hello sl6 sages- must be a battery guru among us. got my 80 volare wagon shipped to fla and am working over different systems. battery looks less than a year old. a 72 month exide. was dead, discharged. wouldnt even light headlights let alone start engine. disconnected and cleaned terminals and posts. slow charged it over night . tester said it had 10 volts. wouldnt accept charge. will sitting for a while 2 mos lets say finish the battery? anything tothe old tale about a battery sitting on concrete floor killing it? thanks bob fisher

_________________
This account is used for member help ONLY!

Im no guru, but recently had similiar battery problems...
My alternator crapped out, so my battery discharged all the way. Wouldnt hold a charge after that.
Long story short, new battery got me back on the road.
S>

_________________
1980 Volare Slant

Sounds like the battery may have a bad (shorted cell). Yes, leaving a battery discharged will kill it, but I can't give you a time frame on how long it takes for the battery to die.

Don't assume the battery is only a year old. There should be a sticker with the month and year of manufacture. It's frequently a single letter for the month A being January, B February and a single digit for the year. C5 would be Jan '05 or Jan 1995.

A battery sitting on a concrete floor doesn't hurt the battery. Dirt and moisture on the top of the battery can make for a conductive path that will discharge the battery. Lead-antimony batteries also self-discharge at a fairly high rate which goes up with temperature. On the other end of the scale a discharged battery can freeze and mechanically damage the battery.

I hope this answers your questions!

_________________
Joshua

I used to have my seldom-used batteries die every year or two; now I use an inexpensive maintainence charger from Harbor Freight (~$14, <<1A, rectified AC regulated @ 14.4V) most of the time.

I got nearly 10 years out of my last Sears Diehard (maybe Silver?) group 27 that way; it may have lasted longer, but my Plymouth's voltage regulator failed and way overcharged the battery on the way back from a show.

The old battery still worked OK until I added water to make up for what was lost while overcharging; then it shorted a cell.

I also tried the de-sulfination pulse modes in my fancy Vector charger on my old batteries, but couldn't ever see any improvement.