I'm in the process of trying to buy a battery. I want an ordinary car battery of 85-90 Amp/hours but the sales people I speak to on the phone talk of Cold Cranking Amps (CCA) which is a unit I'm not familiar with. From the Internet I know that CCA is "is the number of amps the battery can deliver at 0° Fahrenheit for 30 seconds, while maintaining a voltage of at least 7.2 volts, for a 12 volt battery".
Is there a conversion from CCA to Amp/hours?
Who uses their car at 0° Fahrenheit when a sledge and huskies would be more appropriate for goodness sake?
Thanks in advance.
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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Basically no correlation;CCA is more dependent on design of battery(number & thickness of plates) than just battery capacity.You only need high CCA for diesels at low temperatures.
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I'm considering one too Hawkeye, had a couple of slightly laboured starts on recent subzero mornings. Where are you looking to buy one from?
I found a product selector on the Varta website, to find out what Ah and CCA ratings I should be looking for: snipurl.com/1vbhh
Then I found this online supplier: snipurl.com/1vbhk . But I've not shopped around and looked anywhere else yet.
Can anyone recommend a place to get a good battery at a competitive price, as I need a 95Ah battery for a diesel?
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costco used to do good prices on bosch batteries.
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Lead was £3300 a tonne according to maccess last week ,so no good prices on batteries anywhere anymore :-( unless old man reilly has some new old stock under the counter and doesnt read Aftermarket the trade manwell
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Agree, battery prices have shot up recently.
But as regrds info about a battery. What is more important to you? How much power the battery can hold (amp hour) or deliver when needed (cranking amps). I know thats not an exact description but it is close enough to understand the figures.
CCA is far more important on most modern cars than amphour because of the tendency to use lighter (and less storage power) batteries in the name of economy.
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Read the AUTOEXPRESS reviews on batteries-you'll be suprised by the results!!
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What does a car battery do?
It runs things like the alarm and parking lights while you're away and lights while you get in the car, none of which need great Ah capacity - then it has to start the engine for which CCA is important - once the engine is running all the electrics are driven by the alternator, which doesn't need any Ah.
CCA has always been important, Ah much less so.
The 0 Fahrenheit test may not be "normal" but it shows which batteries are better than others.
Edited by Ruperts Trooper on 15/12/2007 at 13:41
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Read the AUTOEXPRESS reviews on batteries
www.autoexpress.co.uk/products/products/210431/car...l
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Mike Farrow
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 16/12/2007 at 14:02
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If you are getting laboured starts check the electrolyte level if you can. A small drop can make a real difference.
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Recommended this site a few times ;)
take a look and compare prices.
www.tayna.co.uk/
Billy
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Cheers, will probably go to Costco on Monday so will compare their prices with the online ones.
I could also check the electrolyte but I've never done that before, do you just fill it to the top?
I assume the battery is the original one so its 8+ years old, so I thought it might be time for a new one anyway.
Its funny at a main dealer service 3 years ago they told me the battery was past its best and I should get a new one before the winter. But the indie who now services my car has told me on 3 occasions the battery is fine..
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If it starts,it's fine.My Escort diesel battery will be nine years old in January but it still starts the car-stands out in the open-get started about once a fortnight.
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>>I could also check the electrolyte but I've never done that before,do you just fill it to the top?
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NO.
For a start you could undo the caps and see if the vertical plates in each cell are submerged. If they are not then some "battery" water is required up to the correct level. This used to easy when using a proper battery bottle.
I assume such bottles are still available.
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