29th Jan 2017, 18:19
Buy a 3 AMP battery maintainer for 30.00, which is not a charger. It kicks on and off as the battery dips. A charger goes constant and will cause your battery to fail if left on all the time. Sears has them. It's a very small box with red, yellow and green lights. I fed a charger wire through my grille on all my cars. Add an inline fuse holder. In less than a half hour it was done. I have it on all my cars, boat and tractor. Roll in, plug in in and your battery is always 100%. Walk out, unplug at the grille and take off. The 5 year change out idea is simple. Pay 100.00 for a typical new battery. Costs you only 20 bucks a year - do the math. If you break down year 6 plus, is it worth it to save so little bucks.
29th Jan 2017, 14:17
I also consider 5 years as the safe lifetime of a battery. Anything beyond that is a gamble.
There are electronic testers for the state of health of a battery.
When my battery was 5 years old, I went to a guy who tested it and he said that its days were numbered.
I bought a new battery the next day in order to avoid any risks.