A car battery is a seasonal product, although it is used all year round. When birds sing outside, and warm oil splashes inside the engine, turning the crankshaft is easy - even a half-dead battery can handle it. But in the cold, the starter is not easy, and he strives to turn into a purely active resistance, consuming a very large current. As a result, the battery strives to fail, and the owner will have to go to the store.
How to choose a battery
If you do not want to contact the service or the help of the seller, then the selection algorithm should be as follows.
You need to take a battery that is guaranteed to fit in the niche allotted to it, whether it be the engine compartment, trunk or something else. Agree: it’s stupid to miss a couple of centimeters! At the same time, we determine the polarity: we look at the old battery and figure out what is on the right and what is on the left? It goes without saying that if the car is not European, then the terminals themselves may differ from most of the usual ones - both in shape and in location.
After that, choose a brand. Here we definitely advise you to be guided by the list of our winners of recent years and never "peck" on newcomers or outsiders. Even if their labels are the prettiest. Here are some of the names that usually did not let us down: Tyumen (Tyumen batteries), Varta, Medalist, a-mega, Mutlu, Topla, Aktekh, Zver.
We carry out comparative tests of various car batteries every year. The most recent results, where we compared 10 batteries, can be seen. Those who wish can also familiarize themselves with the examinations of past years:,,, etc.
The brand of the battery, as a rule, determines its price. The approximate cost of European-made car batteries with dimensions of 242 × 175 × 190 mm in 2014 ranged from 3,000 to 4,800 rubles. for a conventional battery, and from 6300 to 7750 rubles. - for AGM. The declared current and capacity will turn out by themselves - based on the dimensions.
Important: if you had an AGM battery installed, then you should only change it to AGM, and not to “ordinary”. Reverse replacement is quite acceptable, but not economically feasible.Now we charge the battery - even just bought! Our experience shows that in stores, under the guise of a brand new battery, you are happily sold “almost new”, from which they have only managed to wipe the dust. We charge, connect instead of the old battery, and - the key to start!
For those who are interested in technical details
Is it useful in cold weather to “warm up” the battery by turning on the headlights before starting the engine?
Why do you need an eye indicator?
This indicator allows you to roughly estimate the density and level of the electrolyte to find out if the car battery needs to be recharged. By and large, this is a toy, since the peephole is only in one jar out of six. However, many serious manufacturers at one time were forced to introduce it into the design, since the absence of a peephole was perceived by consumers as a disadvantage.
Is it possible to assess the condition of a car battery by the voltage at the terminals?
Approximately possible. At room temperature, a fully charged battery, disconnected from loads, should provide at least 12.6-12.7 V.
What is hidden behind the term "calcium battery"?
Nothing special: it's just a publicity stunt. Yes, “Ca” (or even “Ca - Ca”) badges on car batteries are more and more common today, but they don’t get any easier. But calcium is a metal much less heavy than lead. The thing is that we are talking about very small (fractions or units of a percent) additions of calcium to the alloy from which the battery plates are made. If it is added to both positive and negative electrodes, then the same "Ca - Ca" is obtained. Such car batteries, ceteris paribus, are more difficult to boil, which is important for maintenance-free batteries. Such batteries have less self-discharge during storage. Therefore, “ordinary” batteries with additives of antimony traditional before (they are usually given out by the presence of traffic jams) are almost never found on sale today! Note that not everything about them is so bad: for example, they tolerate deep discharges much better!
Why do car batteries give out the declared current for so short a time during testing?
Indeed, if the capacity is 60 Ah, then arithmetic suggests: a current of 600 A should be generated for approximately 0.1 hours or 6 minutes! And the real account goes only for tens of seconds ... The thing is that the battery capacity depends on the current! And at the specified current, the battery capacity is no longer 60 Ah, but much less: about 20-25! The inscription 60 Ah only says that for 20 hours at a temperature of 25ºС you can discharge your battery with a current equal to 60/20 \u003d 3A - and nothing more. At the same time, at the end of the discharge, the voltage at the battery terminals should not fall below 10.5 V.
Why choose a battery with a declared current of, say, 600 A, if the real need is half that?
The declared current is also an indirect indicator of the quality of a car battery: the higher it is, the lower its internal resistance! In addition, if we take an extreme case, when, God forbid, the oil has thickened so much that the starter barely moves the crankshaft at all, then here the maximum possible current may be needed.
