Any car driver will be familiar with the frustration and plain annoyance of having a dead battery in their car. It can happen all too easily – accidentally leaving the lights or some internal application running when you are out of the car is something that can happen even if you just brush a switch on your way out of the vehicle. By the time you come back to your car, possibly days later, you find that it plain will not start because there is no power coming from the battery. It has gone dead because the power required to keep an application running has drained it while the car is sitting in a garage. Of course, this is not the only situation in which a car battery goes dead – but it is all too common.

Recharging a car battery is not quite the same as leaving your cell phone on charge overnight while you sleep. We are dealing with bigger levels of power here, and as a result you need to pay a bit more attention. Your best bet is to have ready a 5 amp car battery charger – any more powerful than this is best left to a qualified mechanic. Using this, it will take about eight hours to charge your battery back up – so if you have somewhere you need to be and no alternative means of conveyance, you will need to fork out for someone to tow the car to a place where it can be charged quickly and fully.

Making sure that everything in the engine is clean will help you a great deal when you are trying to make a car run. Under the bonnet of a car there is a lot going on – a cleaner engine will allow it to operate more like it should. The same goes for the battery. Check the terminals. Sometimes these have a build-up of white powder which adversely affects the transfer of power from the battery to the starter. The best way to clean this is to use a wet rag and baking soda. Depending on the reasons for your lack of battery power, the best way of fixing it will vary quite considerably. If current is leaking from the battery it could be for a number of reasons.

Something as simple as leaving a door unclosed when you come in from the car can cause the battery to be running without gaining the extra charge from the car itself. Remedying this problem is quite simple. If it keeps draining even when you are observing good housekeeping procedures, then the chances are that the battery itself is worn out. Recharging in this case can only be a temporary measure and eventually you will need to buy a new one. Keeping a constant eye on how a battery is performing will alert you to where the problem is and whether it needs replacing. In cases where you cannot identify the problem yourself, the best bet is to take it to a mechanic.