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Battery guides
Straight answers to the questions people ask before they buy a battery, written by the people who fit them. No sales copy dressed up as advice.
Every guide
What size battery does my car take?
The number is already printed on the battery in your car. Here is where to look, and what it is telling you.
AGM, EFB or standard
Three constructions, three price points, and one rule that matters more than the other two put together.
How long a car battery lasts here
Three to five years is the working answer in most of South Africa. The interesting part is what moves you towards one end of that or the other.
When to replace it
A battery almost always gives notice. It is just that the notice is quiet and easy to explain away.
Battery or alternator?
Replacing a perfectly good battery because the alternator stopped charging is the most common wasted purchase in this trade.
It keeps going flat
Repeated flat batteries have four usual causes. Only one of them is fixed by buying a battery.
The new one is dying too
If a battery fitted this year is already flat, something in the car is doing it. Here is the order to check in.
Corroded terminals
The powder is a symptom. What it tells you depends on which terminal it is on.
Jump starting, done properly
The order matters, and the last clamp does not go where most people put it.
What a battery costs
The advertised number and the number on the invoice are often two different numbers. Here is what moves between them.
What a battery warranty is worth
Two batteries can both say “two-year warranty” and mean completely different things. The word to look for is what happens in month fourteen.
Bakkies, 4x4s and hard duty
A double-cab towing a trailer on a gravel road is a different job from a commute, and the battery is the part that finds out first.
Bikes, caravans and boats
They all say 12 volts on the label. That is where the similarity stops.
Still not sure?
Bring the vehicle to a Global Batteries Xpress store. We read the size off the battery, or off the vehicle if the battery has already been removed, test it under load, check the charging system and print the result. That costs you nothing whether you buy or not.