The Big Question..What Battery.
 

My car starts ok but I noticed when I was doing wiring the voltage was sitting around 11.87 volts. So anyway I need a good strong battery to start my Talbot Motorhome that has been sitting for about 5 years with no regular starts.
My aim is to start Motorhome with new battery, replace it with the one in my car at moment and new one goes in my car...Sounds good I thought.
Anyway there's been loads of talk on battery drain, battery not good enough for the job, etc, so what is the ideal battery for this car.
Think I might get conflicting reports.

You will .. .. get conflicting reports .. .. for myself any battery that targets 800CCA/80 [ish], and can, by way of cutting bits off the tray, be made to fit. Throw into the mix for consideration :

- lifestyle - frequent use - winter starts - duration [50 miles every other day] of recharge from the alternator - no intervention needed
- lifestyle - infrequent use - semi-permanent advanced microprocessor controlled battery charger such as the MXS 5.0 or LiDL eqivalent - intervention needed
- target commercial not retail battery sector - target a unit price of £100 [ish]

Ignore any Halfords """12 year old expert, fully trained and certificated male assistant with dribble dripping from his nose. He stormed out to my MOTA in the rain which was splattering against his thin bony shoulders making a mess of his over white freshly ironed by his Mother .. .. shirt, all the time asserting in a very authoritative way why I way wrong and why it could not possibly be their 'fittings dBase', his matchstick like thin arms finally managed to lift the bonnet without breaking any of his arms only to find the common standard terminals.

I did try to help his embarrassment, honest I did, I even offered him one of my Wurthers Originals and assured him we all make mistakes .. .. its all part of life's long learning .. .. but I still want my £230 snots back and I want them now. So now I'm back to where I started, I never in my life thought buying a correct 'soddin battery would be so much trouble. tfb likes Optima Spirals, I do not.

Put simply with low mileage runs, infrequent use, high non-use leakage and high in-use [Ah the amount of available energy in the electrical circuit is directly proportional to the capacity of the battery] draw a microprocessor controlled battery charger will deliver the biggest CCA bang on any day of the year at -5°C at a hundred quid. Alternatively a solar charger will replace most of the 'at rest' draw consumed, but can never deliver the 'biggest CCA bang on any day of the year at -5°C'.

In the case of frequent long runs a smaller Exide type 96 with the terminals the right way round will suffice with little or no modification of the battery tray.

If you go for the best and not the cheapest it would be this one imho. :)
ODYSSEY Batteries - 34-PC1500T-A

For a battery to be the best for what ever situation could be an endless thread. The key is to stick with the cca that is called for.

True, but there are a lot of people who don't know that there is new technology development in the battery market.
Old type lead batteries are followed up by the nxt generation like the Oddyssy and gel batteries who greatly outperform the "old types".
Next in line and just on the market are the LiIon batteries for cars and motorcycles. They even have better specs and lifetimes but are still insanely expensive.
When the market accept the new technology a little more prices of new technology will go down quickly.

The Oddysey in motorbikes has been proven to stay good in shape at least twice as long as a "normal" battery. It also "cranks" the starter an awful lot better.

You should be aware there is nothing really "new" (yet) in lead-acid battery technology.
As and when supercapacitors are built into batteries by the makers, or when the lead-carbon becomes available, all lead-acid technology is pretty old.
The reason why there is so much trouble with car batteries lately is down to the "parasitic drain" and low usage. Putting it simply, the starter battery is not being treated appropriately for the animal that it is. Lead-acid starter batteries are specially made to supply huge starter currents of hundreds of amps. They won't take kindly to having a constant small drain on them due to the sulphation problem. There are other designs of lead-acid called "deep-discharge" or "leisure" batteries where it is safe to take the charge down to 50%. Used in grandad buggies, golf trollies etc.

The best type currently available due to its small self discharge is the silver calcium-calcium type. This type is best kept at a float-charge of 14volt. The charging system on your GV may not be arranged for this.

Leedsman.

Addendum: This is a re-print from "Wikepedia" re. common lead-acid batteries. It doesn't refer precisely to silver-calcium-calcium type.

"
These are general voltage ranges per cell:

• Open-circuit (quiescent) at full charge: 2.10 V
• Open-circuit at full discharge: 1.95 V
• Loaded at full discharge: 1.75 V
• Continuous-preservation (float) charging: 2.23 V for gelled electrolyte; 2.25 V for AGM (absorbed glass mat) and 2.32 V for flooded cells

1. All voltages are at 20 °C (68 °F), and must (for a 6 cell battery) be adjusted by −0.0235 V/°C for temperature changes.[dubious – discuss]
2. Float voltage recommendations vary among manufacturers.
3. Precise float voltage (±0.05 V) is critical to longevity; insufficient voltage (causes sulfation) is almost as detrimental as excessive voltage (causing corrosion and electrolyte loss)

• Typical (daily) charging: 2.37–2.4 V (depending on temperature and manufacturer's recommendation)
• Equalization charging (for flooded lead acids): 2.5 V for no more than 2 hours.[citation needed] Battery temperature must be absolutely monitored.
• Gassing threshold: 2.4 V

Particular attention should be paid to item (3) above concerning precise float-charge voltages. These are slightly less with plain lead-acids than calcium and silver alloyed plates. This shows the importance of maintaing this very precise voltage. It is "critical to longevity".



Note the "gassing threshold" equates to 14.4volt, the 'old' charging voltage for vehicles. In any case, sealed and jelly batteries are organized to consume their own production of hydrogen and oxygen back to water -- hence no topping up needed.

Exide 96 sounds good from QinteQ's funny quirk...
Most of the motorfactors sell odd name batteries. Costco sells Bosch batteries but I'm no longer a member... Or is it worth re-membering.
I'll need to enquire on what I can get...Name alone...
I'll go with size, same as battery installed.
May take a few weeks to get best.

96 is a 'group size' not a brand, .. .. as in Yuasa / Bosch / Varta / Tanya all do a type 96 battery. My quote on Halfords [and others] was to warn that they all have a database where you type in your registration number and they tell you the type / physical size/ terminal / etc for your specific car. Its a load of round rolling things, miles away from optimum, they are useless at finding a big capability battery that will fit - which is why everyone ends up with a wimp of an underpowered tiny thing that fits under the bonnet but will never work in a Grand Voyager.

Yes was looking at Halfords batteries just for idea and 96 is Voyager number. Need to look more into bigger size issue. Yuasa silver seems to be the strongest but at a price. Costco was a handy shop as you could measure the batteries on the shelf but I noticed there not on their list now.

Coscto still do bosch batteries, or at least they had them last week.

AGM batteries can provide a large cranking current in a small footprint but with the downside of a small Ah capacity.

Traditional batteries give a reasonable cranking and reserve capacity but have a large footprint.

The Odessy red top batteries (as others do) provide enough oomph for cranking a big diesel, but you won't be able to crank for as long as traditional battery

Given the limited space in the engine bay my first choice would be something like 4868999AC Optima Red Top Battery - Car Batteries - Optima Car Batteries (which is what I do use) 2nd choice would be two traditional batteries, one in the engine bay and one in the boot and a bloody thick bit of cable joining them (40 -60 mm2)

Regards
Richard