Battery recommendations

[thatsagoodcuppa]

Merry Xmas! Had trouble with the shed yesterday (of all days). Car was completely dead but enough power for the immobiliser light to flash. Called recovery who turned up quickly. The battery was pushing 12v with the engine running which I was told means it's toast. Managed to drive home and park the car up. Borrowing another car for now.

On the lookout for a replacement battery. Have a few options:

Lion - 40Ah 340A - 3-year guarantee - £36.84 - ECP.

Bosch S4 - 44Ah 440A - 4-year guarantee - £57.49 - ECP.

Varta Blue - 44Ah 440A - 4-year guarantee - £54.99 - ECP.

Exide Excel - 44Ah 420A - 3-year guarantee - £51.14 - ECP.

Halfords HCB063 - 45A 440A - 4-year guarantee - £56 (trade card).

Yuasa YBX3063 - 45A 440A - 4-year guarantee - £46.94 - GSF.

My first choice would be Yuasa because of the price and reputation. Any recommendations? I could spend more (£73.37) on a Yuasa YBX5000 battery (5-year guarantee - 52Ah 520A) which is rated for 50,000 starts but not sure if it's worth it.

Edited by thatsagoodcuppa on Saturday 25th December 18:24

[jjones]

Would be worried about 12v with the engine running. Sounds like it could be an alternator issue. When running you should be seeing more than 12v at the battery (more like 14v). Did they load test the battery and declare it dead or just measure the voltage?

[Matt_E_Mulsion]

Disregard the Lion, absolute garbage. Other than that, the Yuasa will be as good as the others at that price point.

[thatsagoodcuppa]

jjones said:

Would be worried about 12v with the engine running. Sounds like it could be an alternator issue. When running you should be seeing more than 12v at the battery (more like 14v). Did they load test the battery and declare it dead or just measure the voltage?

Just turned the engine on and measured the voltage AFAIR.

[thatsagoodcuppa]

Matt_E_Mulsion said:

Disregard the Lion, absolute garbage. Other than that, the Yuasa will be as good as the others at that price point.

Yuasa it is. Thanks.

[kambites]

I've had Varta (Silver) the last few times I've changed batteries and have no complaints with them.

As someone said above though, if you're seeing 12v when the engine is running that could potentially indicate an alternator fault.

[thatsagoodcuppa]

kambites said:

As someone said above though, if you're seeing 12v when the engine is running that could potentially indicate an alternator fault.

Great How do I check? Would it be a case of fitting a new battery and then checking the voltage when the engine is running?

[kambites]

thatsagoodcuppa said:

kambites said:

As someone said above though, if you're seeing 12v when the engine is running that could potentially indicate an alternator fault.

Great How do I check? Would it be a case of fitting a new battery and then checking the voltage when the engine is running?

Fit the new battery, start the engine, rev it up to something like 2000rpm, check you have around to 14v across the battery terminals. If you see 12v, your alternator isn't doing anything at all; if you have much over 15 volts, your voltage regulator is dead and the new battery will very quickly become a vegetable if you use it like that.

[thatsagoodcuppa]

kambites said:

Fit the new battery, start the engine, rev it up to something like 2000rpm, check you have around to 14v across the battery terminals. If you see 12v, your alternator isn't doing anything at all; if you have much over 15 volts, your voltage regulator is dead and the new battery will very quickly become a vegetable if you use it like that.

Thank you. I'll buy a new battery ASAP and check the voltage across the terminals.

[cuprabob]

If you haven't already, it's worth checking Tayna Batteries as their prices and service are excellent.

https://www.tayna.co.uk/car-batteries/?gclid=CjwKC...

Personally I would go for a Varta or Bosch battery.

[thatsagoodcuppa]

cuprabob said:

If you haven't already, it's worth checking Tayna Batteries as their prices and service are excellent.

https://www.tayna.co.uk/car-batteries/?gclid=CjwKC...

Personally I would go for a Varta or Bosch battery.

I'll check them out. Thanks. I hope the alternator isn't faulty

[kambites]

Ah yeah, I bought our last two from Tayna. They were a fair bit cheaper than places like ECP.

[CarDoodle]

I’ve usually gone for a Bosch and have no complaints.

I think you should see around 12.6v on a fully charged battery, around 13.7 - 14.7v when just started, dropping to something over 14v once warmed up and running with most high draw things (air con etc) off. High draw lowers the above a bit but should sit above 13v.

EDIT: The above is from memory after a beer or two so wouldn’t treat as 100% accurate….

Edited by CarDoodle on Saturday 25th December 20:20

[aturnick54]

I've just fitted a Bosch S5 after my 11 year old original battery started to give up on me. No complaints so far.

A lot of bikes come with Yuasa batteries, they are very common in the biker world so I think they'd be good too.

[Matt_E_Mulsion]

If the car went with a jump start and you managed to drive the car home it's a reasonable assumption that the alternator is fine and producing current. If it wasn't, it's unlikely that the car would have stayed running let alone got you home.

[Panamax]

kambites said:

Fit the new battery, start the engine, rev it up to something like 2000rpm, check you have around to 14v across the battery terminals. If you see 12v, your alternator isn't doing anything at all.

^^^ This

Note that an "excellent" and fully charged new battery may show voltage as high as 13v because the nominal voltage of each of the six lead/acid cells is 2.1 and then there's a bit of wiggle room. As Kambites has said, you really need to see what happens when the car is started. Voltage should rise - if it doesn't your alternator is toast. Often it's just the diodes failed but most people will slap on a complete new alternator if it's not too expensive.

[thatsagoodcuppa]

Matt_E_Mulsion said:

If the car went with a jump start and you managed to drive the car home it's a reasonable assumption that the alternator is fine and producing current. If it wasn't, it's unlikely that the car would have stayed running let alone got you home.

Cheers for that. I've had issues with the battery recently. Normally locking and unlocking the car and then turning the ignition kicks it into life, otherwise it's completely dead and only the immobiliser light flashes. Intended to buy a new battery but tried to put it off until after Xmas as locking and unlocking the car has always worked. Tried locking and locking it several times yesterday but didn't make a difference. After 15 minutes or so, I locked and unlocked it again, and the dashboard lit up when I turned the key. Recovery turned up and checked the battery. I didn't chance turning the engine off just in case.

[Panamax]

Matt_E_Mulsion said:

If the car went with a jump start and you managed to drive the car home it's a reasonable assumption that the alternator is fine and producing current. If it wasn't, it's unlikely that the car would have stayed running let alone got you home.

Good thought. Everything points to a knackered battery.

[Matt_E_Mulsion]

thatsagoodcuppa said:

Cheers for that. I've had issues with the battery recently. Normally locking and unlocking the car and then turning the ignition kicks it into life, otherwise it's completely dead and only the immobiliser light flashes. Intended to buy a new battery but tried to put it off until after Xmas as locking and unlocking the car has always worked. Tried locking and locking it several times yesterday but didn't make a difference. After 15 minutes or so, I locked and unlocked it again, and the dashboard lit up when I turned the key. Recovery turned up and checked the battery. I didn't chance turning the engine off just in case.

That doesn't sound like a battery or alternator problem. What car is it?

[thatsagoodcuppa]

Matt_E_Mulsion said:

That doesn't sound like a battery or alternator problem. What car is it?

Toyota Yaris. It started happening recently, and it's colder now which made me wonder if it's the battery.

The terminals were loose, so I tightened those up.

Thread here about the same problem: https://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/topic/8181...

Edited by thatsagoodcuppa on Saturday 25th December 21:15

Edited by thatsagoodcuppa on Saturday 25th December 21:17