PhillipM
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If they're let run low too often then the plates warp, if they touch, or growth from one plate to another does, basically just shorts the cell right there, modern batteries generally have less space between plates as they go for more area to get the CCA up to cope with the demands of modern vehicles compared to old stuff, so there's less room before something like that happens compared to old batteries - that would run forever but were delivering half the power in the same package size, and needed maintainance.
The lead plates are generally thinner with better supports to keep the costs down given the price of lead too, so they need less force to warp to start with.
Sometimes it's debris in the bottom linking plates and you can revive them by flushing them out and filling with new acid - but given the price of batteries these days it's not really worth the hassle.
As someone else said, AGM are a lot better for it, and will cope with a few deep discharge cycles in the winter if the car is stood with a low battery for a while.
The lead plates are generally thinner with better supports to keep the costs down given the price of lead too, so they need less force to warp to start with.
Sometimes it's debris in the bottom linking plates and you can revive them by flushing them out and filling with new acid - but given the price of batteries these days it's not really worth the hassle.
As someone else said, AGM are a lot better for it, and will cope with a few deep discharge cycles in the winter if the car is stood with a low battery for a while.