Is it true that when a car battery with a larger capacity than a regular one is installed on a car, it will not be charged, and the starter may fail?
No it is not true. What will prevent the battery from being fully charged? It is appropriate to draw an analogy: if you scooped up a glass of water from a bucket or from a huge barrel, then to restore the initial level of liquid, you will need to add the same glass from the tap - both into the bucket and into the barrel. As for the expected breakdown of the starter, its current consumption will not change, even if the battery capacity increases by a hundred or a thousand times. Ohm's law does not depend on ampere hours.
Talk about future breakdowns is only appropriate for extreme people who are used to getting out of the swamp on the starter. At the same time, the latter, of course, gets very hot, and therefore a small battery, which is discharged faster than a large one, can save it from fatal overheating, dying first ... But this is a hypothetical case.
We immediately note one curious nuance. In Soviet times, it was strictly forbidden to install a car battery with a larger capacity on a number of army trucks! But the reason was precisely that when the engine did not want to start, drivers often turned the starters until the battery was completely discharged. At the same time, the starters overheated and often failed. And the higher the battery capacity, the longer it was possible to scoff at the poor electric motor. It was to protect starters from such mockery that there was once a requirement not to exceed the battery capacity above the “standard” one. But now it is irrelevant.
Question per million: what is measured in ampere-hours?
Anyway, not the battery capacity! This is a common misconception even among professionals. Which, however, are lost when they are asked how the product of current and time gives capacity? Because the correct answer is: ampere-hour is a unit of measurement charge! 1 Ah = 3600 C. And the capacitance is measured in farads: 1F \u003d 1C / 1 V. Those who do not believe in this can refer to any reference book - for example, Bosch's.
As for batteries, the confusing terminology is still alive. And what is actually a charge is called capacity in the old fashioned way. Some textbooks get out - they say, "capacity evaluate in ampere-hours. Do not measure, but evaluate! Well, well, anyway...
By the way, in Soviet times it was incomparably easier to choose a battery - only by ampere-hours. Say, on the Volga it was necessary to look for a car battery for 60 Ah, on the Zhiguli -55 Ah. The polarity and terminals on domestic cars were the same. Today, it’s not worth focusing only on ampere-hours, since products from different manufacturers with the same capacity can differ quite a lot in other parameters. For example, 60 Ah batteries can have an 11% variation in height, 28% in declared current, etc. Prices also live their lives.
And the last. If instead of "Ah" you see the inscription "Ah" (on the label, in the article, in the advertisement - it doesn't matter) - do not mess with this product. Behind it are uneducated and indifferent people who do not have an elementary idea about electricity.
What is an AGM battery?
The main area of application for AGM is cars with Start-Stop modes. This battery even says: Start Stop!
The main area of application for AGM is cars with Start-Stop modes. This battery even says: Start Stop!
Formally speaking, an AGM car battery is the same lead-acid product that many generations of motorists are accustomed to, but at the same time it is much more perfect than its ancestors and will completely force them out of the market in the near future.
AGM (Absorbent Glass Mat) is a technology for manufacturing batteries with absorbed electrolyte, which is impregnated with micropores of the separator. Developers use the free volume of these micropores for closed recombination of gases, thereby preventing water from evaporating. Hydrogen and oxygen leaving the negative and positive plates, respectively, enter the bound medium and recombine, remaining inside the battery. The internal resistance of such a battery is lower than that of the "liquid" predecessors, since the conductivity of the glass fiber separator is better compared to traditional "envelopes" made of polyethylene. Therefore, it is capable of delivering higher currents. A tightly compressed plate package prevents the active mass from crumbling, which allows it to withstand deep cyclic discharges. Such a car battery can even work upside down. And if you break it to smithereens, then even in this case there will be no poisonous puddle: the bound electrolyte must remain in the separators.
Today's areas of application of AGM are cars with the "Start-stop" mode, cars with increased energy consumption (Ministry of Emergency Situations, "ambulance"), etc. But tomorrow, a "simple" car battery will slowly go down in history ...
Are AGM and regular batteries interchangeable?
The AGM car battery replaces the "normal" one by 100%. Whether such a replacement is needed if the car has enough serviceable standard battery is another question. But the reverse replacement, of course, is inferior - it can be applied in practice only in a hopeless situation and as a temporary option.
