Best Battery For 205 Over Winter?

[Phil H 16]

What is the best way of keeping an occasionally used 205 battery charged up over the winter? I currently have a GSF own brand battery which is about a year old and is now failing to hold charge for more than a day. I used to have a Bosch silver battery, but that seemed to need regular CPR and not hold charge. As far as I am ware there is no najor current drain no lights are left on etc, but not had a battery test.

I use the car a few times a week for taking the dogs out in and it has a 15 min run each way, but seems either I buy poor quality batteries or don't run the car long enough. The alternator was new not long ago, so hope that is not duff.

 

So what battery would best suit my needs, ie 063 as specced, go for an 065 or an 075 for example and what brand aswell, or just get any old one and use a battery conditioner, but can't say I am wanting to plug my car in to the mains after every use.

 

Thanks

Phil

[Anthony 1,003]

Any good quality battery should be fine on a car that's used several times a week, so my guess would be that either you have had the bad luck of a couple of duff batteries or there is a drain somewhere that's flattening them. Alarms and stereos are two prime candidates for this, and easily checked with a multimeter - drain should be no more than 10-20mA really, and anything above 50mA is a good sign that something is amiss.

 

Size wise, 063 should be fine, although 065 will give you a little extra capacity and isn't physically much bigger. However, it isn't going to make much difference when you're talking a battery going flat in a day or two.

 

What I will say is that in my experience Bosch Silver batteries are utterly hopeless and once allowed to discharge once never seem to be the same again. I went through three in less than a year under warranty a while back, got fed up, and have used just cheapo and mid-range batteries ever since without issue.

 

To give you an idea of how things should be, my GTi was parked up at work for the last three weeks and the battery in it is at least 4/5 years old - yet that still started first turn of the key, cranking over strongly enough that I'm sure it would have happy sat for another week or two without quibble.

[jamie_1992 66 1 Cars]

what about one of those solar charges that keep them topped up, not sure how well they work this time of year.

we had a punto at work that was only started once in a month and the battery was always going flat so we fitted an isolater to it and it seemed to fix it

[Phil H 16]

Anthony, thankyou for the detailed response and I will get a charging and battery drain test done. We have a local place who does it for a fiver, but prior to getting there, I need a new battery as the GSF one has totally let me down this morning, so I have been out and bought a Motaquip 3 year warranty battery. Best price Peugeot could do was £85, but Autoworld in Northampton (for the benefit of anyone local wanting Motaquip parts) wanted £42.

 

Now I am off to fit it to the car, drive home, then get the bus to get my car again ! Not worth calling out recovery as I like to e in control of my destiny than waiting for someone to turn up, hitch up the car, sign a disclaimer etc etc.

[jamie_1992 66 1 Cars]

if you just wanted a cheap one to get you going a company called tps were doing 063 for £17 not sure if they are a nationwide company or if there is a similer company near you

[Phil H 16]

All fitted and working fine again. Will get a test done tomorrow. Oh it was £39.06, not £42, dunno where that came from.

Was great fun getting two cars home, parking up one and walking back with my little boy, then parking up and going back again....