Originally Posted by
big john
This is not true. You can check for a parasitic draw with an ammeter. It's recommended to be less than 50ma. When I have checked cars it's typically less than 20ma.
Of course if you don't drive it for a month it may go down.
Part of the issue is the reduction of weight in batteries. Also, quality control can be worse than years ago. And luck is involved.
Our cars each have 5ish year old batteries and Mrs rarely starts her car. I had a cheap Wal Mart battery for 8 years in a truck I sold.
my car has an issue that results in high parasitic drain - bad door handle … (and possibly another issue)
known problems with the car unfortunately
so the car cannot sit too long or battery will not start the car when temps are low (single digits etc)
dealer showed the handle was out of stock - and it was ridiculously expensive anyways - so I live with it
I have a compact jump starter just in case
I’ve had better luck with batteries made by East Penn and Johnson Controls / Clarios - so we have Duracell batteries in two cars and two tractors … Duralast in another car … typically get the highest CCA and capacity I can get in the spec’d battery
installed an AGM battery in one car (despite contradictions on compatibility due to alternator output / charge rate ?) … and more recently went with an EFB battery in another car