Battery check for Sun Valley drivers: Mae Anne Avenue, 21 minutes

Sun Valley's driveways are full: 2.41 vehicles per household and 74.9 percent of households with two or more (Census ACS 5-year 2024). With a median age of 35.8, plenty of those are second cars bought used, battery age unknown. When one fails on a January morning, somebody is late to work. A test in October is how you skip that morning.

Three summers, then the first freeze

Most batteries do not die from cold. They die from heat and then fail in the cold. The Reno airport averages about 65 days a year at 90 degrees or hotter (NOAA 1991-2020 normals), and a battery under the hood on those afternoons ages faster. Then come the 122 nights a year at or below freezing at the same station, when the battery's output drops and thick oil makes the engine harder to turn. The Car Care Council's line at three years is where that wear usually starts to show.

Sun Valley Boulevard errands

The mean commute is 25.9 minutes (ACS 2024), long enough to recharge a battery after the morning start. The trips that are hard on batteries are the short ones up and down Sun Valley Boulevard: the school, the store, the gas station. Each start takes a big draw, and five minutes of driving with the headlights and heater blower on does not put it all back. Do that all winter and even a healthy battery ends up chronically undercharged.

The four readings

1. Resting voltage tells us whether the battery is charged.
2. Cold cranking amps tell us whether it can still start the engine in the cold, compared with its label.
3. Charging voltage, with the engine running, tells us whether the alternator is doing its part.
4. A look at the terminals and cables tells us whether corrosion or a loose clamp is stealing current.

When it fails, and how to get here

You will hear it plainly, with the reading in front of you. The battery check is a test, not a replacement service, so if yours is done we point you to the dealer, a parts store or your mechanic and write down the size and rating your car takes. The test is available at participating locations during the maintenance check that comes with a full-service oil change.

Head south on Sun Valley Boulevard to North McCarran and west to Mae Anne Avenue; OSRM free-flow routing makes it about 21 minutes to 6100 Mae Anne Ave. If the day takes you toward the airport, Longley Lane is about 20 minutes down US-395.

Mae Anne Avenue: Monday through Friday 8 to 5, Saturday 8 to 4. Longley Lane: Monday through Friday 8 to 5, Saturday 8 to 3. Closed Sunday.