Bloody battery again

[neil_jdmr]

Ok so my 3rd battery in 3 years is dying, all of these have been bosch halfords jobbies and at £80odd a pop its starting to annoy. I realise these cars (fd) munch batteries due to the high under bonnet temps but surely this seems a bit extreme.
 
I had to jump it this morning as battery voltage was 11.8 but once running i had 14.4 on the alternator chanrge which had dropped to 14.1 by the time i got to work. I left my alarm off all day at work but then come clock-off time she was back to 11.9 and didnt start.
 
This same thing happened a fortnight ago so i charged it overnight and it had been fine for a fortnight.
 
So do think my battery is just ending its life again with heat and to stop moaning and accept that these cars are different for normal vehicles.
 
Or do you think the battery is never getting a good enough charge driving to work (12miles each way) gradually reducing the cranking current.
 
Or something is pulling the voltage down and draining my batteries.
 
Or to buy a decent battery, ie optima/westCo etc and give that a go.
 
 
Advice required gents
 
Thanks
 
Neil

[fd3szhi]

i know that fd dont munch batteries but 1 per year that seem too extreme. check the battery to see if there is a drain apart from that i dont know what to suggest.. good luck

[batman]

you might have a short there mate batterys shouldnt lose to much voltage but to cut a long story short yes buy a red top you shouldnt have problems
 
and rule of thumb is 14 miles should see a flat battery charged on a car with a correct altenator