School me on car batteries
 

my battery died today and multiple people said it's time to replace (stock battery). stock mazda 3 gt. i've read online and it seems higher amps the better? by amps i mean the "cold cranking amps".

take me to school.

TIA

optima yellowtop

/endthread

look at the cold cranking amps (cca) and the reserve life (xxx mins) the higher the better and also the warranty period

Higher amp rating means the battery can pump out much for juice.
Cold cranking amperage is the amount of amperage the battery can pump out in 30 seconds at 0 degrees F.
Rating is there to help regular consumers choose the right battery for themselves.

is it true that if i get a 800 CCA amp and the car is designed for 550CCA then the alternator will be "over used"?

if you are not increasing the load on your charging system ( IE external lights / subwoofers / amps ) then your alternator will not be "over used"

A battery only serves to power things when the engine is off, or when the alternator cannot handle the electrical load placed on it.

Basically, a battery is used to start the engine and once started, the alternator takes over, recharges the battery to full charge, and then runs the electrical system. It is also used to supply power when the engine is not running.

From my own experience, I won't use a really high CCA rated battery. If you take a certain size battery, say a 24F, there are different CCA ratings available, probably from about 650 to 1100 CCA's. The higher the CCA rating, the longer the lead plates are inside the battery case even though the external measurements remain the same. What happens, as the battery goes through it's discharge and recharge cycles, little flakes of the lead fall off the internal plates. They drop down to the bottom of the case and that's where the problem is located. Because the size of the lead plates are longer to up the CCA rating, there is less room for the little flakes to settle. Once they build up, they can short the plates and cause a dead cell.

I would stay away from the Optima's. The quality isn't there anymore. There are other spiral cell batteries made by other companies like Odyssey that have less problems. Talk to the guys at Battery World on Boundary and see what they say. If your car is stock, go with the same factory sized battery and you'll be happy.

^Yeah, big CCA is overrated, especially with little four- and six-banger engines. Bigger engines that are harder to turn over, and those that have to start in extreme cold, will make use of that extra capacity, but like Peturbo says, it's not just the temp, but the amount of time it can provide that current: if your car is in good running condition and starts up right away, it should never need to crank anywhere near 30 seconds, even at 0F.

If you're looking for a decent low-end battery, get one at Costco (Kirkland). If you google battery reviews, they have very good ratings and you can't beat the return policy.

Oh, and they have a way higher CCA than stock if that means anything.

I bought mine a couple years before I moved away from home for about 3 years. When I came back it was more or less useless since it had been sitting for so long, so I took it back to Costco and got 70 dollars back even though it was beyond the warranty period. After that, I went ahead and spent another 20 dollars to get me a brand new battery at Costco and have had 0 problems with it since.

If you measure the OE battery ie WHD you can get the BCI battery size.. the battery size correlates with the amount of CCA, since in the end it is the battery volume that determins the CCA.

So first thing to do.. measure and determine your battery dimensions (where are your posts are oriented etc) and go from there. DO NOT randomly pick a battery, especially modern batteries in later model cars the battery are often in specifically designed cradle etc.

I second on optima battery had 2 within 3 year period , definitely not worth the money. A cheap battery would probably last longer.

.

The red top in my Mustang is about 6 years old and still working. When it sits for the winter, I might throw the charger on it once or twice if it's lucky.

So Kirkland batteries are good? I was skeptical because it was Kirkland. Also, the kirkland battery had 650CCA but he LxWxH of the battery seemed smaller than my current one(stock from mazda). Should I be concerned?


Do I just take a take measure from terminal to terminal and terminal to bottom to get the W H D of my battery?



Also, what is meant by "direct fit"? is there non direct fit? I assume this is the WHD of the battery and "direct fit" = stock size?

I would also stay away from Optima batteries. I had a red top that I killed by listening to music for too long and it doesn't have the same capacity since.

I've had much better luck with maintenance free batteries. They can withstand being flattened and will charge up no problems unlike Optima.

Quick rule of thumb: when comparing lead acid batteries from two different mfg, buy the heavier one. Heavier = more lead which in turn equals a better battery. (Does not apply to Absorbed glass mat-AGM batteries)

Never had issues with Can Tire batteries, and the replacement warranty is pretty decent.

Optima batteries use to be really good when they were Swedish owned,then Interstate batteries bought them over and since then the quality has been going down hill.

odyssey pc925 good enough for winter in Vancouver, slightly lighter than oem, can be fully discharged and recharged, awesome dry cell battery. i've accidentally left my lights on 3x fully discharging the battery. recharged it with a good charger, and its as good as if it were new. 5 years going strong.

can get it for around 220$ at polar battery in burnaby

my budget is $100 or less.
I can get OEM battery from dealer for $100+tax.

hit up polar battery on boundary

how recent was this? i have a yellow top from 3 or 4 years ago and it hasnt given me any problems at all

you measure the WHD of the battery (not the posts). There are usually several post configuration on the top on the side etc

Measure it, refer to this chart.. go to the store and buy..

BCI Battery Group Size Chart

Optima battery has always been a Johnson product.. and Johnson is not Swedish.

It does not.. it is the surface area of the plates that makes the difference.. not the weight.. eg VRLA/AGM will have better performance and longevity over conventional ones.. but it is lighter.