If you're searching for “what causes a dead battery?” Here are the 10 most common reasons that could drain your battery:
1. Parasitic battery draw
2. A malfunctioning alternator
3. A faulty charger
4. Electric components turned on
5. Problematic charging system
6. Expired battery
7. Faulty battery cables
8. Shorter trips
9. High and low temperatures
10. Jump starts
Your vehicle's battery is responsible for generating the initial electric charge to get the engine going. Without a perfectly running battery, it's easy to get to situations where you can't start the vehicle, which can be extremely challenging, especially if you're living in cold environments.
⚠️ If It's Broken, Don't Fix It - Get Paid Cash for Your Vehicle ⚠️
The good news is that there are specific reasons that could drain your vehicle's battery which means that when you run through a situation with a dead battery, you can identify the culprit by going through the list mentioned in this article.
Once you identify the culprit, you must reach out to your mechanic and check whether you need to install a new component or fix the existing one. However, if you're looking for a temporary quick solution to get away with a dead battery, you can always perform a quick jumpstart.
What causes a dead battery? 9 important reasons
When you're dealing with a dead battery, you're most likely having one of the following problems:
1. Parasitic battery draw
The person tick battery draw refers to the situation where your vehicle's battery continues to drain even after you turn off the engine. This is not a rare situation because it can happen due to a problem with the wiring or the connections that might keep the electric components drawing battery charge and failed to shut down.
The personal battery draw is not something that will drain the battery completely in a short time. In other words, it is the type of battery drain that continues to happen over a long time which means that if you don't detect it immediately and get it to fix, you'll end up with a dead car battery.
2. A malfunctioning alternator
There's a very common misconception that the vehicle's battery is responsible for charging all electric components as the engine is running. However, the battery is only responsible for producing the electric charge to get the engine started. Once the engine starts, the alternator takes over and continues providing the electric charge for all electric components by utilizing the engine power.
There are many common situations where the alternator goes bad when the engine switches to rely on the battery. This is because the charger looks at the components for a short time. Since the battery is not designed to support all these little components, it is easy that the battery will drain completely in no time, and the next time you try to start the engine, it doesn't work.
3. A faulty charger
It might sound a little bit weird to many more readers that the battery charger might do the exact opposite job. Many of us rely on the charger to keep our batteries charged, especially if we leave the vehicle for extended times. However, if the charger is not of good quality, it can easily continue charging the battery until it tops it off.
While many chargers are equipped with the feature to stop charging the battery once it exceeds the specified threshold, many faulty chargers do not. Therefore, a faulty order can continue supplying the electric charge and cause your battery to get completely damaged.
4. Electric components turned on
Another extremely common situation that most of us might have gotten involved in at least once is getting elected components turned on. For example, have you ever gotten off your vehicle and slipped overnight to discover that your battery is dead because you left the headlights turned on in the morning? Sounds familiar, right?
Therefore, once you deal with a dead battery, look at the electric components and check whether you forgot the headlights or probably the radio and sometimes other specific electric components that could gradually drain the vehicle's battery.
5. Problematic charging system
When you start the engine, it withdraws a significant amount of energy from your battery. Then the battery relies on the alternator and on the engine to get it to charge again. If there's any problem with the charging system in your vehicle, it can be extremely hard to recharge the battery, and that's when you deal with a dead battery.
6. Expired battery
Yes, the batteries have expiration dates here; therefore, if you were battery approaches three to five years from its lifetime, it might be the time now to install a new one. But, first, take a look at your back battery's expiration date and check whether it's approaching the end of its lifetime. If that's the case, consider installing a new one because you won't have any other solution.
7. Faulty battery cables
Since the battery cables are responsible for allowing the battery current to run back and forth from end to battery, recharging the battery becomes a very complicated job when these cables are not in good condition.
Therefore, you must take a closer look at the battery terminals and cables to check for any signs of corrosion or rust. If that's the case, you can easily clean those up but do not do so if you notice any signs of cracks or damages because this might lead to risks of electric shocks.
8. Shorter trips
In general, most automotive experts recommend against taking your vehicle for any short trips. In other words, if you're planning to take a 5 to 10 minutes trip, try combining your errands and newer trips, so you don't deal with these situations. While a dead battery is a very common outcome of driving your vehicle continuously on shorter trips, you can also deal with significant damages that might target one of the core components, which is your vehicle's engine.
9. High and low temperatures
Your vehicle's battery is designed to support a specific range of temperatures. When it gets extremely cold or hot, the battery's efficiency is impacted, and you will notice a significant reduction in your vehicle's battery as the temperature becomes more extreme. In some scenarios, the battery can get completely dead just because the weather is very cold outside.