Is it true that a 50 Ah AGM car battery can be used instead of the usual 90 Ah?
This is, excuse me, nonsense. How can you almost halve the charge and say that there will be no difference? Lost amp-hours are not compensated by any technology, not even AGM.
Is it true that the high current of an AGM battery can kill a car's starter?
Of course not. The current is determined by the resistance of the load, and in this case, the starter. And even if a car battery can deliver a current of a million amperes, the starter will take exactly as much as from a conventional battery. He can't break Ohm's law.
On which cars is it undesirable to use AGM?
There is no such limitation. Even if we consider ancient cars with a completely faulty relay-regulator and unstable mains voltage, then in this case the AGM car battery will die not earlier than usual, but even later. The voltage limit above which trouble is possible is approximately 14.5 V for conventional batteries and 14.8 V for AGM.
Which car battery is more afraid of deep discharge - AGM or regular?
Ordinary. After 5-6 deep discharges, they can finally “take offense”, while for AGM this number is practically unlimited.
Can an AGM car battery be considered completely maintenance-free?
This is a matter of established terminology that works more in favor of PR than science. Strictly speaking, this term is incorrect - both for AGM batteries and for any other car batteries. Only an AA battery can be called completely maintenance-free, and any lead car battery, generally speaking, is not. Even the technology leader - the AGM battery - is sealed, let's say, by 99%, but not by 100%. And such a battery still needs to be serviced - check the charge, recharge if necessary, etc.
How are gel batteries different from AGM?
At least the fact that gel car batteries ... do not exist! The question is generated by the established incorrect terminology: gel batteries are used, for example, in electric forklifts or floor scrubbers. The electrolyte in them, unlike conventional car batteries with liquid acid, is in a thickened state. In batteries with AGM technology, the electrolyte is bound (impregnated) in a special fiberglass separator.
Note that the most popular Optima battery is also AGM, and not gel at all.
What is battery reserve capacity?
This parameter shows how long a car with a broken generator will last on a cold rainy night. The expert will say otherwise: in how many minutes the voltage at the terminals of a battery that delivers a current of 25 A to the load will drop to 10.5 V. Measurements are carried out at a temperature of 25 ° C. The higher the score, the better.
We hope that our tips will help you choose the right battery and refresh your memory of the curious "battery" information.
Good luck on the roads!
Why even know the date of manufacture of the battery? These are not pies!
The fact is that any battery has a natural self-discharge.
Lead-acid batteries have a memory property.
Simply put, the longer the battery is in a discharged (or not 100% charged) state, the more difficult it is to restore its resource to 100%.
That is why it is beneficial for the buyer to purchase the freshest possible battery.
3 battery classes
On the modern market, 3 battery manufacturing technologies are used: calcium, hybrid and low antimony.
calcium batteries (Ca/Ca) have the lowest self-discharge. This means that calcium batteries can go longer without recharging without any irreversible consequences. Another advantage is low maintenance requirements. Water from calcium batteries almost never boils away, so distilled water must be topped up no more than once a year. The disadvantage of calcium batteries is their low resistance to deep discharges.
low antimony technology (Sb / Sb) for the manufacture of batteries can be considered obsolete. For modern batteries of the light group, this technology is practically not used. The advantage of low antimony batteries is their high resistance to deep discharges. But at the same time, low-antimony batteries require constant care, since their inherent features are intensive water boiling and a high level of self-discharge. These batteries require regular recharging and topping up with distilled water.
hybrid technology (Ca/Sb) is a combination of calcium and low antimony technology. The negative plates of the battery are made using calcium technology, and the positive plates are made using classical low antimony technology. Accordingly, such batteries have an average level of self-discharge, an average maintenance requirement and an average resistance to deep discharges.
Calcium batteries can be stored without recharging 1 - 2 years.
Hybrid batteries can be stored without recharging 3 - 6 months.
Batteries with low antimony require recharging after 1 - 2 months after production.
On our website, information about the manufacturing technology of each battery is indicated in the detailed information in the "Plates" line.
Why can a battery released six months ago be considered fresh?
