How to Keep Your Car Battery Like New?

Why does a car battery hold up perfectly well during the summer and poop out in the winter, just when you need it most? This can happen for two different reasons.

1) The oil in the crank case is stiffer in cold weather than in warm, and the starting motor has a harder job ploughing through it.
2) The output or effectiveness of a storage battery falls off markedly as the temperature drops. In other words, when the engine needs the most starting energy, the battery is least capable of providing it!

There is a simple solution to this nuisance:

Check the battery frequently with the arrival of cold weather, and give it an overnight charge with a charger occasionally to keep it to full strength. The more frequently you stop and start the engine, and the less you use the car in the winter, the less chance does the battery have to accumulate a good charge from the charging generator, which works only when the engine runs.

A test on a storage battery with a voltmeter doesn't mean very much.

The only reliable test is made with a hydrometer. This is a syringe-like glass gadget with a squeeze bulb at one end; inside the glass is a shot-weighted float. To use it, you merely unscrew each cap of the battery in turn and suck up about half a syringe full of acid. The weight of the acid compared to that of water (its "specific gravity") is a direct indication of the state of charge.

A battery charger is a source of low-voltage direct current. It consists usually of a step-down transformer that reduces the 115-volt AC line to about 7 or 15 volts (for three- and six-cell batteries, respectively) after passing it through a rectifier that changes the AC to DC. Dual-voltage chargers are now common, to accommodate both types of batteries.

Car vibration can loosen battery leads and sometimes make them jump off; inspect, clean, tighten. Several times a year, remove the connector lugs from battery and clean terminals with sandpaper.

Wipe battery often with cloth dampened with water; check center caps of the battery for fit. To minimize corrosion around terminals, caused by sulphuric acid vapor from cells, coat with Vaseline.

Ensure these few tips and your battery will be as good as new:

•  Battery terminals are clean and that there is no sulphur formation.
• The battery is always be tightly bound to the battery-tray, to prevent spillage and damage.
•  Battery cables are properly connected. 
• Generator drive belt is sound and correctly adjusted.