Battery is only 20Ah

Mar 11, 2008 5 Replies
G

I bought a cheapo battery for my old 1.8 Sierra a few days ago. It was only £24 and to my surprise only 20Ah Had "37 amps" in brackets which I presume is the cranking current. The old battery was rated at 44Ah and the even older one in the garage was the same. It surprised me a 20Ah is considered enough to be reliable, but time will tell. Its the same size as the old battery but a little lighter. The battery will no doubt last the life of the car now as I probably won't be using the car for more than another year.



Graham


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D

37 amps crannking current? No chance, most batterys are usually 10 times this, 37 amps would never get a car started.
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M

Presumably it just has fewer plates per cell, which would reduce the capacity, and make make it cheaper to manufacture, but it's cold cranking amps, the CCA, can still be high enough to start the car as long as it doesn't require a lot of cranking on a freezing morning. Mike.

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P

37A wont pull the skin off a royce puddin my son.

Porky Taylor "The guy in the rubber sausage suit"

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D

Fewer thicker plates drops your cca, not the AH.

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M

I'm thinking of fewer std plates and separators. Maybe 7 plates, rather than the more common 9 or 11. AIUI thin separators reduce the internal resistance of a battery, and more plates, with a greater surface area, increase it's capacity. I would think both are as important if the battery is to deliver a particularly high CCA. Mike.

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