New battery

[Tim Leech]

Need a new batter for the TZI, it wasnt great when I got it an this cold weather has killed it off, as shes a 1.9i auto with A/C I was going to move up to a battery with more cranking ampage as the only one my motor factors stock is the same for all petrol models.

The question is if I buy a diesel battery which is £3 more will this do it any harm?

Ta!

[Linegeist]

Not at all guv'.

What you're extra paying for is simply a greater storage capacity - the ampere hours rating. I fitted my spare TZD battery to the Athena two months ago, and it doesn't even break a sweat now when hot (non)starting.

In similar vein, my motorbike sports a 7a/h battery as standard - which is a bit weedy for electric starting a socking great 660cc single! I found a way to a fit a 12a/h battery and posted it on the owner's club forum, and a whole bunch of blokes have now done the same mod with excellent results. The bike starts much better, spins over quicker, and stands rather less chence of flattening the battery if it decides to play silly games.....

As far as the alternator's concerned, it's simply filling up a larger bucket of amps for you to draw on later.

[Tim Leech]

Okidokes, Ive ordered a diesel one, its £40 inc vat from work so should do the job.

[MULLEY]

Thats a decent price, how many years guarantee does it come with?

I think i paid about £70, but it came with 5yr guarantee, good job as the 1st one failed within a year, so i'm on my 2nd one, although interestingly enough i was told that the warranty is continous so i've only got 4years on the replacement. Doesnt sound particularly fair to me, is that standard practice or rubbish

[RogerPorter]

Doesnt sound particularly fair to me, is that standard practice or rubbish Question

Must be rubbish musn't it; surely there's a full guarantee on the replacement battery rather than just getting the remainder of the guarantee from the original, faulty, battery?

As regards the cost, I had to pay €80 last June when the BX died by the roadside on the way to the CCC Rally at Westport, Co. Mayo. It happened in the worst rain storm i'd seen in years and a good few miles from the nearest town so included the cost of someone coming out to me with the battery. Turned out it wasn't the battery after all but the alternator, so i now have a spare battery in the garage which has been useful.

[kiwi]

being curious as to the batterys you are now buying are they the Calcium ones? Thats the ones with the sight glass at the top that tells you what the charge is remaining or you still able to get the old lead ones?

[Tim Leech]

At that price I get a two year guarantee, no quibble as its direct from our parts dept, I buy it at cost price plus 2% handling charge so works out well, its a Quantum/VW battery but is listed to fit a BX D/TD.

[MULLEY]

I've got some batteries which have the sight glass, but they arent those mega expensive calcium one's. There's no way i'm paying £120 for a battery, that's almost half the price i paid for my car As it was i was nearly sick when i had to pay £70, the only positive was the long guarantee.....

[Philip Chidlow]

Well, I paid £83 for a 440 amp calcium battery with a 5-year warranty.

Can't say I'm disappointed or feel I've spent too much; although it cost well over half what I paid for the car!

[Mike E (uk)]

I had an expensive Halfords battery with a 4 year warranty which died after only 2 years.

I exchanged it free for a Bosche one with 5 years warranty.

If the batteries only live for 2/5 of their guarantee period, perhaps Halfords are betting on my loosing the receipt before the battery fails.

Mike

[Way2go]

being curious as to the batterys you are now buying are they the Calcium ones? Thats the ones with the sight glass at the top that tells you what the charge is remaining or you still able to get the old lead ones?

I thought these could be problematic on the BX and prone to early fauilure as they require a higher terminal voltage on Charge?

Seem to remember they need 14.8v charging circuit rather than the 13.6 of the bog-standard lead-acid type.

Analogous perhaps with using Dextron 3 in the autobox rather than the Dextron 2 it needs in the mistaken belief that newer is better.

[Linegeist]

You may find this stuff interesting reading on the battery subject gents.
http://www.magnacharge.com/mchg_all.htm
http://landiss.com/battery.htm

[Way2go]

You may find this stuff interesting reading on the battery subject gents.
http://www.magnacharge.com/mchg_all.htm
http://landiss.com/battery.htm

Ah yes Bob, the Landiss site actually highlights what I remembered about the higher charging voltage needed for the Calcium batteries. Extract!

However, lead/calcium batteries are not very resistant to "deep-cycling" (deep discharge followed by a full charge). This made them inappropriate for uses such as to power trolling motors in fishing boats. It also required a higher charging voltage. General Motors studied the charging characteristics of lead/calcium batteries and set the voltage regulators of cars equipped with the "Delco Freedom II" battery at 14.8 volts. Lower settings prevented charging to full capacity. This is too high for lead/antimony batteries and will cause them to lose water rapidly.

Older vehicles with voltage regulators set at about 14.0 volts simply will not fully charge lead/calcium or hybrid batteries. Stories abound of cars with older regulators leaving their owners stranded on cold mornings shortly after a "new, improved, maintenance-free" battery was installed. Even two weeks of sitting in the garage, with no load other than the electric clock and burglar alarm, can discharge a battery if the voltage regulator prevented it from being properly charged.

[Tim Leech]

New battery is on and shes stars up first time and is alot less laboured!

[scarecrow]

I boiled the battery dry on my old Meteor using one of those travel kettles that plug into the ciggy lighter (I only like fresh coffee from a cafetiere). I was in the middle of a French nowhere, in the middle of the night, with the front windows down. The Gendarmarie came and shone a torch at me a couple of times - then drove off without a word.