Battery group size and CCA?

[Zoltan]

The previous owner put a small battery (500CCA) in my truck and it's getting to go. I called Nissan and they said that I should get a group 27 battery with a 675 CCA. Can anybody confirm that this is right?

thanks

[asavage]

Not certain, but sounds correct to me.

Interstate offers a MegaTron Plus (their top of the line) that's an 85 month battery, their number MTP-27 that's 750 CCA. Interstate is my battery brand of choice. Not the cheapest. Cheap = Exide or Kirkland's Johnson Controls.

[Zoltan]

I am thinking of getting an Optima redtop battery with 800CCA (the 34/78 ). Sears sells it for $128. This higher CCA wouldn't damage the car would it?

[philip]

The previous owner put a small battery (500CCA) in my truck and it's getting to go. I called Nissan and they said that I should get a group 27 battery with a 675 CCA. Can anybody confirm that this is right?

thanks

I have a PepBoys group 27 battery with two cold cranking ratings stated on the label.

725 CCA @ 0 degrees F
900 CA @ 32 degrees F

This battery supplied MORE than sufficient juice the one time I had to start the engine (after two successive pre-glows) in 22 degree overnight temperature.

Make sure you get the post location correct. Negative at top left, Positive at top right for the Datsun / Nissan 720 pickups.

[asavage]

This higher CCA wouldn't damage the car would it?

No. Cold Cranking Amps is the amount of current available. Voltage is the "pressure", current is the "volume", though that's misleading too.

Your starter will last longer if you use a battery that is not too small, nor unable to provide enough current to maintain 200 RPM or above. Cranking a starter too slowly causes it to draw even more current, and generate more heat. One reason why pushing a worn-out battery to its limit -- ie not replacing it when it's clearly not able to start the engine as well as it should -- is penny wise, pound foolish. And you don't want to replace the starter.

In your climate, you can likely get away with nearly any reasonable battery. As the temperature drops, lead/acid batteries become less efficient at converting chemical energy to electrical energy, at the same time as conventional lube oils become significantly more viscous and therefore require more power to crank at the same speed. That's why batteries are rated in CA or CCA, to give a real-world measure for those of use who may have to use our battery to crank in cold weather, where lead/acid batteries are at their worst. That's also why there are things like battery heaters (I am not making this up).

Philip, the higher, 900 ampere, rating of your Pep Boys battery is CA, not CCA.

[kassim503]

If you have a membership to a wholesale store try to get the battery from there, I got a optima red top for something around 90 bucks

[philip]

If you have a membership to a wholesale store try to get the battery from there, I got a optima red top for something around 90 bucks

One other worthy mention is the CCA difference separating 'automotive' from "marine" batteries.

Marine batteries have thicker plates which means these batteries produce less cranking amps but ... for a longer time than automotive specific batteries. In temperate weather, there's no noticable difference. But if you are operating in sub freezing weather, then stay with the higher cranking power (but for shorter time period) automotive spec battery.

[kassim503]

I run a deep cycle marine in the maxi, I wouldnt exactly reccomend this to everybody but it works for me b/c I do alot of battery draining stuff with the engine off so automotive batteries didnt cut it for me.

Well, it really isnt a full marine battery, its a deep cycle/cranking battery that pumps out something like 800CA and 550-600 CCA (cant remember exact numbers and its raning outside so im just going by what I remember), so its ok if it doubles as a automotive/starting battery.

[Zoltan]

If you have a membership to a wholesale store try to get the battery from there, I got a optima red top for something around 90 bucks

You mean like Costco or Sam's Club? I didn't see them in Costco. BTW the redtop is a starter battery not a deep cycle.

[kassim503]

If you have a membership to a wholesale store try to get the battery from there, I got a optima red top for something around 90 bucks

You mean like Costco or Sam's Club? I didn't see them in Costco. BTW the redtop is a starter battery not a deep cycle.

Yellow tops are the deep cycle, and if i remember the blue tops are marine.

I got both a red top and a big kirkland signature deep cycle battery thats in my maxi from costco, both where pretty cheap. Mabye they arent in your area b/c the costco in my area started having them some 10 months ago.

[ffdjm]

A. Savage wrote in part:

"And you don't want to replace the starter."

You should not have to.

The Hitachi starter in my SD22 has worked fine for 295,000 miles in my 720 pickup. I recently removed and inspected it. Brushes had plenty of life, commutator ok. I replaced the solenoid just to be safe.
Both bearings were ok.

Douglas

[philip]

The Hitachi starter in my SD22 has worked fine for 295,000 miles in my 720 pickup. I recently removed and inspected it. Brushes had plenty of life, commutator ok. I replaced the solenoid just to be safe.
Both bearings were ok.

Douglas

Al was alluding to two things.

At reduced cranking speeds (for whatever reason), more amperage passes through the brushes which dramatically increases brush and communtator wear.

Next, getting the starter bolts out of the SD requires a wobbly socket and a universal joint on one of the two bolts. You'd think Nissan would .... oh well, never mind.

The starter on my SD was replaced at around 100k miles. If I wanted perfection, I would replace it again now (165k miles). When the starter takes a heat soak on a hot day, I come out to a click, click, click ... 5 to 20x's) before the solenoid finds a happy spot to run the starter. Agreed, it is more likely to experience a marginal starter solenoid than toasted brushes on these things. In cool weather, this never happens.