Time for a new Battery, any reconmendation's.

[dave289]

My advice would be to go the century.I have used them for years with great results. One lasting for eight years in one paticular car. My daily has a 11 plate century that was in the car when I bought it about 15 months ago ,has been faltless in this time.these batteries come with a 2 year warranty. my old beast has a new 13 plate century battery ,these come with a three year warranty.I'm cant remember what their rated at but I think there both about 550. If you really want I can cheak under the hood.

[galaxy xr8]

Originally Posted by dave289

My advice would be to go the century.I have used them for years with great results. One lasting for eight years in one paticular car. My daily has a 11 plate century that was in the car when I bought it about 15 months ago ,has been faltless in this time.these batteries come with a 2 year warranty. my old beast has a new 13 plate century battery ,these come with a three year warranty.I'm cant remember what their rated at but I think there both about 550. If you really want I can cheak under the hood.

One of the century batteries I am looking at is the 57EF rated at 450CCA and then there's the bigger brother 67EF with 480CCA, these are the ones designed for the AU II XR8. so they say anyway.

[galaxy xr8]

Anybody else have any feedback on the supercharge gold batteries ??.

[dave289]

Originally Posted by galaxy xr8

One of the century batteries I am looking at is the 57EF rated at 450CCA and then there's the bigger brother 67EF with 480CCA, these are the ones designed for the AU II XR8. so they say anyway.

I went and checked under the bonnet of my car. I mentioned earlier that I thought they were around 550 cca but I was wrong, the battery on my modern v8 is the century 58vt which is the 11 plate and rated at 450 cca and the battery on my old school v8 is a century 67 which is 13 plate and rated at 480 cca which I purchased new with 3 year warranty. I ummed and arrred about which battery to get and decided on the century 13 plate with the 3 year warranty. you are obviuosly prepared to spend some extra money to get a decent battery so you are definately on the right track. A lot of people go out and buy the cheapest battery they can find without really checking there cars needs or requirements and then wonder why it does'nt last. while I cant comment on the supergold you have mentioned I can highly recomend century batteries and do so when ever anybody asks me. and no I dont work in the industry so am no qualified expert on the matter of the greatest battery around and am only speaking from experience.

[galaxy xr8]

Originally Posted by dave289

I went and checked under the bonnet of my car. I mentioned earlier that I thought they were around 550 cca but I was wrong, the battery on my modern v8 is the century 58vt which is the 11 plate and rated at 450 cca and the battery on my old school v8 is a century 67 which is 13 plate and rated at 480 cca which I purchased new with 3 year warranty. I ummed and arrred about which battery to get and decided on the century 13 plate with the 3 year warranty. you are obviuosly prepared to spend some extra money to get a decent battery so you are definately on the right track. A lot of people go out and buy the cheapest battery they can find without really checking there cars needs or requirements and then wonder why it does'nt last. while I cant comment on the supergold you have mentioned I can highly recomend century batteries and do so when ever anybody asks me. and no I dont work in the industry so am no qualified expert on the matter of the greatest battery around and am only speaking from experience.

Thank's mate, I was set on the century one aswell untill I heard about supercharge gold , it is 600CCA againt's 450 and 480CCA like you say for the century, either way I think they both are a good brand.

[whales]

I' ve got a lead acid accumalator in mine and it works a treat

[woodsy109]

I've had two delkor calcium batteries with 2yr warranty that lasted 2yrs 1mth and 2yrs 3mths. My latest battery is a supercharge gold and its lasted over 3 years now.

I've heard a lot of good things about delkor batteries but I personally won't be buying another one.

edit: anyone know any good sealed motorcycle batteries? Current one has only lasted a year and I'm sick of push starting it!

[ebxr8240]

I have an Odyssey battery 1000cc I bought for $160 off Rocco's drag RX7 ..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXK9t_gGbXw
That was 7 years ago... Still going strong..
Aha atleast the battery is fast!!