For example, you are looking for a Varta battery (calcium technology) and in every store you go, this battery is sold with a release date of a year ago. It is quite understandable that if in one single store in the city you manage to find Warta with a release date of 6 months ago, this will be a relatively fresh date.
Why do some brands of batteries in all stores sell, on average, with a release date of a year ago?
Because some batteries simply cannot be sold 1-2 months after they were released. This applies to those batteries that are brought from abroad. And precisely for the reason that it can take up to six months to transport these batteries only to an authorized dealer.
This applies to batteries Varta, Energizer and other foreign brands. Even if these are popular and well-selling brands, sellers do not have the physical ability to sell them at an earlier age.
The situation is completely different with Bravo, Akom and Reactor batteries. The plant is nearby, so 90% of Zhiguli batteries are sold at the age of 1 - 3 months.
From this we can conclude that if the Varta battery, for example, was released 1 year ago, this can be considered a "normal" date of manufacture and there are few places where you can find such a battery even a little fresher. If you see an Akom battery released 1 year ago, then it makes sense to look for other stores where exactly the same battery may have a more recent manufacturing date.
Battery storage conditions in the store
Every battery has a natural self-discharge. And the longer the battery is in a discharged state, the less likely it is to restore its resource by 100%. But what if the battery is regularly recharged?
For example, there is a Beast battery in the store, which can be safely stored for 4 months for its resource. It takes 4 months - the battery is not sold. Then the seller puts the battery on charge and restores its resource to 100%. A new and 100% charged battery has exactly the same characteristics as a freshly manufactured battery.
But in practice, very few people do it. Neither employees of warehouses of official dealers, nor sellers in retail stores.
The easiest and most reliable way to check battery charge
It turns out that in order to determine the state of charge of a battery, it is necessary to add together several factors at once: battery manufacturing technology, battery brand, and the likelihood that the battery was charged or not charged before sale.
In fact, everything is easier. The main indicator that you should rely on when buying a battery is the indicator of checking the battery with a load plug.
How much charge the battery gives out without load and under load - it will show you exactly whether the battery is 100% charged.
Why do we claim to sell the latest batteries?
All battery stores in the city purchase goods from the same official dealers.
How fresh batteries are in a particular store depends on how long the store has been selling the battery since it received it from an authorized dealer.
The specifics of our work is such that we pick up the battery from the warehouse of the official dealer already after after we received an order.
This means that we are selling as fresh as possible batteries as far as possible.
Purchasing a used battery is a rather tempting idea, but at the same time very risky. Unfortunately, many car owners who are currently experiencing an acute shortage of finances often resort to it - at a time when the car requires an urgent battery replacement. It is logical that the most common solution in this case is the intention to buy a used battery, with its subsequent replacement with a new one. However, is it worth it to succumb to the temptation to buy even a working, but already supported device?
Buying a used battery: pros and cons
The range of risks in the case of purchasing a used battery is extremely large, despite the fact that in this case, too, there are specific advantages. In addition to significant savings, a person who purchases a used battery actually receives at his disposal a device whose suitability has been verified by the previous owner. If this battery does not interfere with periodic recharging, it can always be used as a "reserve".
But, unfortunately, there are still disproportionately more disadvantages in buying a used battery. Firstly, in the secondary market of automotive components and spare parts, cases of sale of worn-out batteries that are practically unsuitable for work are increasingly being identified. In this case, potential victims of unscrupulous sellers are usually novice car owners who only superficially understand the technical structure of vehicles and their equipment.
In addition to the risk of acquiring a battery that is about to fail, in the described case there is a high risk of buying a counterfeit device, which is completely unsafe to use. Most often, the poor quality of the device can also be indicated by the corresponding behavior of the seller, who is in a hurry to quickly sell off the goods he does not need.
In any case, experienced motorists do not recommend rushing to buy used batteries - sometimes it is better to wait a little with this decision, having saved up money for a new device. It is worth remembering that the circumstances presented are not always a critical reason for a hasty purchase, as a result of which the car owner can simply spend not only personal time, but also a lot of money.
If you are going to buy a battery for the first time, then you cannot but be interested in the question: how much do you need to know in order to choose the best battery for your car alone in a huge mass of offers? The answer will amaze you: only one parameter - the required battery capacity. Don't believe? Read the article.
Isn't it time to think about the problem of the battery? After all, this contraption also has a very limited service life, it has to be changed periodically, which means that you again face the question of choice before buying and, due to the high cost, methods of gentle operation.
