[MaryWood]

My husband is planning to keep a new battery in stock in case our old one dies. We saw this Nissan battery store online, but I’m not sure if it’s beneficial to do so. I would appreciate some advice from you. Thanks.

 

[Mrsig]

I would not buy a battery in till I needed it. If you don't need it for like 2 years it is now 2 years old.
Make no sense to me and a waist of money.

 

[Hunkeemoose]

This is absolutely true. Your warranty on anything new starts from the moment of purchase. So you would be wasting a bunch of that important service. If you are concerned about a break down at home invest in a home charger. Unless you kept the new one with you constantly it wouldn't help when you were on the go.

 

[rsanges]

If your goal is to have a spare battery, I'd put the new one in the vehicle and put the old one on a shelf, and charge it about once a month.
There are several accounts of bad things happening to transmission programming when people have let their batteries run out.

 

[montecarlossfan]

Have it tested and then decide if its capacity is ok or is it on the down slide. I bought my own tester, I test my batteries twice a year , once before winter and once before summer. I have yet to have a dead battery or alternator go out on me due to a bad battery.

That being said I typically replace my battery anywhere from 4 years to 6 years as that's when they start to degrade enough.

I wouldn't purchase one and keep it on the shelf, I would buy when I need it and check the MFG date

 

[JasoninDLH]

What everyone else said.

I’ve actually heard that buying batteries at Walmart is a smart choice because they have such a high turnover rate of batteries meaning you most likely won’t purchase one that’s been sitting on the shelf for a long time.

 

[Mud Pie]

Buying a spare car battery and storing it is not like buying a pack of AA's and tossing them in the kitchen junk drawer. Back in the day I used to replace my battery every 3 years as a maintenance item, I never waited until they died. But then battery technology improved and batteries last much longer (and the price reflected that). One slow crank and I'd replace the battery.

Not with this vehicle.

It is so sensitive to battery voltage, and low drop can cause issues, and some that can't be fixed by just putting in a new battery. A standard vehicle to vehicle jump start can cause havoc with the electronics.

I'm back to my "every 3 years" maintenance plan....

 

[puddlesplasher]

I so agree with MudPie and my example is on the forum.

Jeep battery was flat, jump started it from another car/or battery and it worked.

How lucky I felt that day to have read in the forum that it was the wrong way to get the Jeep started. A quick look at the owners manual reinforced my error of jump starting using the incorrect method.

Mary, would (not wood) you consider using a small solar panel to trickle charge your existing battery? I have a second vehicle that's permanently attached to a small panel and it started 1st time after 3 months of sitting idle. Could this be a thought for your future?

 

[Mud Pie]

As a matter of fact, I recently replaced my battery, posted here somewhere, because when I was at the dealer getting my oil changed, part of the package is tire rotation and 27 point check. The load test for my battery came back "fair", the tech said I will be needing a battery probably within a year, but it's good for now.

After my oil change I went straight to NTB and had a new Interstate battery put in. I don't play.

I do not have jumper cables in my vehicle (a first), I have a battery pack (also a first). I have had people in parking lots standing there with their hood open holding jumper cables asking passerby's for a jump. When I explain that I can't with my vehicle, they give you a look like you're lying. When I say I have a battery pack, we could use that instead, they always decline saying they don't trust them. I don't try to educate them, I just say good luck and move on.

 

[Michael Harris]

My husband is planning to keep a new battery in stock in case our old one dies. We saw this Nissan battery store online, but I’m not sure if it’s beneficial to do so. I would appreciate some advice from you. Thanks.

Keep the old battery, buy a small solar panel and charge regulator. build a small solar system in a shed, a shop, a room. Most of the power in my shop comes from 2 old boat batteries and a 50 watt panel.

 

[mini1071]

My husband is planning to keep a new battery in stock in case our old one dies. We saw this Nissan battery store online, but I’m not sure if it’s beneficial to do so. I would appreciate some advice from you. Thanks.

For the car battery industry their product has a very predictable life span in terms of warranty risk. Unfortunately it also has a very wide standard deviation. That is, the individual battery life varies widely. Buy a 2 year batter and it is as likely to last 1 year as it is 3. As someone said try to hedge that with a backup in the garage and you could easily have the one in the car last until the backup will be short lived!

 

[cnj]

I would not keep a new battery "in stock". I DO, however, replace the battery in every car we own, every 3 years. Three years is about all I get out of them these days. And when they go, they typically go out immediately. I haven't had a battery "act" like it was failing (giving me a warning) in decades.