How long does it take to charge a car battery

Has your car battery died recently? If you are wondering how long does it take to charge a car battery then we have the answers. While it’s never a good time when your battery dies if you have the right battery charger you can get back up and running.

Why car batteries die

Age

Car batteries can die for a number of reasons. Depending on the age of the battery it might no longer hold a charge. We have seen that the average lifespan of a battery is 3-5 years. Although it does depend on the quality of the battery.

If you purchase a higher quality battery odds are the battery will last longer. There are many other factors that can play a role in the battery life.

Usage

Car batteries deteriorate over time. With the thousands of start ups the battery has to go through it slowly wears down the battery. While batteries are built to start your car each time after a period of time they start to fail.

This is especially noticable when you have aftermarket accessories like amplifiers and sound systems. Maybe you’ve upgraded your lights and they are causing excessive wear on the battery.

Draining

Odds are most of us have done it. We’ve either left a light on or something running in the car overnight. You go to turn your car on in the morning but nothing happens. While you were sleeping the light was slowly draining the battery. It isn’t good for a battery to be without a charge so this may cause excessive wear.

Broken

Batteries have internal parts that can break or disconnect over time. As things get hot parts expand and contract. After a bunch of temperature changes wear can happen which could cause your battery to have a bad cell or bad internal components.

How to know if you need to replace your battery

If you can get your car to an Autoparts store they may test the battery for you. If you don’t have any means of getting there or just want to be able to test the battery any time or place you could invest in a battery tester.

These battery testers are easy to use and come with instructions. With the car off you hook up the wires to each of the designated battery terminals. The black is negative and the red is positive.

The tester will give you a few prompts before allowing you to test the battery. You’ll then be given information like the voltage and whether or not there are any other battery issues. Invest in a decent tester so you can get accurate results.

How long does it take to charge a car battery

Depending on why the battery drained in the first place can affect the charge time. If you tested the battery and it has a bad cell it would be best to replace it. Unless you want to learn how to recondition a battery it’s easier and more secure to buy a new battery with a warranty.

If you left something on that drained your battery overnight it could take a few hours to recharge the battery. On the other hand if the battery is completely dead it wouldn’t be uncommon for the batter to take 3 hours to fully charge.

It could take 30 minutes to an hour to charge up a partially charged battery. With a good battery charger you should get detailed information on the screen that shows you the status of your battery.