On 14/12/2020 13:04, R D S wrote:
Our car is stop-start, it hasn't performed this 'feature' for many
months. I believe this to be a symptom of the battery not being at it's
best.

It was clicking the other day rather than cranking the engine over,
worked OK upon retrying. Taken it for a couple of decent runs since
(because it's been largely short runs all year, due to the obvious),
it's been OK.

I happened to have a meter in my hand today so checked it and it's
reading 12.1v which is quite low. Battery life generally being 4-6 years
and us having had the car 4.5 years i'm thinking shall I just replace it?

Advice is to trickle charge it first but I haven't a charger and I don't
want to buy a charger *and* a battery.

Do you not know anyone with a battery charger you could borrow for a few
hours? Recharging it at least once to see how long it lasts might be
worth it. Driving in the dark on headlights for short journeys can take
out more from the battery than the alternator is able to put back in.

The battery might just be OK but your usage profile has shagged it. It
might respond to a bit of TLC if it hasn't been left like that too long.

Several neighbours have had cars that wouldn't start after lockdown
ended because they didn't think to put them on charge or allow the
engine to run for a while.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown