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Beware of the MAINTENANCE free battery

3K views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  OED666 
#1 ·
I bought a century maintenance free battery easter last year and about a month ago it carked ti for no reason and wouldnt hold any charge so I just took it straight back to where I bought it from. The bloke gave me a new battery to get around with and said he would check the old one out.

When I went back a week later he said the battery rep had checked it out and discoverd there was nearly no water at all left in it like you could tip it nearly upside down and nothing would come out, I thought that it was a bit odd and he told me that my altenator must be charging to much which I know its not because I have the gauge in my car to prove it.

Now heres where the trouble starts, they say its not covered under warranty because there are 2 things that cause a battery to loose its water
1. overcharging and 2. heat, I have read the fine print on the battery and says something like " this battery will not need additional top ups of water under normal driving conditions blah blah blah the vent caps are accessable for top ups of water under adverse driving conditions, now apparantly the Australian climate is an adverse driving condition (which i was told on the phone) even though they sell these so called maintenance free batterys throught Australia.

It really pisses me off that they are blaming me for not putting water in it because with all my other batteries I used to check the water regulary but on the century battery it has got a big maintenance free sticker plastered all over it.

Any opinions on what I should do, I have already made a crap load of phone calls and they all say the same thing.
 
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#2 ·
you shouldve bought a battery off me!!!

i sell ROCKET SEALED MAINTANCE FREE BATTERIES, and we have very low failure rate on all this stuff, and full 2 year warranty. (also have an agent in wagga ..pm me for details)

the reason that you dont need to top up maint free batteries (under normal conditions) is that they vent back inside themselves, and do not vent to the atmosphere, so the acid always stays in the battery, also they have cacluim (or part calcuim) construction.

IMO if your car WAS overcharging then there would be messy acid and rubbish leaked all over the top of you battery (dpending on the caps or how its sealed), and it would stink....our batteries have a valve in them that will allow gas and acid to exit the battery should heat or overcharging occur.

Most maintainace free batteries are made up of CALCIUM PLATES (instead of lead) and some are called hybrid, which is a mix of calcium and lead plates.

ADVANTAGES OF CALCIUM BATTERIES:
HIGHER CRANKING (called CCA) than standard lead battery (called CCA)
SHOULD BE SEALED to vent back inside itself...i.e NO MESS
LONGER SHELF LIFE...wont go flat as quick as a LEAD ACID battery, so longer shelf life and longer life in the vehicle.

DISADVANTAGES
Generally higher price than standard LEAD ACID BATTERY
Charge rate needs to be SPOT ON, they DONT LIKE OVERCHARGING at all, and are happier to have trickle charge than BOOOST CHARGE OR FAST CHARGE.
If a calcium battery goes dead flat (say you left the lights on or something) then the battery needs to be TRICKLE CHARGED for a good couple of days (sometimes more depending on the size of the battery) to bring it back up to full operating potential.

for more info click on the BATTERY LINK below in my sig. or PM me.
 
#6 ·
I'd be inclined to write Century a letter asking them to confirm in writing what they told you on the phone. If they do confirm that the whole of Au is excluded from their maintenance free guarantee then I'd trot off to the office of fair trading and lodge a complaint about Century and their false representations.
 
#7 ·
yep, thats a load of garbage. if the battery had been overcharged thered be other signs - overheating, mess on the battery. did the battery they leant you magically become empty too? if not why not, it was in the same car!

id be complaining about this bigtime, theyre trying to stiff you here.

Jase
 
#8 ·
I have got a maintenance free bosch battery, and i no that the water level goes down now and then. i have had if for over 2 years, but its starting to die now.

i also put battery conditioner in it after i purchased it. not too sure if it really does anything.
 
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