How to Extend the Life of Your Semi-Truck Batteries
The battery in your semi-truck is the lifeline of your truck. The battery controls your truck’s electrical systems and keeps you rolling whether you’re cruising down the highway or on the city streets. The role of a battery in your semi-truck is vital in getting you to where you need to go, which means that when you aren’t properly maintaining your truck’s battery, it can cost you.
In fact, battery-related issues make up a significant portion of semi-truck breakdowns on the road. However, you can prevent this with proper maintenance.
Properly maintaining your semi-truck's battery can help prevent unexpected performance issues during extreme temperatures. Don’t let the icy winter months and the scorching summer temperatures cut the life of your truck’s battery short. The average lifespan of a truck battery is five years, but proper care and maintenance can extend it further, keeping you on the road for longer and preventing downtime.
How to Tell if Your Semi-Truck Battery is Experiencing Problems
Knowing how to tell if your semi-truck battery is experiencing problems can save you money and time. Keep an eye out for your dash lights for indication of a problem or failure. A few possible signs that you need to service or replace your battery include:
- Experiencing hard starts.
- Electronics in the cab suddenly cut out.
- Signs of oxidization or corrosion on the terminals of the battery are visually present.
- Battery casing is swollen or bloated.
- The battery itself has a fluid leak.
When these signs are present, it’s important to take your truck in right away for maintenance.
Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Semi-Truck Batteries
Taking the time to perform routine checks and preventative maintenance can help extend battery life and help you get the most out of your truck batteries. Check out these tips to keep your batteries in peak condition.
Perform Regular Checks on Batteries When the Truck is Stopped
An easy way you can get the most out of your truck batteries is by incorporating a full check on the battery when you perform your daily maintenance check. Check the charge level as indicated by internal diagnostics and visually inspect the battery for signs of damage or other issues.
Just by checking these issues early, you can prevent extensive damage to your truck’s battery and prevent breakdowns on the road.
Regularly Clean Semi-Truck Batteries
Just like any vehicle, it’s important to clean the terminals of semi-truck batteries to remove grease, oxidation, and other debris that accumulates during regular operation.
Terminals are where the power from the battery is transferred to the truck and also charges the truck while in motion. If not regularly cleaned, terminals can corrode and cause significant loss of capacity and output. Also ensure connections are tight and hold-downs are properly secured.
Check Batteries Regularly During Scheduled Maintenance
Regular preventative maintenance is vital to ensuring the overall health of your semi-truck and minimizing downtime. Part of this preventative maintenance includes checking the health of the truck’s battery.
When conducting preventative maintenance, technicians can run diagnostics on the way batteries charge and maintain charge that can’t normally be run in the field. This is important, as technicians can give you verifiable data insights into the performance of your truck’s battery and help fix any issues.
Turn off Console Displays and Other Electronic Accessories While Not in Use
Just like our cars, using electronics while in your semi-truck can drain the battery faster than you think. So can using air conditioning and heating.
If you’re in a place where those systems are not needed, it’s recommended to turn them off to preserve power. This includes turning off dashboard displays, entertainment systems, and heating and cooling if not needed.
The Benefits of Longer Battery Life
A longer battery life means lower operating costs for a vehicle and more uptime for your fleet or truck.
If a battery is weak and keeps causing a truck to breakdown, you’re at risk of not only major downtime, but more money put out to keep replacing the battery or other issues that come up. The longer a truck is out of action, the greater the cost of lost revenue is.
Simple maintenance can extend the life of semi-truck batteries, so you don’t have to replace them as often. But you want to continue to monitor battery age and health to reduce the risk of a no-start situation or emergency roadside repair.
Get Battery Maintenance at The Larson Group
Maintaining batteries is vital to the overall health and success of your semi-truck or fleet. Most roadside breakdowns can be avoided with the simple task of looking after the battery of your semi-truck.
To avoid issues with your truck’s battery, check the battery for signs of wear and tear and often, monitor closely during extreme temperatures, regularly clean and maintain the battery and schedule routine preventative maintenance.
The Larson Group (TLG Peterbilt) can help with battery maintenance and make sure you stay on uptime, all the time.
If you’re in doubt about the health of your semi-truck battery, find your nearest TLG Peterbilt location and our expert technicians will be there to help or schedule on-site preventative maintenance through Road Guru mobile service. Additionally, you can purchase batteries from any TLG dealership. Get ahead in line and save time by texting your local TLG parts department to see if the battery you need is available.