Important Technical Terms Related to Car Batteries

Author: Lets Compare

When buying a new battery, there are many things that must be considered to get the most out of it. Many factors that must be taken into account while buying a car battery include price, frequency of car usage (too little or too much), weather conditions (extremely hot or cold), and maintenance (some need no care at all). There are certain important terms about the batteries that you might not be told about when you are at a battery store. Three of these terms are briefly discussed below.

Cold Cranking Amps (CCA)

As the name suggest, this value tells about the current a battery is able to provide to start an engine in freezing conditions. To be precise, it is the measurement of amperes a battery is capable of producing for 30 seconds at zero degree Fahrenheit (or, -17.778 °C) when the voltage across its terminal is above the 7.2V mark (for a 12V battery). Hence, this number becomes useful when your battery is sitting idle for quite a some time during the winter season. Obviously, batteries with higher cold cranking amps will be costlier than the average CCA ones; but, they'll have a lot more probability of cranking the engine on a chilly morning than the average or low CCA batteries.

Reserve Capacity (RC)

Many people face the problem of their vehicle's battery dying only after 15 minutes of driving. This happens when the battery is not charged appropriately after the engine starts running (faulty alternator could be the culprit in this scenario). Reverse capacity of a battery defines its ability to keep the vehicle moving even when it is not charging through the alternator. Technically, it is the minutes for which a battery is able to discharge at 25 A while maintaining 10.5V (for 12V battery) at a temperature of 80°F (approx. 26°C).

Ampere Hour (amp hour or Ah)

In simple terms, it tells how much current could be drawn from a battery consistently for a specific period of time. As such, it's an important number for the deep cycle batteries as higher amp hour rating means more uptime. It's a product of current (amps) and time (hour) and usually determined over a set period of time. For example, Amaron car batteries come with different Ah ratings such as 32 Ah, 35 Ah, 65 Ah, 80 Ah, etc. So, 80Ah battery will provide 4 amps for 20 hours. Obviously, the price of a Amaron car battery will increase with the increase in the Ah rating.Click here to buy Branded Car Batteries at Discounted Rates from letscompare.in