If you bought a car in a showroom, then from 3 to 5 (how lucky) years you can not think about replacing the battery. And if from hands, then there is no such abnormal who, before selling the car, will put a new battery on it. If life forced him to do this, then he will most likely give it away for a couple of bubbles before selling the car (they will persuade him, he himself was processed more than once), and in return he will receive a worker, but 3 years ago. In the same way, a spare tire is also offered for exchange, if the rubber on it is not completely bald. They are offended in all seriousness if you refuse such a worthless deal in their opinion. I am always ashamed in front of a future buyer, and I don’t go for such exchanges. But when buying, entering into an auction, I always look at the battery and spare tire, demanding to deduct their cost if I find a substitution. Otherwise, in the middle of the operating season, you may feel the need to replace the battery. So why is a 3-year-old battery bad?
First, let's look at how much battery life is considered normal. You will not find such 100% reliable data anywhere. I mean official standards. 14 years ago, a standard was in force, according to which the company had the right to write off the battery after three years from the date of its manufacture. Today I did not find such, and did not try too hard. Among motorists, it is generally accepted that the battery simply has to work out for 3 years. About the experience of 4 years they say: good. If your battery has worked for 5 years, then we can assume that you are very lucky with the purchase, the choice was successful. There are legends about batteries with a service life of 6 years. I heard legends, I never met such batteries alive. Buying a battery is a simple matter and you will understand it ..
In the meantime, does everyone know the role that the battery plays in the life of a car? It is surprisingly elementary. Automotive electrical equipment has 2 power sources. When the engine is off, the battery is used as the power source. With its help, they also start the car engine. After starting the engine, the on-board network begins to be powered by the generator, and the battery goes into charging mode and replenishes the energy that was spent on starting the car. This is a very important relationship: the battery is the generator, and you must always remember about it ..
First, when buying the battery itself. When choosing a battery model, I personally get by with the recommendation of the seller. But you can trust the seller of a specialized store where they sell only batteries, and, well, related products. There must be a seller's warranty. I use points where they give a guarantee for 1 year. In such a store, the seller is interested in selling quality goods. To your question about the choice of model, he will carefully answer that there have been no complaints about such and such for a couple of (let's say) years, but such and such have been returned twice this year. Don't think it's not giving away trade secrets or exclusive information for you. This information does not require any additional payment on your part, because it is a completely normal trading policy on the part of the owner. The number of such points in Voronezh is growing, I think that the situation is the same in other cities..
But for any step to the left - to the right, not to mention a step forward, our service will definitely rip you off. Therefore, batteries with a 3-month warranty are cheaper than 6-month warranties and more expensive than batteries sold off roadside racks that are not warranted at all. I wrote, and remembered that I was wrong about the lack of a warranty period. One of my acquaintances boasted that he had bought “such and such” from a tray, a Tomsk-made battery (this is good) with a capacity of 75 ampere hours (this is bad for his car, but the seller convinced the owner of the usefulness of such a purchase). At the same time, he gave a piece of paper with a signature, a round seal and a handwritten text providing a warranty period of 2 years. The price at the same time was 400 rubles cheaper than at a stationary point for the sale of batteries 2 stops from his house. To my question: at what corner to look for them, if in six months something happens to the battery, the comrade fell into deep thought. Then he kind of woke up and said: “but look how powerful. The seller said that you can start a tractor like that. ” I don’t know about tractors, I’m not an expert, but flatbed UAZs and low-power trucks, for sure, start up. I did not finish off my comrade, I said nothing. And what is bad about this battery, I'll tell you a little lower ..
And batteries differ from each other, as a rule, ONLY THESE TWO CHARACTERISTICS: capacity and QUALITY OF SELLERS who give honest or not information. Those who sell "now here - tomorrow there", as you understand, cannot be trusted in anything. In all other respects, the batteries are similar to each other, like twin brothers. The difference in labels does not particularly affect the choice. Today, one is a little better, tomorrow - perhaps others. This is the first information you need to have when buying a battery.
