I need a new battery for my 2011 honda accord SE. The everstart www.battfinder.com tool says to buy one with 500 cold cranking amps, but the AAA guy wanted to sell me one that had 700. What size should I get? I live in a cold climate. If I get 700 will it physically fit in my car and could it damage things like the starter or alternator? I’m also wondering if I should get my battery from walmart or not I have read people say they are crap and died after 3 months and walmart didn’t honor the warranty or that the battery made their alternator go bad.
People will tell you anything about Wal-Mart but you have to shop somewhere. The battery will fit the car unless you buy the wrong one purposely.
Batteries are sold by group sizes. Every car has one or more group sizes that fit it and the group size determines the height, length and width of the battery, if it is top post, side terminal, or both. It also determines which post is on which end of the battery.
The cold cranking amps give the power of the battery and usually, the more expensive the battery, the more powerful. Obviously a physically larger battery can have more power than a smaller one but in practice, cheaper batteries don’t pack the most possible power for the case.
You want at least as much power as your car came with. In the rust belt, as a car ages it needs mor power as the frame and all the grounds corrode.
There is no one best battery brand when tested, they vary every year by group size and even by individual sample.
Some makers even sell different batteries for the South ( more heat resistant ) than the North (more cold cranking amps )
It is a funny thing but even though it take more power to start a car in cold weather, the batteries last up to twice as long in the North.
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If you live in a cold climate get the most cca, hot climate less cca is not an issue. I have never heard of an issue with more cca causing a problem, they will only sell you a battery that will fit. The extra cca is to help in cold weather starts, Cold Cranking Amps, the more the better for you.
Pretty much agree with the others. If you get the correct group size it will fit and the terminals will be on the correct size. I would not be comfortable with a 500 CCA in a cold climate. I have 600 and 700 in Minnesota. I personally have not had good luck with Walmart. Several lasted only a year and took an hour to get them to replace it. Others lasted three years. I now pretty much use Delco or NAPA from East Penn but didn’t keep the car long enough to know if that was good.
Where ever you read that nonsense stop reading there. The battery places have charts to tell them what one will fit each vehicle. Just buy the best one you can afford.
Can putting a 700 cca in a car that had a 500 cca damage the starter or alternator?
No
That’s nonsense
If your car left the factory with a group 35 with 500cca, then installing a group 35 with 700cca will NOT damage the starter or alternator
BTW . . . I have no idea what group size battery your car requires. I was just using group 35 as an example
You’ll have to figure that out, or ask the store. They should have look-up charts, or they can look on their own website
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For what it’s worth, Consumer Reports says the Everstart Maxx from Walmart is a good choice. I’ve also had good luck with Interstate batteries. Individual experiences with either of these may vary, but they are not bad places to start.
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The batteries that you have not had good luck with from walmart, were they Everstart or Everstart Maxx?
Costco now sells interstate batteries, in case you’re a member
Some of them are highly rated, but you’d have to look on the CR website to make sure your particular group size has scored well
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The label on batteries can be a company label. There are only a few battery manufactures to start with. The one that made Diehard ( Sears private label ) might not be the same one that made Diehard 5 years ago.
Just get the right size , price and warranty you are comfortable with and move on.
There is a lot of variability in batteries from the same manufacturer. I’m not sure that CR uses a lot size that is large enough to really rank them. But they do survey their readers to get some of their data and in some cases, that does yield a more valid lot size.
But, I have two data points myself since Walmart switched to Everstart and they are not good. I have four data points on Duralast batteries from AutoZone and they are very good. Two of them lasted 10 years or more, the other two simply outlasted my ownership of the vehicles, and I keep vehicles for a long time, and I live in the south.
As for cca size. As long as the battery is fully charged, it does not matter. The batteries are 12.6 volts. The rest is ohms law. It does not matter the size of the battery, the current that actually flows is determined by the resistance of the circuit. You could have a million cca battery and the current draw would not change.
However, a smaller battery will drain faster if the vehicle does not start right away and as the battery drains, its available voltage drops. This is not good.
It gets complicated here. The starter is an inductive load. That is the current flows through coils. As the starter turns, different coils are switched in and out of the circuit by the commutator and brushes. As a coil is switched it, it offers a high resistance to current flow that quickly decreases. Before the coil gets saturated with current, it rotate out of position and another coil takes its place.
A low battery causes the starter to turn slower, giving each coil more time to reduce its resistance to current flow, so current flow actually increases because of lower resistance, and more current flow is more heat and more heat is not good. Not good for the tarter or the battery.
Bottom line, get the highest CCA battery that will fit in the space provided.
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My battery size is 51R, hows that rating on that one?
My battery size is 51R, hows that rating on that one?
Its on the top of your battery, I’m having trouble seeing it from here.
CR rates 51R in this order
Interstate
Everstart
Diehard
Duralast
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I thought he was asking about CCA.
@keith I beg to differ with
"As for cca size. As long as the battery is fully charged it does not matter."
If it is really cold, it does make a difference in my experience.
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Does walmart sell interstate batteries?
Costco sells interstate, and only interstate
I believe some other vendors also sell interstate, but in my area, autozone, pep boys, o’reilly and napa do not carry interstate. Perhaps some of the independent shops and smaller chain stores sell interstate . . . ?
As far as I know, Walmart only sells everstart
But I’ve never set foot in a walmart store, so I’m not certain if they also sell other brands