My 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid battery died, (the regular battery, not the big battery pack.) I went to the auto store and looked up what it cost and the hybrid battery was about $45 more than the battery for the regular civic. The regular battery is 9 inches long as opposed to 7 inches for the hybrid battery. The cca for the hybrid was rated at 330 amps and the one for the regular Honda battery is 500 cca. I toyed with the idea of buying the regular battery and making it fit, but was unsure if the higher amperage would harm something else. So in the end I paid the $40 extra and put in the hybrid battery. My question is would the larger battery have worked or would it cause some damage to the electrical system?
The cars electrical system would not know the difference…It’s a matter of fitment. Getting the larger battery to fit into the allotted space…
Next time go to NAPA for a battery. Your car takes a Group Size 151 battery that’s $92 at my local NAPA store. At my local Advance Auto it’s $138, although quality may be better, I don’t know.
Personally, I’m not a fan of Napa automotive batteries
We’ve occasionally used them for our fleet vehicles, and most of them conk out within a year or two
Wow, that’s pretty bad. Guess that’s why they’re $46 cheaper.
“My question is would the larger battery have worked or would it cause some damage to the electrical system?”
The larger group 51R battery is a viable replacement for the smaller but less powerful and more costly group 151R battery. I’m 95% sure it can be fitted into the right rear battery space in the Prius trunk. You need only to change out the tray. (Use the non-hybrid Civic’s tray.)
Sorry, change that reference to Prius above to Honda Civic Hybrid. I’ve had Prius on my mind the last few days. Everything else holds.
The amperage of a battery is the maximum current that the battery can deliver. That does not mean that it always delivers that amount of current. It all comes down to OHMs Law. The current is determined by the voltage and the resistance. As resistance goes down, current increases IF it is available. If not, then voltage drops accordingly.
Since the Hybrid doesn’t need as much current, it won’t draw any additional current. It’s just additional capacity if it is ever needed. So if the battery fits, and the voltage is the same, then you can use it. Just make sure that the different terminal locations doesn’t cause the + terminal to short against the body, or anything else.