What to replace original car batteries with

Anna Tkach

AutoPortal editorial team

3,787 views 3 min read

Replacing and selecting a battery makes many people face certain difficulties

When a battery fails, many car owners are at a loss, not knowing which battery to buy in Kyiv to replace it. Recommendations from car manufacturers are often confusing due to the underestimated parameters specified for the battery. The reason is that engineers of well-known car brands do not deal with batteries sold in retail chains of any country and made from secondary lead (obtained from recycling old batteries).

Only products made from primary lead are supplied to factory assembly lines. That is why original batteries last a long time, despite the modest characteristics on the label. For example, a battery for a Ford installed at the factory has a capacity of 43 ampere-hours and a starting current of 390 amperes. Finding such a battery on sale is extremely difficult, and even if you do, it will not work in the car for long. It is enough to compare the weight of the factory and store batteries — the difference is 2 kg. Therefore, when replacing, we advise choosing a battery with higher indicators than the one that was on the assembly line.

The difference between batteries installed at car manufacturers' factories and retail batteries is explained by different regulations for measuring capacity and starting current. The capacity of a store battery is determined by the consumer regulation, while for batteries sent to the assembly line, the technical regulation is applied.

What is the essence of the differences? To put it simply, according to the consumer regulation, a 3-ampere lamp should burn for 20 hours, which gives a capacity of 60 ampere-hours. This does not take into account that when the battery discharges, the power consumed by the lamp also drops. Capacity according to the technical regulation is measured by special equipment that maintains a constant load regardless of the battery charge level.

It follows that the real capacity of a battery offered as a replacement for the original will be noticeably lower. Depending on the starting current, the difference can reach 20%. For example, the popular Varta Blue Dynamic D24 battery with a declared capacity of 60 ampere-hours according to the technical regulation delivers only 48 ampere-hours. This point is important to consider when replacing: the capacity of the new battery should be 10-20% higher than recommended by the car manufacturer. By the way, battery manufacturers have already included this difference in their catalogs, so their recommendations can be trusted.

The bottom line is simple: when choosing a battery, you should focus not on the parameters of the factory battery, but on the recommendations of battery manufacturers. This approach will protect you from problems when contacting an official service center under warranty — they may refuse if the battery capacity does not meet their requirements. Usually all restrictions are specified in the warranty card. Below is an example of technical requirements for Medalist batteries for cars with diesel engines.