Cold Cranking Amps, different standards, en, sae

[ajg]

I've just bought a new battery for my 400 Chimaera. The battery recomended in the bible is a 072 with cca (sae) of over 700A, the battery I have bought is a 089 (supposed to be a replacement for the 072) but has cca of only 480A but (en) instead of (sae).
Is 480A (en) equivelent to about 700A (sae)?
I suspect that the battery is not up to the job as since replacing it, sometimes the engine is very slow to start turning over.
Does anyone know what the difference is between sae and en standards?

See you at pistonfest.
Andy G

[ribol]

The battery rating system has always been a tricky one and it is particularly hard to compare different brands as they all rate them differently. The easiest way to do it is just compare an 072 to the 089 in any make you want, the difference in outputs will be the same in any make regardless of what they tell you. I know for a fact the 072 is more powerful than an 089 but there is not much in it. When new, either battery will do the job with no problem at all, especially this time of year so I suspect the problem is elsewhere (terminals?).
A word of warning though, small battery suppliers(not the big names) have been known to stick the wrong labels on batteries if they run out of a certain type, there are at least five lower powered batteries that use the same casing! Hope this helps.

Ivan

[shpub]

The problem is made worse by the fact that some of the cheaper batteries are sort of equivalent and have lower ratings to save cost. They may still be a suilatable alternative for some cars which then gives them the alternative for all applications tag when clearly the lower CCA is going to be a problem - especially when the battery has to turn over a big V8.

It gets even more complicated when some battery manufacturers recommend a different battery because they don't make a 072. In this case it is a nearest equivalent. Will work when new but will die pretty quickly.

If it don't have enough CCA then it is the wrong one. If it has more then great - that's a bonus.

PS Halford Calcium batteries 4 year warrenty etc are 20% off at the moment.

[ajg]

Thanks for the advice, I'll check all the terminals asap. I've since noticed that sometimes the alternator stops working and the battery voltage will drop to 12.5V with engine running, hopping this is also caused by a loose conection as well?
Andy

[ribol]

Very bad news to run an alternator open circuit, clean and check terminals and hopefully all will be well again.

Ivan

[shpub]

Could also be a knackered alternator fuse causing the alternator volts to the battery to drop.This cropped up on my Griff a couple of days ago and gave classic dead battery symptoms except that the battery charged up fine and held its charge. About £5 for a new fuse and the plastic holder.

Details in the bible.