As you can see, I have simplified the task for you, but I myself must constantly remember that you are readers from 42 countries of the world, that only 62% are residents of the Russian Federation today. I did not expect such popularity of my articles and now I just have to reckon with it and comply with it. Therefore, I simply do not have the right to bypass the following situation. Accumulator twins are twins, but there are twins among Japanese and Africans. Therefore, here it must be taken into account that, according to North American standards, the wire terminals are not thrown from above onto the battery pins, as in the whole world, but are TURNED BY THE SIDE THREAD. If you are going to operate an American-assembled car outside the United States, then this feature must be taken into account. Japanese women flooded the market east of the Urals, and in my textbook I already told you that these cars, as a rule, are not adapted to the European market. So, purely Japanese and South Korean assemblies clog the engine compartment so tightly that they needed a slightly narrower battery than a battery of the same capacity in all other (including the USA) countries. Consider this factor when buying a car. Otherwise, you will be unpleasantly surprised when, having bought a chic (but made in Europe) battery, you will not be able to stick it into the landing space ..
Secondly, it was not in vain that I focused your attention on the close cooperation of the battery with the generator. If the manual for your car says that it runs on a 6ST-55 battery, then this in no way means that the authors of the manual are not familiar with the 6ST-60 battery. In this case, this means that your car must be equipped with a battery consisting of 6 starter batteries with a total capacity of 55 Ah. And drive away the adviser who assures that the 6ST-60 will turn better, which means it will make it easier to start in the winter. I know quite a few people who put batteries with a larger capacity than prescribed by the designers, while stating that they have seen the advantage from their own experience ..
Now I will smash their own experience to smithereens. A battery with a larger capacity is more powerful and is able to rotate the starter at a higher speed. It will also rotate it for a longer time. Those who carefully read my previous, but not congratulatory topic, have the right to say: “yep, this is exactly what you need. The author writes that the most reliable way is to cling to some car and start in tow. And here one battery does it all. That's it, I put it, but not 6ST-60, but 6ST-75. The guys said that it’s just a tight fit in size. ” And they're right, damn it. Everything is just like that!.
But did I suggest that you mock the engine by turning on its full load? No! You must get behind the wheel of the towed car and first let the towing vehicle simply drag you 20-30 meters so that the gears of the gearbox mix the oil and warm it up. Then drive in top gear with the ignition off to stir up the oil in the crankcase. This prepares the engine for starting. When we were young, cars were equipped with a “crooked starter” (handle for starting the engine), and it was necessary to first turn the crankshaft of a cold engine several times with a handle before turning on the starter. And now turn on 3 or 2 gears and try to start. That is, all this happens in a gentle mode, and the battery immediately gives the maximum starter force to the engine and a gradual decrease in this force as the battery lands. That is, everything is turned upside down.
We figured out the damage to the engine. And here is the harm that we cause to the battery itself and force ourselves to change an expensive thing ahead of time. I already asked you to remember that the battery works in tandem with the generator. So, the larger the battery capacity, the more powerful the generator must be in order to charge the battery to the required level. If your generator is paired with 6ST-45 (ZAZ-966, ZAZ-968), then by putting 6ST-60 (Volga class cars) there, you do not ensure full battery charging. By the end of the season, you will be surprised to find that the battery you bought in the spring has completely sat down. This is a hidden harm, and not everyone is aware of it. Be armed yourself, and tell others, showing the level of your training.
And finally, let's return to the beginning of the article, from which we can squeeze out useful advice. If you perfectly understand what the battery and generator are used for in the car, then you have nothing to be afraid of their malfunctions on the road. Alternator failure, and still 10 kilometers to the garage? It does not matter, feel free to wind up and go. A fresh and fully charged battery can carry your car for about 50 km. And, mind you, without much damage to yourself. But you must keep an eye on the instruments and find out in time that the battery is running on discharge, otherwise it may turn out that you have already missed 50 km before you see a malfunction.
What if the battery fails? The main task is to start. If the bulbs are lit from the battery, then the car will start with a push. Well, go ahead. The main thing here is not to turn off the engine until the very entrance to the garage, otherwise you will again have to ask someone to push. If the bulbs do not burn, the situation is worse, but not fatal. Ask someone to give you a "light". To do this, you need to find 2 pieces of wire in your trunk, sec. 16-35 sq.mm..
Now I am convinced that you can easily go shopping for a battery on your own, and you will be sure that you absolutely do not need any help (even to the car if you ask) from outside.
