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Maybe a bad battery, a draw on the electrical system that's running it down or insufficient charging by the car's charging system. Check the battery with a hydrometer and you'll know when it's fully charged. When it is, take it to most any auto parts store and they'll load test it for you. If it's good you can start checking the electrical system for other problems.

 

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You could have bought it yesterday and it could still be bad. Also if it sat in a partially or fully discharged condition for any amount of time, that greatly increases the odds of it having gone bad. And if it was discharged and froze, then it's toast. How can I tell you how long to charge it when I don't know how discharged it is, what rate your charger can charge it at, etc.? As I said, the simplest way to know it's state of charge is with a hydrometer. A cheap one can be had for a few bucks. If you have a voltmeter you can also get a good idea with it. But after charging, you'll need to put a light load on it for a couple of minutes (like turning on the lights) to remove the surface charge and get an accurate read.

 

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This will work if there is access to the cells in your battery, is there? Although most are flat tops these days, most still allow access too, if you check.

 

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I would check clean and tighten all connections to and from your battery, alternator and starter. I had a slightly loose positive battery cable that took my battery all the way down on a hot day with lots of stops. It's fine now.

 

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If you let your battery sit for a long time without keeping it charged up, then you have a battery with considerably reduced amp-hour capacity. Here's why. Lead acid batteries self discharge up to 1% each day, even disconnected, and as they discharge, lead sulfate collects on the plates. This is normal and is how lead acid batteries work. At first the lead sulfate is soft and if you charge the battery up, you convert the lead sulfate back to lead and sulfuric acid. If you leave the battery sit for long periods (4+ wks), the lead sulfate becomes hard and charging the battery no longer converts hard lead sulfate. Lead sulfate is an insulator and plate area is lost to hard lead sulfate, so now you have essentially a motorcycle battery in amp-hour capacity. A fully sulfated battery is a door stop and no current will flow when you connect a battery charger. If you are going to leave your car sit for long periods, buy a battery tender which measures the battery voltage and only charges the battery up when it detects a 10% drop in charge and then turns off. This keeps the battery charged and you will experience normal battery life. You can also buy an interval timer (turns your house lights on each night when you aren't home) and use it with your battery charger to charge your battery each day for its minimum interval (usually 15 min, but even an hour won't hurt your battery). NEVER let lead acid batteries sit for long periods doing nothing, they don't like it ! Also, 2 hours of charging will not charge a dead battery up very much, charge for at least 24 hours, even two 12 hour periods are ok, but 2 hours isn't enough. And .....don't use your alternator to charge your battery!!!!! A discharged battery draws high current at the beginning of charging and this heats up your alternator and shortens its life.

 

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JFB already answered that question.....

 

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jfb is right on with the tech about the battery. I have had this problem too with too seldom start ups and drive. 3 batteries in 2 years............... all covered by warantee. but pain in *** to change with the body panel r&r. I have a battery "spin off" disconnect and put the trickle charge on if its going to be more than a week between taking a ride in my personal "attitude adjustment " machine.... good luck brother! DD

 

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No ticky no laundly. ALWAYS keep your receipts!

 

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If you are going to leave the battery connected to the charger all the time you will need a "Battery Tender" type of charger which essentially cuts off and then kicks back in when the battery drops to a certain level. I bought one at Wally World for I think $18.