Batteries

[Mike Del Tergo]

Brett,
did you read the article that you quoted?

>From the article"
If the battery is to used in a starting application, Cold Cranking Amps 
(CCA) is the second most important consideration; otherwise, for 
non-starting deep cycle applications, please skip this section and go to 
Section 7.3. Reserve Capacity (RC) or Amp Hour (AH) Capacity. The battery's 
CCA rating should meet or exceed, your vehicle's OEM cold cranking 
requirement, for your climate. CCA is the discharge load measured in amps 
that a new, fully charged battery, operating at 0° F (-17.8° C), can deliver 
for 30 seconds and while maintaining the voltage above 7.2 volts.
To start a four cylinder gasoline engine, you will need approximately 
600-700 CCA; six cylinder gasoline engine, 700-800 CCA; eight cylinder 
gasoline engine, 750-850 CCA;
In hot climates, buying Car or Marine Starting batteries with double or 
triple the cold cranking amps that exceeds your starting requirement is a 
waste of money because the extra amps will not be used. A starter motor will 
only demand what it needs to operate. However, in cold climates a higher CCA 
rating is better, due to increased power required to crank a sluggish engine 
and the inefficiency of a cold Car battery and the demand is greater. As Car 
batteries age, they are also less capable of producing CCA.

Note the requirements for the 4 and 6 cylinder apps.  It goes on to say that 
at 0 F, a given battery can deliver 65% of the power it can at 80 F and a 
given engine is 55% harder to start than at 80 F.
At minus -22F, the same battery output is 40% and the engine is 110% harder 
to start. So please feel free to buy the CCA that Audi recommends for your 
car (because we all know how easily I5 start) I will continue to go with a 
nice wide buffer.  WalMart 41-4, 600+ CCA, 700CA, 4 year warrantee, $39.99  
(new not rebuilt!)

Mike






From: Brett Dikeman <brett at cloud9.net>
Subject: Re: Batteries

More CCA's are not better; go off what the manufacturer recommends in
CCAs and the correct BCI number.  In fact- it's worse to get a higher
CCA-rated battery, because the plate mesh is thinner; the more
surface area the plates have, the more amps the battery can deliver.

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