Therefore, automotive experts recommend that if you live in an area where the temperature is very extreme, you might want to consider solutions or any other external means to help the battery stay within the operable temperature range.
10. Jump starts
Did anybody reach out to you before to help jumpstart his vehicle? Did you know that sometimes doing the jump start in the wrong way leads to a completely drained car battery? Yes! Unfortunately, you mustn't attempt to perform any jumpstart until you are 100% sure about what you're doing. Otherwise, you're going to end up with a drained battery you and the other driver.
How long can a car battery survive without the charger?
According to automotive experts, your vehicle battery can last up to one to two months without any charging source. Depending on your vehicle's battery, you might even get away with three months without a charge.
How to safely jump-start your car?
Since the wrong jump start might lead to a completely drained car battery, and since you're dealing with a dead battery, it might be worth learning how to jump-start a car here safely. This way, you can get away with your or did battery box. However, you mustn't rely on this approach as a permanent solution because it can cause internal damage is.
So, other than learning about “what causes a dead battery?”, let's look at how to successfully jump start your car, follow these steps:
1. Decide on your charging approach
If you're not already familiar, there are different ways of charging your vehicle using a jump start. Some jump starts might have a standalone power source, so you don't need another car as a donor. On the other hand, there are many cable jump starts where you need to have a second car doner and have him ready to jump-start your vehicle.
If you decide to go with a standalone jumpstart, all you need to do is just park your vehicle horizontally. However, if your jump start is just the cable and you need a second donor, both vehicles need to park close to each other but have a distance of at least 18 inches between the two.
2. Set the cars to park
Whether you’re relying on another vehicle as a donor or a standalone jumpstart, you need to set your car in park to prevent moving the vehicle by accident. Some experts recommend even activating the hand brakes for more safety.
3. Pop up the hoods and connect the terminals
Once you're ready, pop up the hood and locate the red terminal, the positive one, and the black terminal, which is the negative one. Is important that you connect the terminals to start with the positive one and then the negative one to prevent trouble. It is also important to keep both clams away from each other to prevent safety issues.
When connecting the terminals, make sure that you first connect the red clamp to the dead battery and the second red clamp to the charged battery. Then, connect the black or negative terminal to the charged battery and the other side of the black terminal to the bare metal. Once you follow the right steps, you can start the charged vehicle and then start your vehicle with the dead battery.
Note that it takes about 10 minutes for your dead battery to get going, and once it reaches that point, you will immediately notice that you can crank the engine now.
4. Disconnect the jump starter properly
Once you're done charging, you can go ahead and disconnect the jump starter. First, you must remove the black or negative terminals from the bare metal than from the charged vehicle. After that, remove the red chargers from the charged vehicle and then from your vehicle. Failing to follow the results of the right steps in significant problems
What if it's not the car battery?
If your problem is difficulty starting your engine, the issue might not be related to a bad battery. While many other culprits components might prevent your vehicle from starting, including:
- Your vehicle doesn't have fuel
- The car has a problem with the ignition switch
- The starter motor doesn't work properly
- The fuel pump has a problem
- The battery is weak, but it's not completely dead
What causes a dead battery: Conclusion
Your vehicle's battery is a critical component that is responsible for getting the engine started. Without a car battery, your day can be extremely challenging because you'll have to think about another way to get your vehicle going so you can get to your office or drive your kids to school.
There are many different reasons for a dead car battery, and if you're still wondering, “what causes a dead battery?” It could be a problem with a parasitic draw, alternator, charger, charging system, battery lifetime, shorter tips, corroded battery terminals.
If what's causing your dead battery has to do with a significant component, before you spend a penny fixing the car, you must evaluate the situation to check whether it's worth it or not. For example, if you realize that orbit costs are posted in my personal locker vehicles value, it's not worth their repairs. So instead, do you recommend it still your vehicle the Cash Cars Buyer today!
Cash Cars Buyer is willing to remove your vehicle within one to three days only! Cash Cars Buyer is one of the top-rated car removal companies in the nation that guarantees to pay you the top dollars and provide you with free towing despite your living location around the United States.
Our process is very straightforward and doesn't take more than a couple of days to get your car removed safely and for the most money.
All it takes you is to:
- Describe your car’s type and condition
- Receive our instant free quote
- Accept the quote
- Get your car removed and receive your cash payment on the spot!
To learn more about our process and our teen, you can reach out to us by giving us a call at 866-924-4608 or visit our home page click on the free instant online offer.