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Battery

2K views 17 replies 9 participants last post by  bigjim 
#1 ·
is it normal for the battery to die after 7 days of non use? quite a new battery, car was left for approx 7 days, not even enough power to open doors. any ideas?
 
#2 ·
I was just going to post about this. Mine died after a week or so of non use.

Not sure if this is common, but other cars have been left unused for three weeks and started.



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#3 ·
Yep....my car will just about start after a week away.....its "click" after two weeks away! Pretty normal on these....they consume quite a bit of power when "off". That said I've just changed my old 60ah (540 cca) liquid filled battery for a mighty 80ah (800cca) AGM battery....so I recon I could get it to start after two weeks non use now! Funnily since I fitted it a few weeks back the car feels different....smoother (especially from cold...im guess the alt is not having to work so hard to replace the post power from starting or standing overnight) and keener to rev. For info the biggest battery you can fit is a 115 size one...same height and width as stock (so the factory battery hold down will still do its job) but about 315mm long....so the longest that will fit in the tray. Spot the difference!
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#5 ·
Yeh, though should last long than that. If you are happy to, lock the car with the physical key, it manually locks it but not alarm, so battery consumption will be a little lower


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#9 ·
Time to replace battery here too, totally dead in few days in the beginning of winter hibernation. Actually the car left me stranded once in the autumn too, but worked in daily use aftyer re-chsrging. The question is, that will 190 mm high battery fit in 3,2 Q4 Brera's egine comparment. At the moment there is 175 mm high one, but some books recommend also 190 mm hig batteries. In my opinion it should fit, but I want to be sure.
 
#10 · (Edited)
190 is the height of the standard battery...by 175 wide. The only difference going to the 115 size battery is the extra length....315 mm...which is the max size that will fit in the tray. This is my original size one and the big one I replaced it with.
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#11 ·
There is a load of stuff out there about the battery being just right but standard batteries have improved a lot over the years so I would say over 580CCA should be sufficient even though 700 or so is recommended, it partly depends on how cold it gets where you live, if you need to be regularly starting it at below zero then go for a bigger one. If you can get it to fit in terns of cabling and strapping down then you should be ok. The one I got a few years ago was about 15mm less in height so the strap wouldn't tighten down enough so a piece of ply under it sorted that.
 
#12 ·
Mine is 80ah and is 800 CCA and is AGM and is stop/start compatible! Overkill?...maybe but no 159 every complained about too much battery capacity! And I can leave it for a fortnight and it will fire right up like I'd just left it overnight. On the old battery a week was about the limit. It's one area where bigger is definitely better!

Batteries may have improved (personally I think not) but 580cca is still only about 80 percent of 700cca whichever way you look at it. It's those cold cranking amps you need when the oil is thick on a cold winters morning. I would never fit a battery smaller than stock in any car....and certainly not in a 159.
 
#13 · (Edited)
As I said, it depends on the temps where you live - a battery has twice the cranking capacity at +18c compared to -18c.
The official specs allow for starting and running in very cold temps at night with everything on, and while running the alternator will power everything other than at idle and at that point most batteries will run everything at idle for a good while anyway. The starter motor will only draw what it needs so huge CCA actually makes no difference in anything other that very, very cold temps. Also high CCA batteries have more and thinner plates and so often do not last so long.
My 580cca battery started my 2.4 first time after 3 weeks.
You do need a decent battery to crank a diesel but the obsession with huge cca is a little misguided. I think, it is more important to keep an eye on older batteries, after a few years or so.
 
#14 ·
My AGM came with a five year warranty....and it's stop/start spec....which means it's supposed to be good for 270,000 starts...compared to a standard batteries 30,000. So I should not even be thinking about the battery for a good few years yet. You were lucky to start that car after 3 weeks...many on here struggle after a week (a quick search will show that) and just get a click after 2....these cars pull more current than most when off. And yes it's the amp hours that dictate how long before the battery goes flat...not the cca's. That's why I went up to 80ah from 60. The cca's make sure it spins up and fast for a faster cleaner start though.
 
#15 ·
Is anyone familiar with a company named PROTEC in Leicester?

Spoke to them about getting my car checked and got "We deal with complicated cars like BMW and Audi, Alfas are like little boys toys to us"....said they'd call back, but haven't heard from them.



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