OEM battery not too bad?

[ZionsWrath]

I have completely abused this battery. It's been run flat probably more than 2 dozen times. Jump started or charged as many.

This is the original battery when I bought the car, 2012. So in a few weeks 4 years on.

Still jump starts fine and will hold enough charge to start for about a week.

Anyone else satisfied with the OEM battery? Seen a lot of negative things about it but from my experience it aint half bad.

[JD001]

I'm afraid I'm a battery abuser too. . Don't use my car much and I can't get a trickle charger to it so the battery runs down.

I use a Snooper jump starter to get it going and it's 2 years into its life.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by ZionsWrath

I have completely abused this battery. It's been run flat probably more than 2 dozen times. Jump started or charged as many.

This is the original battery when I bought the car, 2012. So in a few weeks 4 years on.

Still jump starts fine and will hold enough charge to start for about a week.

Anyone else satisfied with the OEM battery? Seen a lot of negative things about it but from my experience it aint half bad.

We had a discussion on batteries dying in a thread a couple of months back and I spent some time digging through here. What I found was that BRZs seem to have battery issues at about a 10 to 1 ratio over FRSs. Now, since the ratio of FRs to BRZs on here is also about 10 to 1 that really is a significant trend. Presuming that both cars have the same OEM battery and the only real difference is all the electronic goodies the BRZ has I can only conclude that one or more of those goodies is creating a parasitic draw that drains batteries faster than the FRS. Hardly scientific and I can not prove my theory but there it is.

[Kimsey47]

I was going to say that I have abused my battery too; however, I'm a BRZ driver... Car is driven once a week now after being a daily driver for the first few years of ownership that stopped in December. I guess we'll see how next winter goes but I know that I've had to jump it once and she still starts right up when I get in it now!

[Ultramaroon]

OEM battery is fine as long as electrolyte level is maintained. All the cells on mine cook off at about the same rate. I top it off with distilled water about twice a year.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

OEM battery is fine as long as electrolyte level is maintained. All the cells on mine cook off at about the same rate. I top it off with distilled water about twice a year.

Somebody drinking it? year and a half and have never had to add a drop.

[aegisdrgn]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Somebody drinking it? year and a half and have never had to add a drop.

Shit, Tcoat's onto me!

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by aegisdrgn

Shit, Tcoat's onto me!

Dude! That is not what they mean when they say "do acid".

[aegisdrgn]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Dude! That is not what they mean when they say "do acid".

ooooo pretty...liiiiights....

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Somebody drinking it? year and a half and have never had to add a drop.

Hmmm... must be variations in the voltage regulator. I bet my charge voltage is higher than yours.

[aegisdrgn]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Hmmm... must be variations in the voltage regulator. I bet my charge voltage is higher than yours.

I see a ton of powder build up on the negative terminal - I cleaned it off and slathered the terminal and post with silicone paste, but it's back. I read it might be due to overcharging. Since that powder is copper sulfate, if the electrolyte level drops that means even if I add distilled water, I'll have to replace the battery sooner rather than later, right?

Pic back when I cleaned it 8 months ago:

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by aegisdrgn

I see a ton of powder build up on the negative terminal - I cleaned it off and slathered the terminal and post with silicone paste, but it's back. I read it might be due to overcharging. Since that powder is lead sulfate, if the electrolyte level drops that means even if I add distilled water, I'll have to replace the battery sooner rather than later, right?

The powder is due to electrolyte leeching through the compromised seal around the post. This is purely a mechanical failure. Once it starts, there's no stopping it. When you get a new battery, be sure to do everything you can to avoid tweaking the posts.

The level does not drop from that little bit leeching through the seals. It drops due to electrolysis - splitting the water molecule into atomic hydrogen and oxygen. The concentration of sulfuric acid increases as the water is lost, and decreases due to sulfation as lead sulfate builds up on the plates.

Distilled water can be added but once the plates start sulfating, that's pretty much the end of the road.

[carbonBLUE]

Yeah my battery was dead dead after about a year and a half, switch to duralast gold. I enjoy the better cranking power of a better battery anyways. The stock battery would struggle to start the car under certain conditions

[babydriver]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Somebody drinking it? year and a half and have never had to add a drop.

Still tastes better than the rot gut gin at the liquor store.