BATTERY... Whats the largest battery anyone has fitted to a Mk2

[J306TD]

No the Varta also has 5 years on it

Sent from my Galaxy S5

[gav_is_con]

Just fitted a type 100 calcium tech 4 year warranty battery from Advanced Batteries. £43 delivered from Ebay. Old battery on the 2005 Octy very small in comparison and likely it was original based on me buying at 4 years old. Not difficult to fit at all. Took off one side off the battery case/cover and made sure wires were positioned back the same way when refitting. The reason for the type 100 over 096 the price of the 096 jumped up £7 since a purchase I made in spring for the other car. They are otherwise identical in spec and size.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Tilt]

His expression made me "LOL" when he spots the camera;

 

The guy probably thought he was on Watchdog, Lol.

Maybe that is why he didn't tell you your battery was plucked. (if it was).

Just in case you were tricking them.

 

Old post, I know.........

[Phil-E]

The guy probably thought he was on Watchdog, Lol.

Maybe that is why he didn't tell you your battery was plucked. (if it was).

Just in case you were tricking them.

 

Old post, I know.........

 

Haha. Yeah I also had the same thought! I did wonder if they thought I was a secret shopper or something. But he did have a printout from the machine from the right date/time saying the battery was ok... unless he sneakily hooked it up to another battery! lol

[skiddusmarkus]

Thread necromancy, but it's possible to fit an f18 varta battery that's 315mm long. Only basic DIY on the tray required. 

[xman]

Warning....lengthy post

 

Car batteries.....Bigger is not always better.

 

If you're doing mainly short journeys, lots of stop starts, infrequent, in the habit of leaving things on when stopped, radios, lights, chargers then large batteries find themselves in a semi permanent partial or low state of charge the same as the smaller standard battery. This is what kills lead acid batteries early. So four or five times a year, more if you're a low or infrequent or stop/start often miler, stick on a quality charger like a CTek for at least 12-24 hours and top off the battery properly to restore and keep at full health before its too late and irreversibly sulphated.

 

Bigger is always heavier and costs you more to drive around.

 

Lead acid battery chemistry is a slow charging chemistry. When you discharge it it takes hours to completely recharge, it cannot be rushed.

 

EFB batteries (as used in lower end stop/start) are more tolerant of deep and prolonged discharge and can accept charge much quicker than older standard batteries. Should be compatible too. Maybe an option to consider.

 

AGM batteries can only be used in vehicles that are designed/programmed to take them as they operate at slightly different voltages. Using them in a older conventional car will never fully recharge them and they will not give you the benefit of a longer life.

 

[skiddusmarkus]

If you have 2 batteries, one has 800ah and one has 400ah, they should both take the same amount of charging to top them off in ordinary use, as the car isn't going to draw any more than it needs. 

 

If you totally discharge both batteries, then the higher capacity one will take longer to charge, but to get to that state, would have carried on working beyond where the lower capacity one would have given up anyway. 

 

In my experience, bigger batteries have also cranked the engine more reliably. So to me, bigger is better. Or am I missing something?

[xman]

1 hour ago, skiddusmarkus said:

Or am I missing something?

 

Yes, what I was trying to explain, obviously without success, is why lots of people suffer from premature battery failure, sometimes within warranty. It has little to do with size but use. Although a larger capacity battery will initially take longer to deteriorate, it does not guarantee significantly longer life.

 

People who drive long distances every day tend to get over 10 years out of the standard small battery, just as long as a super size battery can last, but which don't as a rule last 15 or 20 years.

 

With an 800Ah  battery you should be fine a couple of years at least , surprised your local motor factors had such a size in stock. 

 

[skiddusmarkus]

I don't expect it to last any longer, just start the car more reliably; especially in cold weather. 

 

I generally do short journeys and my car is sometimes not started for a few days,. I do use a ctek charger but returned from a weekend away to a flat battery, so fitted one i'd bought for a previous car which used to do the same(until I fitted this bigger battery).

[ryan-re]

AH is not really very useful in car batteries as its the number of amps the battery can give out in 1hour (also shown in other time periods aswell). CCA is cold cranking amps, thats what is important for starting the car. especially for diesels.

 

The Octavia VRS does have a small battery really as standard (only a 60ah and 600cca iirc). Upgrading this will help with starting but unless you have extra drain on the battery upgrading it is a waste of time.

 

They have AGM batteries as standard, not Lead Acid (i know its a form of lead acid but they still considered 2 different types). Which is far superior anyway.

 

Batteries are only really given a 5 year life expectancy now, unless you spend a fortune on a high end battery.

[skiddusmarkus]

Yep, I put the wrong unit up before. It's 85ah and 800cca. 

[andreasw]

How can you find batteries so cheap!? Varta e44 77Ah costs £140!! Why is everything so expensive in Sweden 

[xman]

2 hours ago, andreasw said:

Why is everything so expensive in Sweden 

 

I blame ABBA.

[skiddusmarkus]

Whats the average wage in Sweden though? It's all relative. 

 

I think the battery I fitted was around £90-95 when I bought it a year ago. 

 

Car is starting very quickly now with it. Think I've found the drain that caused my flat battery; my dash cam is staying on. It's plugged into the front cigarette lighter. I'm sure this used to power down relatively, but for some reason, isn't. 

[DJSmiley]

I had to replace my battery this summer.

The old one (Yuasa) had failed after 6 years.

 

Unfortunately it wasn't starting to give issues, but stopped without warning: Suddenly it didn't have enough power to start. 

1/10 times it DID start however, so I was able to drive to a hardware store. This happened on my holiday trip in Poland.

 

I do have road assistance, but that takes a long time and on a saturday at 06.00.... So I ended up googling for a hardware store with batteries in stock, and found one. Not much options regarding brand, so I bought the only one available (which still had an acceptable capacity). I paid about 70 eur for a ' Start-R'  battery 72Ah  (Seems to be some brand of Obi - a DIY store chain).

On the parking lot I have swapped batteries (well, first removed the old one, bought a new one and than installed that one - Appearently you have to return the old one in Poland in order to even be able to buy a new one). 

Car is running fine so far, will see how long this cheap battery lasts. 

If it fails, I'll likely get a new Varta or Bosch in my own country.

 

Edited 1 November, 2018 by DJSmiley