[AUXRVIII]

Bond Batteries, I have a 600cca Bond Ultimate in my XR8, has been in for 3 years, tested it recently and is still close to 600cca. I used to fit them, never had any come back due to any type of failure, even out of the warranty period.
What ever you decide on, make sure you get a silver calcium battery, they don't need as high of a charge rate, good if you do short trips.
http://www.bondbatteries.com.au/

[data_mine]

Originally Posted by ebxr8240

I have an Odyssey battery 1000cc I bought for $160 off Rocco's drag RX7 ..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXK9t_gGbXw
That was 7 years ago... Still going strong..
Aha atleast the battery is fast!!

Even if you had payed full price, that's a cheap battery over 7 years.

[GTpilot]

You need to pay more attention to a battery than the CCA figure.

All well and good to have 550 CCA but if the battery cannot sustain that output for for any period longer than a few seconds, it's basically a useless piece of crap.

MOre importantly,than the CCA figure, you need to pay attention to the plate count. as a general rule of thumb, the more the merrier. you could get a 500CCA with 9 plates or a 460CCA with 11 plates. the 11 plate will kick the 9 plate into next week for performance and being able to sustain power output. Especially if you want to park and leave the stereo on or the head lights etc for any period of time.

do yourself a favour, go get advice from an auto elec they know what they are talking about, not the pimple faced idiot at your local autoparts chain.

[AC/DC]

Originally Posted by jgb

You need to pay more attention to a battery than the CCA figure.

All well and good to have 550 CCA but if the battery cannot sustain that output for for any period longer than a few seconds, it's basically a useless piece of crap.

MOre importantly,than the CCA figure, you need to pay attention to the plate count. as a general rule of thumb, the more the merrier. you could get a 500CCA with 9 plates or a 460CCA with 11 plates. the 11 plate will kick the 9 plate into next week for performance and being able to sustain power output. Especially if you want to park and leave the stereo on or the head lights etc for any period of time.

do yourself a favour, go get advice from an auto elec they know what they are talking about, not the pimple faced idiot at your local autoparts chain.

Good advice.... The CCA Rating is like the wattage rating on a stereo... Yeah it might push 550 amps but for one tenth of a second !

I have never had trouble with Exide batteries. I think they use 12x1volt plates, instead of some others that use 6 x 2volt plates.

My falcon has had an exide for about 4 years and its fine.

AC/DC

[galaxy xr8]

I ended up getting the Century 57EF, although I am yet to find out how many plates it has, It doesn't say on their website,
And your right jgb, I did a bit of research and it's not all about the CCA or higher number, what you say is dead right, Do you know how many plates are in the battery I bought ??.

[data_mine]

Originally Posted by jgb

You need to pay more attention to a battery than the CCA figure.

All well and good to have 550 CCA but if the battery cannot sustain that output for for any period longer than a few seconds, it's basically a useless piece of crap.

MOre importantly,than the CCA figure, you need to pay attention to the plate count. as a general rule of thumb, the more the merrier. you could get a 500CCA with 9 plates or a 460CCA with 11 plates. the 11 plate will kick the 9 plate into next week for performance and being able to sustain power output. Especially if you want to park and leave the stereo on or the head lights etc for any period of time.

do yourself a favour, go get advice from an auto elec they know what they are talking about, not the pimple faced idiot at your local autoparts chain.

You should heed your own advise.

You're talking about two different properties of a battery.
The CCA (Cold Cranking Amps) is how much current it can supply a 0°C to fire you're starter motor, it only needs to last a few seconds.

The AH (amp/hour) rating of a battery determines how much power it can supply over time. e.g. 1AH means you can pull 1 Amp for an hour, or 2 Amps for 30 minutes, or 0.5 amp for 2 hours.

Most uninformed people only look at the CCA rating, but there's more to choosing a battery. The CCA is of course important, the AH rating determines how long it'll power your stereo/lights with engine off. Then there's deep cycle or not. Deep cycle batteries don't mind being drained flat. A regular lead acid style battery will sulphate the plates and won't charge any more if run flat. Then there's the different chemistries and contrustion methods used in batterys (calcium, lead acid, sealed lead acid, absorbed glass mat, spiral cells etc. etc.).

