geoffxr4

My girlfriend's car has a flat battery and she doesn't have a charger. If we jump start the car how long should she drive it around for the alternator to charge the battery enough to make it useable again? Will the battery eventually fully charge or does it need a charger at some point?? She usually drives 30 mins at a time to and from work.

cheers

Harris.

You will need to take it off and charge it . Winter kills battery's

burnzy

i dunno i beg to differ, i'v bumped cars and run the battery up with the engine i'd say half an hour would be enough, but i would do it before she goes to work, because it might be knackered, why has it gone flat in the first place, is it because you'v been away, or haven't used it for a while, i'd drive it round for a good half an hour to an hour and then check it start's on it's own, it might struggle to hold charge if it's on it's way out.

jammy86

If its really flat, no amount of driving will get it going again.

If your going to try a drive around though, make sure you return home before trying it out, and after you check if it starts again, you'll need to go another drive.

JAmes.

smudge_lad

why not drive to argos and buy a charger??

ballin

iTrader: (1)

yes it will recover from driving around as long as the battery is holding charge.
30 min spirited drive will do it.

geoffxr4

thanks for the replies. She left the interior light on , other than that the battery is fine. It started ok on jump leads and her dad took it for a half hour drive. I can charge it on the charger next time she's here but she needs her car for work tomorrow.

Thanks all

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

It'll be fine!! As long as it holds charge ok then no damage will have been done. Half hour trips to work and back will charge it no bother

BM08

when i had a problem with my escort gti and the battery was flat(i mean no central locking etc) completly dead, we jumped it and i drove 5mins up the road, switched it off and it started again, not as quick turning over as it normally was but it started fine, then i drove it another 5mins home and it was fine.

Until the next time it was flat but that was only due to an electrical fault which was draining the battery over night sometimes

pani_k

iTrader: (1)

You will find that after a drive if you turn it off and start it straight back up again it will fire up pretty easily. It is more testing to leave it standing for 30mins-1hr then see if it will start.

tabetha

The period of time varies, from car to car, later cars, more so if they have calcium batteries as std can take as long as 3 hours driving to fully charge, as their chargins systems have to be so much more gentle due to the battery design.
If it is a std lead/lead or lead/calcium it will charge much quicker, but anything from a calcium/calcium on will be a lot slower.
30 mins on most cars without calcium batteries is enough, to get a decent charge back in.
Just be aware the battery may now go downhill very suddenly if std lead as these don't do deep discharge very well at all
tabetha

Harris.

Gone to start my 3 door tonight and mines dead too

Only 9 months old too so im going to take it back to fords

matts1

Had it a few months back, car alarm going off, wouldn't even turn over, had to keep ignition on to stop alarm going off.

Mate came round with a jumper pack and started straight up, took it out for 30 minutes drive and parked it up.

Started the next day no trouble at all.