Battery Size and Replacement

[Mark]

Honey, if you're lurking on here, reading up on what your hubby is saying, full disclosure - I have never found the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders sexy......ever.

Budweiser should have stuck with horses & puppies.

Ironically, this Budweiser commercial may be my favorite commercial of all time!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJucRz8kYo0

The Bud Light girls of the 1980s & 1990s were better looking than 2023 DM in my opinion.

[foama]

Knowing how real proper beer tastes, the American Bud commercials seem utterly ridiculous! A mockery of the town of Budweis and their products!
They have a law-turned-industry-standard in Bavaria and observe it very closely in Bavaria, the Czech republic, and almost all of Europe. It regulates the way beer is brewed and what is more important, the allowed ingredients. They invented Pilsener Beer in Pilsen, and one famous brewery of many is the Budweiser brewery in Budweis, Czech republic. That is the real stuff! Made from different ingredients than the American brew, nothing artificial. That American stuff is neither fit nor allowed to be called beer in these parts.
After the end of the Iron Curtain, guess what rich organisation bought up the world famous Budweiser Brewery of the Czech republic, enabling them to continue calling themselves by that famous foreign name?

[Dirk Diggler]

Knowing how real proper beer tastes, the American Bud commercials seem utterly ridiculous! A mockery of the town of Budweis and their products!
They have a law-turned-industry-standard in Bavaria and observe it very closely in Bavaria, the Czech republic, and almost all of Europe. It regulates the way beer is brewed and what is more important, the allowed ingredients. They invented Pilsener Beer in Pilsen, and one famous brewery of many is the Budweiser brewery in Budweis, Czech republic. That is the real stuff! Made from different ingredients than the American brew, nothing artificial. That American stuff is neither fit nor allowed to be called beer in these parts.
After the end of the Iron Curtain, guess what rich organisation bought up the world famous Budweiser Brewery of the Czech republic, enabling them to continue calling themselves by that famous foreign name?

Even the ****tiest, cheapest German beer is much better than Bud Light.

[Rotaidalg]

The battery size for the Fit should be a 151R, not a 255. . . Those 151Rs go from about $150 to $210 USD. . . Got a U1R w/MORE CCA for $80 USD & just modified the terminals ("X" type) to work w/the Honda cable connectors.

[Rotaidalg]

Had used this website to research alternatives to any battery size. . . Mirage in USA uses the type 35:

https://batterygroupexpert.com/group-35-battery/

[mohammad]

I didnt realize these batteries are sold with only like 20% state of charge. I just sat in my car for like 55 minutes twiddling my thumbs because I am scarred the car may not start tomorrow. 55 minutes of idling gained me approx 55% charge and brought my battery from 11.8 to 12.6 volts. Also, i found it strange that the car voltage dropped from 13.8 to 13.6 volts after awhile. I wonder if it was the alternator overheating or some smart charging feature of the ECU?

[foama]

I didnt realize these batteries are sold with only like 20% state of charge. I just sat in my car for like 55 minutes twiddling my thumbs because I am scarred the car may not start tomorrow. 55 minutes of idling gained me approx 55% charge and brought my battery from 11.8 to 12.6 volts. Also, i found it strange that the car voltage dropped from 13.8 to 13.6 volts after awhile. I wonder if it was the alternator overheating or some smart charging feature of the ECU?

Lead-calcium (PbCa) starter batteries are the norm nowadays, the old sort was PbSb. They slowly phased out between around 1995 to 2015. Our cars have PbCa. A freshly charged PbCa battery retains its charge many months longer than the old sort. It also needs a higher voltage to charge it. There is a good entry worth reading in the German Wikipedia about starter batteries. The entry in the English Wikipedia is much shorter and missing most details.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starterbatterie

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_battery


The alternator will charge somewhat with the engine idling, but does not produce very much current. It begins charging properly at engine rpm higher than idle. The nominal charge current can only be supplied for a short time when it is not hot. When the alternator is charging heavily it becomes hot, and it protects itself from overheating by reducing its output current. That explains the observed reduction in charging voltage.

