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Proper maintenance of your battery will prolong the life of it, and help avoid potential hazards.

The car battery is used to power the starter motor, and electrical components of the car. The voltage of a car battery is 12.6 Volts. Once the car is running the alternator takes over, and recharges the battery.

How do you know if your having car battery problems?

• When trying to start your car the motor cranks slowly or not at all.
• The battery indicator warning light on the instrument panel of the car lights up.
• You try to recharge it, and it can no longer hold a charge.
• Although your driving the car regularly, the battery keeps getting drained when the cars not running. A bad alternator can drain your battery while the car isn't running. Also there can be some kind of parasitic load draining it when the car is shut off. Look in the glove compartment, and other parts of the car to make sure all the lights are off when the car is shut off.
• Built up corrosion around the battery terminals.

Cleaning your battery

When you remove your battery connectors from the terminals gently move them from side to side. Try not to pull on the connectors. Always remove the cable clamp from the negative terminal first. If you don't remove the negative cable first, the metal wrench could create a short circuit touching grounded engine parts. This will cause sparks which can damage your skin or eyes. Sparks can cause explosions, which can damage the battery, and everything around it. Put the ground clamp on last after installing the battery. It's a good idea to wear goggles, and gloves when handling car batteries.

You can purchase a battery terminal cleaner from any automotive parts store for three bucks. Simply push it over the battery terminals, and turn it. When you unscrew it there's a wire brush inside used to clean the battery clamp connectors.

Car battery problems

Battery corrosion add lots of resistance to electrical circuits preventing the battery from charging properly. To prevent corrosion from forming again, coat the terminals with grease or vaseline after cleaning the battery.

The best car batteries

The best car batteries on the market in my opinion are optima car batteries. I learned about optima batteries when I was studying automotive electrical at L.A. Trade Tech College.

Some of the advantages of the Optima Battery are:

It will last three times longer than regular batteries.

3 to 4 times longer storage time (shelf life).

They're vibration proof.

They have both the battery post, and the side mount connections.

Nonspillable; can be mounted in any orientation.

No corrosion ever to terminals, cables, & battery trays, and no water is ever needed. They're are maintenance free.

Flat discharge profile. (Higher average voltage during discharge provides longer run time over a larger portion of battery capacity.)

Air shippable

Many optima battery owners have had the same battery for more than ten years!

AutoBarn.com carries optima batteries and they offer FREE SHIPPING on orders over $150!