Flat batteries are not faulty batteries

Four deep-cycle batteries linked in parralel in a home-built hybrid.

BATTERIES are like muscles, they need constant exercise or they will go flat. Flat batteries also need to be recharged gently, as if the electricity is perfume being poured into a small bottle, not splashed like a bucket of water over fighting dogs.
Wheels picked up insights on flat batteries from Battery Centre on the corner of West and Langilabalele streets in Pietermaritzburg.
They report three typical issues, starting with a dead battery in the car’s alarm or vehicle tracker
system.
The small batteries in alarm or tracker systems typically last less than two years and when they die, their systems draw power from the car’s battery, whether it is being charged or not. A car’s battery can also be drained even while driving, if after-market LED lights and a huge “6x9” sound system have been fitted. Standard alternators cannot cope with the extra load of aftermarket systems, which means a night cruise with the music booming and strobes flashing can leave the souped-up car going nowhere the next morning.
The third cause of dead batteries is to forget about it. Comparing batteries to muscles, Battery Centre said batteries need exercise or they will go flat. Once a battery is drained, it needs to be slowly filled with the amperes just trickling in as the battery gets fuller — much like one would trickle water into a bottle neck to prevent spouting. Customers often think a flat battery can be replaced under warranty, but a flat battery is not faulty, just totally drained and this can be fixed. — WR.