Anonymous wrote:At least 20 minutes on an uncongested highway without turning the engine off. Longer either if stop and go traffic or if it is summer and the A/C is running.

Why highway? If it is about higher RPM you can just put the car in the second gear and get high RPMs driving at 25mph

Anonymous wrote:Just drive your car. Try to make at least one drive of 20+ minutes soon.

Or if the battery is 3 or more years old anyway, just do a preemptive replacement and be done with it. These days after 3y you are on borrowed time on a non abused battery.

This.

At least 20 minutes on an uncongested highway without turning the engine off. Longer either if stop and go traffic or if it is summer and the A/C is running.

I had a completely dead battery and 30 minutes of driving (20 highway plus 10 local) was not enough to revive it. I couldn’t restart the car after turning the engine off. So in my case I needed to drive another hour.

30-60 min, ideally on the highway (not stop and go).

You can get away with less, but that will give you the best charge and least chance of repeat problems.

Anonymous wrote:Just drive your car. Try to make at least one drive of 20+ minutes soon.

Or if the battery is 3 or more years old anyway, just do a preemptive replacement and be done with it. These days after 3y you are on borrowed time on a non abused battery.

Concur. And if you go to Costco or BJs, the battery will cost you about half of what they charge you at Advanced Auto Part and similar stores.

Just drive your car. Try to make at least one drive of 20+ minutes soon.

Or if the battery is 3 or more years old anyway, just do a preemptive replacement and be done with it. These days after 3y you are on borrowed time on a non abused battery.

Anonymous wrote:Ideally, one uses a “trickle charger” for up to overnight to avoid wear on the various electrical components (alternator, regulator, etc.). The vehicle charging system is designed to maintain charge more than to replace it once lost.

This is true, though a trickle charger generally doesn't give sufficient amperage to fully charge a lead-acid battery. To respond to the posters above who said 10-15 minutes is enough, it's enough to charge the battery enough where it'll easily restart the car. However, lead-acid batteries are happiest at full charge (unlike your phone battery), and the best way to get them back to full charge is to put them on a batter changer (not a trickle charger). Keeping your battery below full charge will reduce its life.

Ideally, one uses a “trickle charger” for up to overnight to avoid wear on the various electrical components (alternator, regulator, etc.). The vehicle charging system is designed to maintain charge more than to replace it once lost.

20-30 minutes to be safe. More, if you're stop and go. Less, if it's highway speed.

10-15 min. Between 4 cars we've had lots of batteries die.

10 mins does it for me... DH does longer b/c he has a huge SUV but I think thats an old wives tale.

10 min

an hour

I let my car sit for a while and now I have a dead battery. Once I get the car jump started, how long do I have to drive around for to get the battery charged back up? I have looked online and gotten answers from 30 minutes to 10 hours on the freeway. Anyone have any IRL experience with this?