Choosing a battery

[lucas01230]

How exactly do I determine what battery I should get. It's a 2009 Chevy Colorado 5 Cylinder. I'm talking about CCA. Should I match the CCA with what is already in the car? Can I go higher/lower?

This car sits at a lakehouse and doesn't get too much action. Sits around. Mostly used for trips to Menards or HomeDepot.

Thanks

 

[bioburner]

With winter taking so much power to crank and one usually needs lights I like to get as big of battery that can fit in the space provided. Nice to have that extra zip when the temps go below zero and the car may have to sit outside unused for a long weekend.

 

[AandPDan]

You can always go higher.

Don't go lower.

 

[maximus]

Just purchase a battery of the OEM group size. It will have the appropriate CCA, often higher especially if you go with the highest tier.(maxx, gold etc..)You're not going to gain anything by jerry rigging a bigger battery.

 

[bioburner]

Wont hurt to have a trickle charger on it in the winter to keep the phantom current draw from being a issue. Lead acid batteries loose about a percent per day for the first month too.

 

[spasm3]

Higher CCA is not always better. If you have more CCA in the same size battery, the only way to do that is with more plates that are thinner. I think thinner plates don't last as long with shock , vibration sulfurization etc.

I go for the biggest physical battery that will fit, with the lowest CCA that meets the requirements of the vehicle.

 

[Bud_One]

+1 for installing a trickle charger and using a Premium- OEM CCA spec'd battery.

 

[lucas01230]

With a trickle charger, you have to disconnect the cables for the car correct? Or can I just hook it up with everything attached and leave it in the garage for the next time the car is used?

 

[Bud_One]

I use these and run the end that connects the charger thru the front fender by the headlight.
Quick connect and release.

 

[lucas01230]

Originally Posted By: Bud_One
I use these and run the end that connects the charger thru the front fender by the headlight.
Quick connect and release.




So you are implying that there is no need to disconnect the car's cables from the battery terminals when trickle charging?

 

[901Memphis]

Originally Posted By: lucas01230


So you are implying that there is no need to disconnect the car's cables from the battery terminals when trickle charging?


Yes you can leave them hooked up when charging. You don't want a cheap trickle charger though you want a battery maintainer or a charger with maintainer function.

Noco makes some good inexpensive maintainer and they have plenty of quick connections options. Also clore automotive makes some nice ones too. Other popular options are Ctek and battery tender.

Do not use the cheap harbor freight slow chargers and leave them hooked up, they will boil the battery. Even at a slow amp charge you need a charger that will monitor voltage and float charge.

My pro Logix PL2320 charger has a nice feature where it monitors voltage when hooked up to a full battery and will apply a small load every few days and recharge which helps keep battery in peak health.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: spasm3
Higher CCA is not always better. If you have more CCA in the same size battery, the only way to do that is with more plates that are thinner. I think thinner plates don't last as long with shock , vibration sulfurization etc.

I go for the biggest physical battery that will fit, with the lowest CCA that meets the requirements of the vehicle.


+1 to this. OE amp,requirements are usually pretty low, a s any aftermarket item should do better as it is...

 

[Doog]

I always get the largest capacity battery I can find.

 

[zzyzzx]

WalMart and Home Deport near me sell car batteries. Home Depot is $10 cheaper on a Made in USA Exide. Will update later after I have looked at both, but will probably get the one from Home Depot since it's cheaper, domestic, and for a beater (20 year old Escort with 226K miles on it). Car won't start today and I've got 10.4V on a battery on month 68 on a 60 month battery.

 

[zzyzzx]

OK, went to Home Depot and their Group 35 batteries ranged from 8 months to 1 year from date of manufacture. So I went to WalMart, where the batteries were much more expensive (more than thr $10 difference noted above which was from their webpage) and date codes that made no sense to me or anyone who worked there. So I went to Costco and they had fresh Group 35 batteries (MAde in September 2016) for $80, so I bought one of those, Has free replacement for 42 months, and nothing after that. Installed it (in the rain) and now car starts right up. I have no idea how many months it's rated for, but in a 21 year old car with 326K miles, I am not sure if I should care. CCA and reff replacement warranty suggests that it should last at least 5 years. It's Interstate branded and has no county of origin data on it.

 

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
Originally Posted By: lucas01230


So you are implying that there is no need to disconnect the car's cables from the battery terminals when trickle charging?


Yes you can leave them hooked up when charging. You don't want a cheap trickle charger though you want a battery maintainer or a charger with maintainer function.

Noco makes some good inexpensive maintainer and they have plenty of quick connections options. Also clore automotive makes some nice ones too. Other popular options are Ctek and battery tender.

Do not use the cheap harbor freight slow chargers and leave them hooked up, they will boil the battery. Even at a slow amp charge you need a charger that will monitor voltage and float charge.

My pro Logix PL2320 charger has a nice feature where it monitors voltage when hooked up to a full battery and will apply a small load every few days and recharge which helps keep battery in peak health.


Almost all the new ones do that. I've got a Schumacher 3/12A charger. It's 3/12A selectable, but turns off the current after being fully charged. From that point it will use 3A maintain mode and wait for a certain time before it starts a top-off cycle. There's always going to be some sort of parasitic draw, even if it's not connected to anything except the charger. I've also got a 1.5A Schumacher maintainer that probably does the same thing. These will just pulse a green light until it goes back into the periodic charge periods.

My older Schumacher 1.5A maintainer isn't as complex. It monitors and will start charging almost immediately if it senses the battery isn't full. Probably not horrible for the battery, but not ideal. I used to connect it to my wife's battery and then wait until the light turned green. Then I would do something like open the door (turning on the dome light) and it would turn yellow and wouldn't go back to green until I closed the door and waited a few seconds.

The newer ones are probably designed to not overdo charging by waiting after battery full before charging again. The better ones don't contain heavy transformer coils either, but probably use switching power supplies. The two maintainers I have are the old style and the new one. The old one feels like a small brick, while the newer one feels like it's only a plastic shell. The newer one has a buzzing sound, which leads me to believe it's using a switching power supply.

 

[meep]

unfortunately I have yet to own a small maintainer that lasted more than 3 years in continuous use since the very first one I bought in the 1980s. That one was a shumacker and had no lights, just a 6" power cord and two leads run straight to the battery terminals. Every one I've had since then has failed after 1-3 years in continuous use.