Automotive

What To Consider When Choosing A Battery For Your Car

car-batteryYou wake up one morning thinking that it is like any other morning. You get up, eat breakfast, shower, get ready for the day. You may even fit in time to work out, study, or do some last minute prep for your presentation that day. Everything is going smoothly.

That is, until you head out to your car.

Your great morning suddenly comes to an annoying halt when your car won’t start. The culprit? A dead car battery. After finding someone to try to help jump your car (and of course calling your boss and letting him know you’ll be late), you come to the frustrating realization that it won’t take a jump. Your battery is done. Time to find a new one.

You’ve never given thought to a new car battery before today. You’ve always just expected that they’re kind of a one size fits all kind of thing, right? You know, like remote controls take AAA batteries, AA is for pretty much everything else, and then cars take… car batteries?

Wouldn’t that be nice? If all car batteries were exactly the same? But that would only work if all cars were exactly the same, and if all living and driving conditions were exactly the same. But they aren’t, so there has to be a variety of car battery choices to fit the variety of cars and condition needs out there. Because of that, there are several different factors to consider when choosing a battery for your car.

5 Factors to Consider When Choosing a Battery for Your Car:

1. Battery Size

The first thing you will need to take into consideration when choosing a car battery is the size you will need. This will just depend on your car. The make and model of your car will determine the length, height, and width of the battery you will need. Your car’s manual should tell you what size battery it takes. If you no longer have your manual, you can do a simple search on the Internet, or ask an employee for help at an autoparts store in selecting the appropriate size for your vehicle.

2. Reserve Capacity

Next up you will need to find out the battery’s reserve capacity, or RC. The reserve capacity of your battery is essentially how long your battery will be able to supply power in the case of your alternator or fan belt fail. It is your battery’s “standing power.” It is how long your battery can supply power to your car for it to run until it completely loses power 100%. Again, you will want to refer to your car’s manual or recommendations to find the right RC for your vehicle.

3. CCA

You will also want to take into consideration the battery’s CCA, or “cold-cranking amps.” Simply put, a battery’s CCA is the measurement of the battery’s ability to supply power for 30 seconds at zero degrees F. Really what this means is whether the car will be able to provide power, or start your car, on very cold days. The higher the CCA, the better that battery’s ability to provide power in cold temperatures. So obviously this measurement will be more important for those living in colder temperatures… but for those people who do live in colder climates, this is an extremely vital number, because it will determine whether or not your battery will be able to operate your car during colder months.

4. Age of the Battery

Once you know the size, RC, and CCA that you need, you can start looking for batteries for your car. When doing this, you will definitely want to take a look at the age of the battery you are considering purchasing, or the battery date code. You will obviously want to find the newest battery possible for your vehicle, although anything under 6 months old is great.

5. Battery Brand

Lastly, you will want to take into consideration the brand of the battery that you will purchase. There are many different car battery brands out there, some better than others. There is a wide variety of prices, as well as quality levels, of battery brands. So make sure that you do your research and/or get a recommendation on high quality brands from your mechanic or auto parts store. On top of that, many car owners manuals will recommend a specific battery brand for your car, so that is another great place to reference.

This article was written by Nicole. She writes about cars and auto parts, including car batteries perth and more.

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