Is your battery getting a little shoddy? An unreliable or old car battery can put you and your family in danger.
Whether you’re stuck in the middle of nowhere and you need a jump or your electrical components stop working, a dead battery puts you in a difficult situation. It’s important to know how to change a battery when those situations arise.
We’re going to look at some common car battery-changing mistakes that people make and how to avoid them. Let’s get started.
1. Finding The Wrong Car Battery Replacement
It’s essential that you find the right car battery size when you purchase a new one. Most car batteries of the wrong size will not work in your vehicle.
That said, a couple of misfits might just fit and work for a period of time. It’s unsafe to use the wrong size, though. Explore some RB battery tips to figure out how to get the right size for your vehicle.
2. Improper Removal
Another thing to keep in mind is that there’s a protocol for removing your old batteries.
Make sure that you always remove the negative terminal first. If you remove the positive terminal and it makes contact with a metal component, you’re liable to see sparks and potentially get shocked.
When you remove the negative terminal first, it neutralizes the circuit and there’s no chance that you shock yourself. Further, make sure that you never set any tools down on top of the battery.
A large wrench, for example, might make contact with both terminals and connect the circuit. That could lead to fires, explosions, and serious injuries.
3. Failing to Recycle
You can almost always recycle your old battery. There are proper places to dispose of old batteries, but most places that replace batteries will pay you a few dollars to recycle the old ones.
If you’ve got old car batteries in your garage somewhere, bring them by an auto shop to see if you can get some money for them. There’s almost always a good chance that you can recycle the battery, considering that it’s almost entirely recyclable.
4. Removing at Low Charge
A battery starts to lose its efficacy as the charge wanes. So, even though your battery still has 20% of a charge left, that doesn’t mean it’s going to work as well as it did at first.
Check the fine print of your battery and see when the recommended replacement is.
5. Not Buying a Deep Cycle Battery
Deep cycle batteries are those that can run into low charge while maintaining their efficacy. They’re a little more expensive, but they last a whole lot longer and they don’t put you in danger as often.
Ask your auto shot about deep cycle batteries the next time you need a change.
Want to Learn More Car Battery Changing Mistakes?
Hopefully, our look at common car battery-changing mistakes was useful to you. There’s a lot more to look out for, though. We’re here to help.
Explore our site for more ideas on the car battery changing process, to find battery replacement tools, and much more.