A battery question

[bristolracer]

Hi all

The battery in my camper may be giving up.
It is rated at 70 amp/hour
I have in my garage a 63 amp/hour battery which has only had a weeks use. it was removed from my sons car when the turbo blew,so it really has had very little use.

So if i use this battery what will be the consequences? Will it damage the alternator? will i have problems spinning the starter?

Thanks in advance

[TheEnd]

It'll be fine, maybe weaker than your old battery was when it was new, but better than it at the moment anyway.

[Locknut]

No, it will not damage the alternator or anything else in the system.

The smaller battery will store less electricity which may or may not be a problem depending on your usage.

[bristolracer]

Thanks for the replies.

Ill put it on and save a few quid.
Will also be able to see then if its a solenoid/starter/earth issue without having to spunk for a new battery.

Cheers Guys

[blueacid]

bristolracer said:

Thanks for the replies.

Ill put it on and save a few quid.
Will also be able to see then if its a solenoid/starter/earth issue without having to spunk for a new battery.

Cheers Guys

You might need to check what sort of battery it is replacing: while the voltage and capacity might be good, if your camper is using that battery for leisure use (e.g. running interior lighting, radio and fridge for hours and hours), a starting battery will not last very long faced with that kind of usage.
If your camper is going through batteries rapidly and only has the one battery fitted it might be worth considering installing a second deep cycle leisure battery for the camping, leaving a starting battery for.. well.. starting.

[Mr2Mike]

If it's the main starter battery and you have a separate leisure battery, then Cold Cranking Amps (CCA) is a more important parameter than capacity (Ah) since this defines the current that battery can actually provide to the starter motor.

[bristolracer]

Thanks for your replies guys.

The van does have a separate leisure battery so in theory the only load on the main battery is the "vehicle"
The leisure should take care of lights and fridge etc. The van was "professionally" converted so in theory the two systems should be working independently

I will try the slightly smaller battery, if for no other reason than to eliminate the starting fault.
I have always had my suspicions that there is something more than a battery issue going on. Sometimes on the turn of a key you get a click or nothing and then ten seconds later the starter turns normally.(solenoid? earth?)
Last time however it was the whirr whirrrr whirrrrrrr of a flat battery.

So I may invest in a tester
I see battery testers on ebay, im guessing a "load drop" type would be a better type to buy? Those cheap looking 3 led jobs don't look up to much?