight off, night time headlight on but cooler weather so air cond blower not at high speed). The extra from the slightly over output of the alternator is used to top up the 12v battery depleted by engine starter, accessories usage during stop e.g. alarm and also due to self discharge (normally between 3 to 20% a month depending on quality and size of battery).

Based on the above, if your trip is too short, or you have big amplifiers blasting away with air cond at full speed and headlights on most of the time, chances are your alternator output are just sufficient for accessories or even worst, at deficit, thus either not charging or instead actually draining your 12v battery.

To maintain good lifespan of a lead acid battery, it is normally not recommended to allow the battery to be discharged more than 75% of its capacity. The more it get discharged, the more sulfation would happen and the lower the battery capacity. When batery capacity becomes low, there is more chance you going to discharge it more, thus the effect is exponential when near the end of the battery life. In order to save weight, modern small CC car uses smaller battery, thus smaller capacity and higher chance to get badly discharged more than bigger batteries.

Sideline a bit, Insight does not have a regular alternator and power steering that are driven by belt by the combustion engine, that's why even when the engine is just 1300 cc, it felt so light. Insight does have power steering, but it is driven by electric motor. The only belt driven subsystem in Insight is the air cond compressor.

This post has been edited by cbinn: Mar 14 2012, 11:09 AM

nice. thanks for sharing.

guys... how to remove water mark on windscreen? I tried with car shampoo, but it doesn't work, anyone experience this?

wax?

newspapers?

with white vinegar ?
http://www.ehow.com/how_2271198_remove-wat...om-vehicle.html

averagely how long our Insight 12v battery can tahan?
mine less than 10000 km dead...what about u guys?

depend should last around 1 1/2 year minimum

Can't say for sure when, mine is going strong @23k km and a load of ice in my car

Hi, anyone know how to disable buzzer sound??

This post has been edited by edwin_yong: Mar 14 2012, 06:47 PM

hi any nice reverse camera intro for insight?

Seriously? I find that the reverse sensor is more than adequate...

Hi

Just to ask, any periodic service on airbag required on our insight?

Thanks

no need airbag will no required service until airbag indicator light up

I used the fly audio. Reverse cam are ok for me

This post has been edited by playoff90: Mar 15 2012, 01:19 PM

Hi guys - wanna ask... when you guys lock your door with one of the door open, the security system won't sound the alarm and it will not lock your door right ?

Well couple of days ago i have a case that on my door while go on shopping.. i pressed the button to lock my door (the car light flashes) but when i came back found that one of the door was not fully closed and alarm is not armed.

So is it because that i didn't close the door properly and when i press the lock.. i thought it has locked but in actual fact it didn't ? funny the tail lights still blinks in that case.

No, alarm should sound 3 times. If doors are not locked properly.

The buzzer sound 3 times not the alarm

Bro, can share some pic of your set up with fly audio?

my information regarding jazz hybrid price is correct...