After charging or draining the battery, it takes a while for the chemical and electrical balance of the electrolyt to take place and stabilize. That usually takes up to two hours. The voltage then measured is a good indicator for battery charge.
After stabilisation a 100% full 12V battery has 12.7Volts, and is down to 11.8V at only 20% charge. It should not be allowed to get lower than 20%, because that will permanently reduce the capacity. Most batteries are regarded full when they have about 80% charge.

[mohammad]

Foama i think an agm battery at 100% charge should have a slightly higher voltage. 12.80v according to this: https://shopsolarkits.com/blogs/lear...-voltage-chart

[foama]

A full battery, 1 or two hours after the last charge or discharge,
100% full: PbCa battery 12.7V AGM battery 12.9V
50% charge: PbCa 12.2V AGM battery 12.25V
20% charge PbCa 11.8V AGM battery 11.8V
Never discharge lower than 20%.
AGM battery is the same as a VRLA battery

Permissable charge voltage at 20°C of a PbCa battery is 15.4V, the float voltage 13 to 14.8V
of a PbSb battery (old fashioned) 14.4V, float voltage 13.0 to 13.8V
of a VRLA / AGM battery 14.8V float voltage 13 to 14.8V

The floating voltage is the voltage for continuously charging (keeping) an otherwise unused battery, such as for a UPS = Uninteruptable Power Supply.

[Wallythacker]

Lead-calcium (PbCa) starter batteries are the norm nowadays, the old sort was PbSb. They slowly phased out between around 1995 to 2015. Our cars have PbCa. A freshly charged PbCa battery retains its charge many months longer than the old sort. It also needs a higher voltage to charge it. There is a good entry worth reading in the German Wikipedia about starter batteries. The entry in the English Wikipedia is much shorter and missing most details.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starterbatterie

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_battery


The alternator will charge somewhat with the engine idling, but does not produce very much current. It begins charging properly at engine rpm higher than idle. The nominal charge current can only be supplied for a short time when it is not hot. When the alternator is charging heavily it becomes hot, and it protects itself from overheating by reducing its output current. That explains the observed reduction in charging voltage.

After charging or draining the battery, it takes a while for the chemical and electrical balance of the electrolyt to take place and stabilize. That usually takes up to two hours. The voltage then measured is a good indicator for battery charge.
After stabilisation a 100% full 12V battery has 12.7Volts, and is down to 11.8V at only 20% charge. It should not be allowed to get lower than 20%, because that will permanently reduce the capacity. Most batteries are regarded full when they have about 80% charge.

Here's what I know, some firsthand, some empirical.

Firsthand. I have allowed lead acid PbSb? to go to 0 volts. some have never recovered, I would say more than 50% would charge to full, maintain that charge and had no appreciable loss of life.

I have a small AGM battery, age 9 years which I forgot about. When I found it, in the cold, it was at 9.6v It has since charged fully using a desulfater and my tester shows 85% health. I could not expect more from that age battery even if treated perfectly.

I also have a small GEL battery, age 12 years which was forgotten as well, it was 3.x v when found. It took days on a desulfator to be able to take & hold a charge. It now charges to 13.x v and has the health reported @ 80% with 116 CCA out of 130 CCA.

Johnson controls, who had >80% of the NA battery market sold their battery division in 2015. Overnight the NA battery market went into disarray. Batteries were available for $69 (most compact cars, Costco battery). If I had to guess Johnson looks like they sold their battery business rather than switch all their plants to PbCa. Johnson had something like 13 factories!

I have also taken ancient lead acid batteries, drained them, flushed them internally with a baking soda mix, drained and dried them, filled them with sulphuric acid and had years of service from them.

I read, in theory, a battery can last forever if treated right, that includes desulphating them on the regular. The longest I personally had a car battery was a guaranteed lifetime Canadian Tire battery, bought in 1986, the car was totaled in 91, the battery went into my Caravan CV and was there until 99, then it went into a Ranger which ran until 2005 at which point it was scrapped and I'm annoyed I did not pull the battery as it was still working. I wonder if it is still good.