[TUF_302]

Get a century, i have one in all 3 of my cars, the one in my XR8 is there ultra hi performance unit, worth just over $200!

[Silver Ghia]

Can't complain about the Supercharge Gold in my Ghia after about 6 months now. After the car has been left standing for four days then starting on a cold morning, it certainly gets the motor turned over smartly, noticably much more so than compared to the original battery.

When I was looking for a new battery at the local Autobarn, I was quite sceptical when the experienced guy there said that he's had some Century batteries come back faulty, but not Supercharge ones. Then I went down the road to the auto electrical place thats quite reputable, I found that they now stocked the Supercharge batteries instead of the Century ones previously. And he said the same as what the Autobarn guy said about some Century batteries coming back faulty.

A bonus with the Supercharge is there is a handle that allows me to easily lift the battery out from the cooling jacket when changing the headlight bulb on the BA. Does make it a lot easier!

[whynot]

Another tip ... once you have settled on the preferred brand ... if you have access to a digital voltmeter that can read to at least two decimal places, take it with you when you go shopping. Pick the one with the highest terminal voltage. That one will be the freshest.

Personally, I prefer lower plate count batteries. Living in Brisbane, we just don’t see the cold weather that (in NSW and VIC) justifies the need for large cold cranking currents. To get the CCA, the manufacturers tend to put in more plates. More plates in the same size means that the plates are closer together. The closer the plates are together, the more prone they are to crystal growth bridging out a cell and the battery collapsing.

[GTpilot]

Originally Posted by data_mine

You should heed your own advise.

You're talking about two different properties of a battery.
The CCA (Cold Cranking Amps) is how much current it can supply a 0°C to fire you're starter motor, it only needs to last a few seconds.

The AH (amp/hour) rating of a battery determines how much power it can supply over time. e.g. 1AH means you can pull 1 Amp for an hour, or 2 Amps for 30 minutes, or 0.5 amp for 2 hours.

Most uninformed people only look at the CCA rating, but there's more to choosing a battery. The CCA is of course important, the AH rating determines how long it'll power your stereo/lights with engine off. Then there's deep cycle or not. Deep cycle batteries don't mind being drained flat. A regular lead acid style battery will sulphate the plates and won't charge any more if run flat. Then there's the different chemistries and contrustion methods used in batterys (calcium, lead acid, sealed lead acid, absorbed glass mat, spiral cells etc. etc.).

Ummm.....Yeah, it's Electronics 101 although I must admit it's almost 20yrs since I did it as part of my electronics qualification.........and I agree, Thats exactly what I was getting at.

Oh BTW, The international std for CCA rating is measured at -18°C, not 0.

[data_mine]

brrrrr

so not really useful here on Oz.

[ebxr8240]

I seemed to be getting too much voltage drop and engine would NOT start even though it was easy turning over.. When I fitted deep cycle Odyssey all my issues where cured.. The cables are way big enough to supply ECU etc, the volts just dropped too much for ECU to work..
These are not cheap but they last and don;t deteriorate when they go flat like other types..These type are better if you have crazy stereo systems in your car..
http://www.odysseyfactory.com/
Century seem a good budget battery. We use them on our work vehicles.. They last about 2 years...
Like most things you get what you pay for...

[alig]

I tell story about auto pro, bought super charge gold from Auto pro Canning vale, he gave me 36 month warranty, now its gone any still under warranty. Guy from Auto pro blames my alternator and he loaned me battery which is perfectly fine. When I check with my meter it reads 13.5 to 14 volts. I have rung Auto pro head office see what happens. If nothing happens I will ringing Consumers affairs. Any help???

[05_ENFORCER]

Originally Posted by alig

I tell story about auto pro, bought super charge gold from Auto pro Canning vale, he gave me 36 month warranty, now its gone any still under warranty. Guy from Auto pro blames my alternator and he loaned me battery which is perfectly fine. When I check with my meter it reads 13.5 to 14 volts. I have rung Auto pro head office see what happens. If nothing happens I will ringing Consumers affairs. Any help???

