car batteries....

[E21_Ross]

Hi guys,

my car battery is over 3 years old and i'm looking to replace it before next winter, and have found a site which offer 3 different batteries. 2 are heavy duty, the other is not. interestingly, the "cheap" battery has the following spec:

12 V
44 AH
400 CCA

the more expensive, bosch heavy duty one has

12v
41 ah
360 cca

and the cheaper heavy duty (middle price) has

12 V
43 AH
360 CCA

so the most expensive bosch battery has fewer Ah than the other cheaper batteries, i'd have thought the heavy duty would offer more? also, what is the CCA rating? what does it mean? the bosch one comes with 5 year warranty which is good. but what would be best for the winter cold starts?

cheers

[Pigeon]

Ah = amp-hours = how long it takes to run down
CCA = Cold Cranking Amps = how much wellie it can put out to turn the engine over

The Ah differences on those three are small enough to be insignificant.

In theory the cheap one would be best for winter cold starts as it has a higher CCA rating. Again though the difference is only 10% which isn't much.

Myself I would be inclined to go for the Bosch option on the grounds that while it may have nominally marginally less performance it is more likely to maintain its performance for longer - the cheap one may look better but in six months' time may well no longer be.

Just don't buy Exide

[Faust66]

Agreed ^^^^

I always regard tyres and batteries in the same way - by the very best you can afford.

As the old saying goes 'buy cheap, pay twice'.

[srappy]

Pigeon said:

Just don't buy Exide

What's wrong with Exide? I seem to remember a review where they came out on top?

[Gareth350]

srappy said:

Pigeon said:

Just don't buy Exide

What's wrong with Exide? I seem to remember a review where they came out on top?

Nothing wrong with Exide! My old Sierra had one on it when I bought the car & lasted 8 years before I changed it!

[Ozzie Osmond]

Faust66 said:

Agreed ^^^^

Never mind the numbers; how long's the warranty?

If you buy a decent battery it will generally last at least 5 years in a car that's used regularly. But some people don't keep their cars that long....

[ctdctd]

Why replace so soon? My car (cheapo Suzuki) has its original battery at 6.5 years old and is fine.

I'd wait for the first signs of reluctant cranking - or the first jump start!

[morgrp]

At the end of the day I just replaced my Bosch Silver Line after 10 years reliable service and it wasn't even dead when I changed it (Gave to a cheap skate customer as a freebee for their car). Yes, the cheapo might have better CCA but I can guarantee it will be dead within 3 years - unless your car is exceptionally ste at cold starts and needs the extra grunt buy a Bosch one - you won't regret it and its not like the lower rated battery won't start your car. If you need to be a cheap skate battery go for a Varta

[Ozzie Osmond]

ctdctd said:

I'd wait for the first signs of reluctant cranking - or the first jump start!

Generally good tactics and reveals the battery's inability to deliver sufficient CURRENT to turn the engine. If the battery is over 2 years old and you get a "fail to start" you might as well buy a replacement straight away rather than fooling about with chargers etc.

Yet on modern cars packed with electronics it's often VOLTAGE which lets you down first. Typically seen by random dash displays and malfunctions of electonic systems during start-up. Arises due to one or more defective cells in the battery. In other words the battery can have enough grunt to turn the engine but not enough voltage to run the electronics properly.

[Pigeon]

srappy said:

Pigeon said:

Just don't buy Exide

What's wrong with Exide? I seem to remember a review where they came out on top?

Place I used to work had quite a few items of electric-start plant (generators and the like) which used car batteries for the starting function. We stopped buying Exide because they were ste. By so doing we significantly extended the intervals between replacing batteries.

[E21_Ross]

thanks guys, the general consensus is the Bosch one, so that's what i'll go for my car is good at cold starts, through the winter it never failed to start. doesn't have any fancy electrics (it's a late model...and it's 28 years old) and is in regular use at the moment, but over the winter when i'm back at university (from september) i use it perhaps once a week just to keep it running sweetly and stop things seizing.

thanks for the help guys

[DaveL86]

E21_Ross said:

my car battery is over 3 years old and i'm looking to replace

When you say its over three years old, how old exactly is it?

I'm still running the original battery on my Bora which is nearly 9 years old, doesn't exactly get treated well either as it sits for a while quite often and I've discharged it a couple of times by accident, but its still playing ball and cranked like a trooper in the -10c+ weather we had earlier this year.

Unless its starting to fail or has failed then leave it be.

[Faust66]

I was looking at the Eurocarparts website today... 78 quid for a Bosch battery for my car.

Bargain if you ask me!

[E21_Ross]

Faust66 said:

I was looking at the Eurocarparts website today... 78 quid for a Bosch battery for my car.

Bargain if you ask me!

not sure what car you need but this one for mine was £62. see what these guys get for ya

http://www.alpha-batteries.co.uk/