Happy New year to all and I hope that everyone is doing well............

Don't usually post up maintainence questions but I have a query that I am sure someone on here will know about.

I have not been using the Superb over the last month or so and foulishly left something on inside the car drawing power, so no surprise the battery went flat, bought a charger to try and save it but as it was the original it wouldn't hold the charge.

So I popped down to Halfords and bought the Calcium 4 Year replacement and then set about removing the old one, not the easiest of tasks but still got it done no problem, also found a nice clean chamber under the battery with no signs of water filling problems.

When I replaced the battery all is OK however it's about 40-50mm shorter in width that the original and as such is not not retained. It looks like there is a seperate bracket required as there is a threaded hole for it but I don't have the bracket, is this something I need to source from the dealer?

I would have thought the retaining bracket would just move along to the new position

if the battery was shorter?

I would have thought the retaining bracket would just move along to the new position

if the battery was shorter?

So did I mate but the original bracket that can be unscrewed certainly would only go back in one position and it seemed like I needed another bracket?

You probably got the wrong battery - some Superbs came with 067TE (275mm long) and some with 110TE (313mm long). Mine was 110TE, I replaced with Exide EA852 which has double cold starting current and 10Ah more capacity than the stock battery.

If you want to keep the smaller battery, you need a new bracket

8D2 803 123 A for small batteries (270mm)

8D2 803 123 B for larger batteries (310mm)

I would recommend swapping the battery for bigger one, Superb has lots of electric gizmos and quite high standby current (when the car is locked)

Is it ok to fit a battery with a higher rating or do you need to uprate the alternator too?

I think mine might be on it's way out...

You probably got the wrong battery - some Superbs came with 067TE (275mm long) and some with 110TE (313mm long). Mine was 110TE, I replaced with Exide EA852 which has double cold starting current and 10Ah more capacity than the stock battery.

If you want to keep the smaller battery, you need a new bracket

8D2 803 123 A for small batteries (270mm)

8D2 803 123 B for larger batteries (310mm)

I would recommend swapping the battery for bigger one, Superb has lots of electric gizmos and quite high standby current (when the car is locked)

You probably got the wrong battery - some Superbs came with 067TE (275mm long) and some with 110TE (313mm long). Mine was 110TE, I replaced with Exide EA852 which has double cold starting current and 10Ah more capacity than the stock battery.

If you want to keep the smaller battery, you need a new bracket

8D2 803 123 A for small batteries (270mm)

8D2 803 123 B for larger batteries (310mm)

I would recommend swapping the battery for bigger one, Superb has lots of electric gizmos and quite high standby current (when the car is locked)

Thanks for the feed back and it was the battery specced for the engine so I assume it should be OK, we will see, will get the bracket and take it from there.............

Double check that the battery is the correct one, i bought a new battery for my 323i Coupe from Halfords which was the 'correct' spec according to the Halfords chart, 1 yr later and i had a dead cell so it got replaced under warranty, another year on on the replacement also died!

This time when i took it back i was actually seen by someone who knew his stuff and he said it was the wrong battery for the car! he replaced it with the correct spec for the car and i never had any more trouble with it.

So get an independent (non Halfords) to make sure the spec is right.

Double check that the battery is the correct one, i bought a new battery for my 323i Coupe from Halfords which was the 'correct' spec according to the Halfords chart, 1 yr later and i had a dead cell so it got replaced under warranty, another year on on the replacement also died!

This time when i took it back i was actually seen by someone who knew his stuff and he said it was the wrong battery for the car! he replaced it with the correct spec for the car and i never had any more trouble with it.

So get an independent (non Halfords) to make sure the spec is right.

Thanks for the post and I will look into it a little more when the weather improves.........

I fitted the Bosh SIlver version to my Octy II and got that at a good price on trade.

Personally, I'd ask what the capacity is for the standard battery you replaced and what is the rating for the new one.

While those calcium batteries are all well and good, I'd still prefer to have the correct one in the car.

Is it ok to fit a battery with a higher rating or do you need to uprate the alternator too?

I think mine might be on it's way out...

Yes, a higher capacity battery is OK without doing anything to alternator, as long as it is reasonably higher (eg 85Ah in place of 70Ah) and not many times higher, e.g. 110Ah in place of 30Ah

Basically, the peak charging current is typically around 1/5th - 1/10th of battery capacity.

For 70Ah battery it is 7A-14A depending on cold and battery discharge, while for 85Ah battery it is 8.5A - 17A depending on cold and battery discharge

By comparison, the alternator in your Superb is good for 90A - 150A depending on version, it really won't notice the extra 3A going into battery from time to time

Higher cold cranking current (CCA rating) is always better, no need to worry about this one above 400A.

Higher capacity means the battery will discharge less and last longer

Edited 7 January, 201016 yr by dieselV6

Many thanks for that. I'll refer back to it when I get a new battery in the next month or so...

Yes, a higher capacity battery is OK without doing anything to alternator, as long as it is reasonably higher (eg 85Ah in place of 70Ah) and not many times higher, e.g. 110Ah in place of 30Ah

Basically, the peak charging current is typically around 1/5th - 1/10th of battery capacity.

For 70Ah battery it is 7A-14A depending on cold and battery discharge, while for 85Ah battery it is 8.5A - 17A depending on cold and battery discharge

By comparison, the alternator in your Superb is good for 90A - 150A depending on version, it really won't notice the extra 3A going into battery from time to time

Higher cold cranking current (CCA rating) is always better, no need to worry about this one above 400A.

Higher capacity means the battery will discharge less and last longer