With your engine running, take off the positive battery lead and check with your multimeter between battery negative post and the positive battery lead in your hand.

You should have upwards of 13 volts which will tell you your alternator is OK

Out of pure curiosity, what colour is in the sight glass on your battery?


.

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by 05_ENFORCER

With your engine running, take off the positive battery lead and check with your multimeter between battery negative post and the positive battery lead in your hand.

You should have upwards of 13 volts which will tell you your alternator is OK

Out of pure curiosity, what colour is in the sight glass on your battery?


.

Your method is a good way of possible damage to modern day car electronics, you should never disconnect battery when engine is running.

[05_ENFORCER]

Originally Posted by trublu

Your method is a good way of possible damage to modern day car electronics, you should never disconnect battery when engine is running.

I have previously done this method to my 2005 Nissan Patrol, my daughters 2010 Hyundai and more recently to my 2007 Ford Territory Turbo Ghia and my 2011 Ford Ranger 3.2 TD work vehicle just last weekend and have never encountered any problems.

What is your reasoning behind your statement?

Just curious of the fact/reasoning
.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by 05_ENFORCER

I have previously done this method to my 2005 Nissan Patrol, my daughters 2010 Hyundai and more recently to my 2007 Ford Territory Turbo Ghia and my 2011 Ford Ranger 3.2 TD work vehicle just last weekend and have never encountered any problems.

What is your reasoning behind your statement?

Just curious of the fact/reasoning
.

I wouldn't do it with sensitive electronics, you are playing with fire.

I killed a $3000 module on a Mercedes Sprinter with the tiniest short, literally one strand of wire shorted and popped the fuses and took out the module too.

It doesn't take much of a spike to get that nice burning electronics smell, a battery also smooths out voltage spikes.

If you want to check alternator charge rate, check the battery without the car started with a multimeter across positive and negative terminals 12.7V is charged (its not a good indicator of its condition though, you really need a load test to check that), remove them then start the car and check it again it should be between 13.8-14.4V.

[05_ENFORCER]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

I wouldn't do it with sensitive electronics, you are playing with fire.

I killed a $3000 module on a Mercedes Sprinter with the tiniest short, literally one strand of wire shorted and popped the fuses and took out the module too.

It doesn't take much of a spike to get that nice burning electronics smell, a battery also smooths out voltage spikes.

If you want to check alternator charge rate, check the battery without the car started with a multimeter across positive and negative terminals 12.7V is charged (its not a good indicator of its condition though, you really need a load test to check that), remove them then start the car and check it again it should be between 13.8-14.4V.

I can understand your shorting problem led to your mishap but I don't see how that relates to taking off the positive lead on the battery to check the battery or charging voltage

EDIT: Just out of pure curiosity I'll try this method on the Porsche tomorrow and see what happens and report back. It has a truck load of sensitive electronics.



.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by 05_ENFORCER

I can understand your shorting problem led to your mishap but I don't see how that relates to taking off the positive lead on the battery to check the battery or charging voltage


.

Voltage spikes, battery smooths them out.

[Itsme]

Most alternators will have a voltage reference from the ECU which monitors the battery voltage, by disconnecting the battery your alternator could give a higher voltage output or voltage spikes which can be high enough to fry the cars sensitive electronics.
Also battery acts like a capacitor which can absorb stray transient voltage spikes in car electricals.

It is best to test alternators voltage under load conditions while battery is connected regardless of battery condition.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by 05_ENFORCER

I can understand your shorting problem led to your mishap but I don't see how that relates to taking off the positive lead on the battery to check the battery or charging voltage

EDIT: Just out of pure curiosity I'll try this method on the Porsche tomorrow and see what happens and report back. It has a truck load of sensitive electronics.



.

Here you go for verification:







Just because you've gotten away with it a few times doesn't mean its a good idea.

[05_ENFORCER]

Thanks for the info



Cheers


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