Determine age of Varta battery
 

I bought a 2012 XF with just under 28,000 miles. Appears to have the original battery but with such low miles, unless it was kept on a battery tender, I would expect it would have had to been replaced before now. Is there a way to tell how old it is? There are some numbers and letters sort of etched into the plastic battery casing, but of of course unintelligible without some sort of code book. Just wondering how soon I need to expect to replace it (I tend to do maintenance preemptively rather than wait for my cars to break down at the most inconvenience time and place.)

An OE Varta battery has the manufactured date embossed in code form into the top of the negative terminal post:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/a...ry-battery.jpg

The code is WW-YY for Week and Year. In this example it is Week 23 in 2012.

Graham

Awesome! Mine was made 41-11, second week of October 2011. That's almost 6 years old so I should plan on replacing it very soon.

Not necessarily---I have had two Jaguars with Varta batteries which went over 10 years. I would do a load test on it and determine its actual condition.

The only car batteries I've gotten more than 6-7 years out of were in my classic cars that stay plugged in to Battery Tenders and those tend to go 9-11 years. The only batteries I've had go less than 5 years were OEM. But I've never spent extra money on any sort of special technology batteries like Optimas, AGM type, etc. Always just bought the shortest pro-rated warranty lead-acid and mostly AC Delco brand. Is the Varta something superior or is it just a basic lead-acid battery?

Varta Battery Life
 

I have just purchased a September 2004 Jaguar S Type and was disappointed to find the battery had gone flat and would not charge beyond 50%. Having looked at the Negative post it is stamped 27/04 (8th/15th July 2004). I just hope the next battery, obviously a Varta, will last just as long. I did telephone the previous owner, from new, and he had to admit that he had not replaced the battery during its fourteen year life.

Wow - quite a battery!

Welcome to the forum Brian,

10 years is not unusual for an OE Varta but 14 is exceptional..

Please follow this link New Member Area - Intro a MUST - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum to the New Member Area - Intro a MUST forum and post some information about yourself and your vehicle for all members to see. In return you'll get a proper welcome and some useful advice about posting to the forum.

Graham

Awesome! Mine has just recently celebrated its seventh birthday. :icon_happybday: Seven more to go!

Well, just to follow up. The original Varta did not make fourteen. Almost nine years. It might have lasted longer, but given the low mileage and the previous owner's address proximity to downtown, this car probably made a lot of very short trips during its first five years which is hard on a battery. Still I am impressed as I've never gotten this level of service out of an OE battery.

But of further interest. I purchased a replacement Interstate brand AGM Battery (MTX-49 H8) and its appearance is absolutely identical except for the Jaguar/Varta stickers of course. I kind of wonder if maybe its really the same battery inside as well as the case. I'll try to remember to update in another nine years or whenever it craps out, whichever comes first. ;)

Thought I'd throw in my story. Starting to wonder if my battery was maybe overdue for a change, don't have all the service records from the warranty period and am the third owner, came across this thread on how to check age of Varta battery lo and behold appears to be original mfg 12th week 2008. Car has only 78,000 km, and I have in the winter season kept it garaged with battery tender attached but pretty remarkable longevity............

pdupler, if you do some looking into batteries and who makes them, you will find that in the US, there are really only 2 battery manufacturing lines that make all the batteries. So, the differences between a battery that has a 4 year warrantee and a 2 year warrantee is someone saying that they will pay you back some of the money that you have paid and a sticker put on the outside. The 2 manufacturing lines are Exide and Johnson Controls. Now, I will admit that there are some oddball lines out there that make some specialized batteries and they are on a very limited basis. This is all based on buying a starting battery. When you start getting into deep cycle batteries and marine grade batteries, most of this is true, but the construction of the battery differs greatly when compared to a standard starting battery.

You want to increase the life of a battery, there are a few things that you can do:
-Never keep cranking the car to the point that the battery is so flat that all you get is a click from the starter.
-Never leave the lights or other electrical load on so long that the battery is not able to start the car on its own
-If you let your car sit for long periods of time, let the car run for 20-30 minutes at a minimum to ensure the alternator has sufficient time to bring the battery back to 100% charge.
-Every 6 months or so, purposely put a load on the battery of about 10 amps (radio on as you wax the car, headlights on while you change the oil, etc). Then, right afterwards, either put the battery on a charger or start the car (should not need any assist) and then return the battery to a 100% charge.

I am sure you all are wondering why the last line. Standard starting batteries (does not apply to AGM batteries) can develop what is called mossing. This is just growths that form and extend off of the plates. If this is left to go long enough, a positive and negative plate will come in contact and this is why you may have a good battery one day and a complete piece of junk the next day. By putting this discharge on the battery, it is going to eat away this mossing and maximize the distance between the plates.

If you care to know more about batteries, please let me know. I used to work around lead acid batteries that were capable of powering a small town for a few hours (gotta love life on a submarine). So, got to learn a little bit about batteries.

Thanks. That's one I hadn't heard. I've got a small fleet of classic cars on CTEK chargers and all but one now have AGM batteries. I started buying AGM batteries after reading that "reproduction" Delco batteries were an AGM type inside a vintage 1960s style case and that they did that because the AGMs tended to last longer in typical classic car use, i.e. long periods of storage and short periods of driving. I've typically gotten 9 - 10 years out of a standard lead acid battery when kept on a maintainer/charger but I never discharged them on purpose. I have had one when it finally failed, to go out rather spectacularly tho. :icon_duck: I'll start doing that with my one remaining standard lead-acid battery and let you know in about 10 years if it surpasses the record (darn these experiments take a long time).

2012 XJ Base Portfolio V8, I need to replace the battery any suggestions as to the best battery that fits and doesn't require a mortgage also any advice on replacing does it need any special requirements
or is it an easy change? Thanks in advance, scottjr1