Dead Car Battery Question

this is dumb but...

I left my lights on overnight now my car won't start. Dead car battery I know. This battery is less then a year old and I am told that if i leave it alone for a few hours it might come back to life. Is that possible? I never heard of that.

Also, once I get a boost will i likely need to buy a new battery or will the battery recharge itself while i drive?

thanks.

Your best move at this point it to put a proper car battery charger on it before trying to drive. Depending on your alternator's capabilities, a low/dead battery can put excess strain on the alternator, causing it to fail as it tries to supply far more juice than it was designed for in an
effort to charge the dead car battery.

If you let it sit for a while, it may "come back" enough to get a start, but as mentioned above, the stress on the alternator is going to be heavy, perhaps fatally heavy, until the battery is properly "topped off". Having said that, yes, if the alternator survives, it will recharge as you drive. I would advise against this, if it can be avoided. (And no, this isn't "friend of a friend" - I've personally had alternators puke from exactly this scenario)

Drawing it down low enough for you to be asking the question also shortens the overall life of the battery in most cases. (Exceptions being deep-cycle type batteries, which are built a bit differently than "not deep-cycle" ones, and stand up to deep discharge better)

So once again, your best bet is to put it on a proper car battery charger and top it up completely, then do your driving. In case its something else, you may also consider carrying a battery jump starter. That way you won't be stranded in the middle of nowhere when you battery dies again.

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