Battery Sizing: Is higher CCA necessary? Thinner plates, less durable

[nobb]

Just wanted to get your guy's thoughts. My vehicle came stock with a group 35 battery with ~585 CCA. The replacement I put in was a group 34 with 800 CCA which in principle sounds great for Canada as it gets down to -40C here. However after only 3 years this battery has failed and now I need to get another. On all my vehicles, I've usually been able to get >5 years out of a battery. I don't ever recall the stock 585 CCA ever being a problem in the winter.

Now I'm questioning whether it's necessary to go for the highest CCA battery? Reason being is that high CCA = thinner plates which leads to a physically weaker battery that doesn't last as long. Maybe the better option is to stick with the stock size and the minimum CCA to meet stock requirements?

 

[Donald]

The goal if you use same group size battery is to get same or slightly more CCA (never less) than car came with from factory. But often you end up with a lot more CCA as there is a limited selection.

This time around I bought a East Penn/Deka made AGM at NAPA. Certainly not the cheapest.

Check Walmart for Everstart MAXX. If the serial number of the battery starts with an EP then its an East Penn mfg battery. The current thinking is they are the best battery mfg for general automotive batteries..

Many people try and fit a larger group size battery in. Thats fine if it fits.

 

[StevieC]

I've used thinned plates and thick plates and neither seem to have any longer life than the other. I think it's because of the terrible lead alloys they are using instead of virgin lead.

Oddesey uses virgin lead in their non-agm batteries and they will have thin plates in some models and they last a really long time.

 

[benjy]

besides CCA freshness is very important as any battery that is activated deteriorates if not charged regularly. all sealed batteries are activated when built, non sealed can ship dry + sulfuric acid added for selling + a proper activation charge done. if a vehicle is not run enough the charge gets low + sulfaction can start + with todays heavy draw from electronics + stop-start being the worse putting a smart charger on it is a good thing

 

[Vern_in_IL]

I was told that they are using smaller batteries because of fuel economy standards, (quicker to charge a small battery vs larger one) and the charging systems can't handle a large discharged battery, and smaller batteries are lighter weight.

 

[bbhero]

^^^↑^^^^

There is likely some truth to this.