The battery has gone flat on one of my cars, does this mean the battery needs replacing.

No lights or electrical equipment has been used but the car has only been used for short trips recently.

P

 

Combination of short trips and the recent cold and damp weather knocks **** out of batteries. This time of year peeps don't stray far from home so put very little charge in and yet take so much out by using lights/screen heater/fans etc. Hopefully it is just the battery, and not the alternator. Boost it off another car and if it keeps running on alternator power you're prob OK. Just get it down to Kwik-frauds or somewhere and they always check the alt prior to putting a battery on anyway. In future, I'd recommend an occasional pointless daylight 10-20 mile trip to top up the charge once a fortnight or so.

 

Your battery may still have some life in it if you try to recharge it, but it will never be the same again as a lot of gunk falls off the lead plates when recharging, and results in a sludge at the bottom of the battery. The sludge prevents the acid from doing its job properely.