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[dippydave]

Any recommendations for replacing the big battery under the bonnet? I've not had too much luck with Vauxhall "Go" jobbies. Even if they are rebadged Exide ones!

What Ah or crank capacity to go for?
Preferred supplier?

Thanks in advance

PS it's for my pair of 2.5 V6s

[Elite Pete]

Have a read of this

http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1193781665/8#8

[dippydave]

lol. thanks for the link. i did a search for "battery" and got so many hits, decided on a new thread. whoops!

[ians]

I just bought a Halfords Calcium one for my toy car - good deal if you have a Halfords trade card, and 4 years guarantee.   The GO equivalent on TC was a bit cheaper but a) wasn't in stock, and b) I thought the extra year warranty was worth it.

[Kevin Wood]

I just bought a Halfords Calcium one for my toy car - good deal if you have a Halfords trade card, and 4 years guarantee.   The GO equivalent on TC was a bit cheaper but a) wasn't in stock, and b) I thought the extra year warranty was worth it.

I put one of them on my last car and it was good. Limped into Halfords in Swindon after a bump start at Membury services and they said "would you like it fitted free?". Sounded good as I didn't have any tools. Should have said "would you like to use our tools to fit it while one of our guys scratches his bonce and moans about a Lanuna being a difficult fit".

Don't know why it's a "difficult fit". Two terminals and a clamp bolt, ear defenders preferred as I have no idea how to silence alarm, job's a good'un.  

Kevin

[TheBoy]

No more crap batteries for me  

[Taxi_Driver]

Actually while waiting in a waiting room last week (as your suppose to do   )
I picked up a motoring magazine to read......amazingly it was only a couple of months old  

But it had a 'test' on car batteries......from cheapo's to over £300 a pop  

Altho no Vx GO batteries were tested......the two Halfords batteries they tested came out very well indeed for performance against price....better than more expensive batteries and also better than exide batteries (didnt realise Vx Go batteries are rebadged exide batteries)

The tests involved how long it would crank an engine for.....from full charge.
How many times it would start the engine over and over fom full charge.
The above tests repeated after the battery had been drained a bit (to simulate car being left for a week not used)

[TheBoy]

Actually while waiting in a waiting room last week (as your suppose to do   )
I picked up a motoring magazine to read......amazingly it was only a couple of months old  

But it had a 'test' on car batteries......from cheapo's to over £300 a pop  

Altho no Vx GO batteries were tested......the two Halfords batteries they tested came out very well indeed for performance against price....better than more expensive batteries and also better than exide batteries (didnt realise Vx Go batteries are rebadged exide batteries)

The tests involved how long it would crank an engine for.....from full charge.
How many times it would start the engine over and over fom full charge.
The above tests repeated after the battery had been drained a bit (to simulate car being left for a week not used)

But I bet they didn't test how they age after a year...

[Kevin Wood]

I've got a Halfords battery in the Westfield, actually. The first battery I had was from a big name and it lasted 3 years. Halfords one has lasted 4 now. It's not a calcium one either.

It's a pretty small battery, only about 40AH IIRC, it has to start a tuned 2 litre engine with a lot of compression, it lives in a rather hot engine bay and it gets left for long periods without use when the weather's cr@p. I don't think it's doing too bad. Then again, someone like Halfords could change the underlying supplier frequently and you'd never know so quality could well be variable.

From what people have posted about the cost of Go batteries on TC they sound a no-brainer TBH but I always seem to be passing a Halfords when one packs up on me - and recent batteries seem to fail suddenly, unlike old ones which used to go on for a few months giving subtle hints that all is not well.

My cousin had one explode in his Saab 9-5 nearly voided himself!

Kevin

[Elite Pete]

I just bought a Halfords Calcium one for my toy car - good deal if you have a Halfords trade card, and 4 years guarantee.   The GO equivalent on TC was a bit cheaper but a) wasn't in stock, and b) I thought the extra year warranty was worth it.

Ive got the same Halfords battery and the car has been sat on the drive and not moved for over a month, went to it on Sunday and it started first turn of the key. I had the jump leads ready

[Grumpy]

I must be lucky with my battery, reading the 3 and 4 years
that folk seem to get on here.

Fitted a Halfords battery in the old diesel Merc in 1998.
It's still lighting up the glow plugs and starting a diesel engine
9 yrs later. And it does that even if it's been sat for a month
whilst we've been away using the Omega.

Only thing I've ever done to it, is to make sure it's topped up,
and always used distilled water.

After saying that, sod's law it'll short out internally tomorrow.  

[davlad22]

^^^^^^^^^^^
Must be old, they're all sealed batteries nowadays aren't they!?!

[Kevin Wood]

"Maintenance free" batteries can be topped up, they just make it harder to take the caps off!

In a normal environment it's not necessary, but if the underbonnet temperatures are high they do need a top up from time to time.

Kevin

[davlad22]

So what is the effect when using mains battery chargers (for car batteries) when the selector is switched from standard 'old style' to sealed for life?

Does that make sense? What does the switch do?

[Kevin Wood]

So what is the effect when using mains battery chargers (for car batteries) when the selector is switched from standard 'old style' to sealed for life?

Does that make sense? What does the switch do?

I haven't seen one with such a switch. I would imagine it changes the rate of charge to be a little more gentle on maintenance free batteries. Since you aren't supposed to be able to top them up you have to be careful of overcharging them because overcharging results in water being lost through electrolysis.

AFAIK there's nothing more radical that's different about maintenance free batteries. They have a valve in the vent at the top of the battery that's supposed to only allow gases to exit if the battery is overcharged and gassing excessively, rather than the top of the cell being open to the atmosphere. The idea is that hydrogen and oxygen vented from the electrolyte recombines to form water and water loss is minimised. Problem is, the explosive mixture thus contained within the battery is a potential bomb if an electrical connection arcs inside the battery!

Kevin