Battery needs replacing- or not?

[gasace]

Hope I've put this in the right place, because although it was not on the bongo it could have been.

I left my fridge plugged in and flattened the battery on my van (a VW T5) called the AA. They came and boost started the van. Then ran a test on the battery and told me it needed replacing. The man offered to replace it there and then, but thinking it would be very expensive I declined. He then gave me a report sheet with a battery test print out stapled to which had "failed" printed in large letters. I asked my local garage to replace the battery,but they tested it and said it is fine, and did not want to fit one.

Has anyone had any dealings with the AA? were they just trying to sell an overpriced battery? or have my garage got it wrong?

Any help welcome

Thanks

John

[mikexgough]

PM Nevets.... he will give you the low down on the AA battery test.... he works for them...

[Velocette]

Some "intelligent" chargers will fail a totally flat battery rather than desulphate it. This happened to me with my Astra with my own Black and Decker charger. So I tried my old 1970 "stupid" charger and after an overnight charge the modern one accepted it and charged it fully.

[g8dhe]

Tend to agree with this, too many modern chargers protect the charger first rather than put charge into the battery. A badly flattened battery will be less than about 6-8volts and the smaller charges start by measuring the voltage and at this level they reject the battery totally, rather than starting by putting in a charge of a few amps for an hour or so then measuring what is going on. You need to give the battery a chance to hold its charge rather than condemn it because its got no charge! However if you do have a charger that will start to charge it, then DO NOT skimp on the time necessary to recharge it, you will need at least 48 hours, whilst about 80% of the charge will go in in about 8 hours the remaining 20% needs at lot longer, but it is the top 20% that is normally only used it is also the time that is needed to "repair" the chemical damage to the plates from being deeply discharged.

[perros huevos]

you cannot test a flat battery even drop testing needs to be done to a fully charged battery, i have one of these
http://www.actmeters.com/GOLD%20PLUS.php but i had it given to me free
chris

[wonkanoby]

A fair part of their income is commision on the sale of batteries and the like

[mikeWalsall]

Maybe the AA see batteries as a 'perk of the job ..

http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... =3&t=52972