The first station I was assigned to after completing my recruit school was in a fairly stable suburban neighborhood.  But we still had our characters in the area that would provide amusements of all sorts.  One of them was a neighborhood oaf who freely shared his wisdom and visions with us.  He was usually entertaining and often provided a good laugh.

One of his revelations that, for some reason, I never forgot was his prediction that one day there would be a “forever-battery.”  He was speaking of automotive batteries.  It hasn’t been that long ago, so I’m sure most of you remember the regular maintenance required for your car’s battery.

At least once a week you would have to take those caps off the battery cells and check the water/acid level.  If it was low in any of them (usually 6 cells) you would add enough water to just bring the level up to the marker.  And then about once a month or so, you would clean off the posts and make sure the cable clamps were still secure.

That involved either pouring a little bit of baking soda and water mixture or a tablespoon of Coca-Cola over the post.  After a few seconds for it to neutralize and dissolve the pile of greenish-white fuzz that had accumulated, you would take a wire brush and scrape the guck off.

Fast forward to the present.  My current car is a 2001 model from GM.  When I bought it new I noticed that the battery was not in its usual place atop an inside fender.  The owner’s manual told me that it is located inside, underneath the rear seat.  Well, that was interesting.  For the previous fifteen years or so the car batteries had semi-permanent caps sealing the cells and checking the acid level was largely a thing of the past.  But to hide the entire battery was intriguing.  I never bothered to pull the back seat out just to see how they did it.  Wasn’t that interested.

After about four years (the normal battery life) I thought I’d better have it checked before the onset of winter when the cold temperatures tend to sap an older battery’s cranking power.  I had the shop run a test on it and they said it was fine.  Not to worry about it.

Last month I took the car into the dealer’s for a full tune-up and service and again asked them to check out this elusive battery.  Sure enough, the same story.  The battery is fine.  They could have very easily decided to pump up the bottom line and sold me a new battery without any doubts from me, but they didn’t.

When I asked the service manager why this 6-yr.-old battery is still in top condition, he told me that they have found out that by putting the battery inside the passenger compartment, it is protected from the elements and not as affected by the temperature extremes that usually stress a battery.

I’ve still got the original battery.  At least I think I do.  I’ve still never seen it.  No idea what it looks like, or if I even really have one.  Our neighborhood oaf was right on the money.  We now have “forever-batteries.”

Ok, let’s get the equipment checked.  I’ll see you at the coffee table.

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