Many drivers are unhappy with the battery power in their cars. And in an attempt to get what they want, they often wonder whether it is possible to install a battery with a larger capacity on their iron horse. They believe that if you install a larger battery, you can increase the energy reserve. However. Is this really so and does it make sense to buy a more capacious unit?
Most manufacturers install different batteries on cars during assembly, but the generator power remains unchanged. A simple conclusion follows from this that the battery capacity weakly depends on the power of the generator. The main thing you need to consider if you do decide to purchase a new battery is the power of the starter. Because there are quite frequent cases when, due to too much battery power, the generator failed, because it was not designed for such overloads.
If you turn to experts and bombard them with questions, you will get a clear answer about exactly when an overloaded generator can surprise the car owner and fail. There are many nuances and accompanying circumstances here, such as the degree of discharge of the battery, the features of the long-suffering generator itself, and the operating mode of the engine.
In order not to risk the health of their iron horse, many drivers prefer not to interfere and drive with a battery of the power that was provided and installed by the manufacturer. Because everything here has already been thought out and planned for you by specially trained people. During assembly, a battery of a certain capacity is installed in order to easily perform such tasks as operating the car’s electrical appliances when the engine is turned off, optimal service life, and also providing a small reserve of energy for the operation of the car in case the generator stops working.
If you begin to notice that the battery charge is catastrophically lacking even when the engine is running, you should not immediately rush to look for a more powerful battery and shove it into the car. It is best to replace it with a similar one or recharge it using a special device.
A reasonable solution would be to install a larger battery if the car has a very powerful audio system. It will need more energy, and the choice in favor of a “stronger” battery will be quite logical.
And in other cases, finding an exact answer to the question of whether it is worth replacing a familiar battery with a more powerful unit is, unfortunately, quite difficult. However, it is worth taking into account the words of car manufacturers, who do not recommend carrying out such fraud.
Photos from Internet resources
The car is equipped with a battery. And every car enthusiast has ever wondered what could happen if the car was equipped with a more powerful or weaker battery. Usually a person thinks about this when it comes time to change the battery. There are two myths. They are completely opposite to each other.
The first myth is smaller capacity
The first is that you cannot install a battery with a smaller capacity than what was installed by the manufacturer. Some people argue that if the battery is under rated, the alternator will overcharge and cause the battery to fail prematurely.
The car's generator is designed in such a way that it produces exactly the amount needed to charge the battery. The simplest example that exists in our lives. There are a huge number of cars on the roads that have had batteries for several years.
We all know that after a long period of use, the battery “loses” some of its power. Sometimes its actual power differs greatly from the nominal one, but this does not affect the operation of the generator in any way, and there are no situations associated with the battery boiling.
The only consequence of using a less powerful battery may be the inability to start the engine in cold weather. We know that at low temperatures, battery power can drop significantly.
If there are low temperatures in your region, we do not recommend experimenting with replacing the battery with a less powerful option. Otherwise, one fine frosty morning, you simply will not be able to start your car.
Myth two - large capacity
Now let's look at the opposite point of view. She claims that a more powerful battery cannot be installed. This can lead to premature generator failure. We have already said above that the generator produces exactly the amount of energy that is necessary to fully charge the battery. Again, a simple example from life. Surely everyone knows traffic police officers.
You can ask them about this issue. Inspector vehicles have a huge amount of additional equipment that consumes a lot of energy. These are light and sound signals, walkie-talkie and much more. Therefore, for more comfortable operation, these vehicles are equipped with additional batteries connected in one circuit. It is unlikely that any of them will tell you that they encountered a situation where the batteries were not charged.
From all that has been said, it follows that there is nothing in installing a high-capacity battery that could negatively affect the performance of your car. There is even a small plus here.
You will not have any questions if you accidentally leave the car and forget to turn off the lights, or if you listen to music for a long time at a picnic or other place. In addition, in winter, you can easily start your car. Car enthusiasts with low-power batteries will not be able to do this.
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Is it possible to install a larger capacity battery on the car?
Motorists often wonder what will happen if a car is equipped with a battery with more power than the manufacturer provided?
The editors of the portal site respond that if the terminals are suitable and the battery has the same dimensions, then it can be used, even if its power exceeds the power of the battery supplied from the factory.
Why then is there so much controversy?
There are two myths:
- If you put a battery with a smaller capacity, it will boil.
- If you install a battery with a larger capacity, it will not be fully charged and may burn the starter.
To dispel these misconceptions, let’s imagine 2 barrels of water of different volumes. One barrel contains 100 liters of water, the other 200 liters. Let's connect a water source to them, which will fill each barrel at the same speed. Naturally, the first barrel will fill 2 times faster.
Now let’s pour 20 liters of water from each barrel. In the first barrel we will have 80 liters left, in the second - 180 liters. Let's connect our source again and add 20 liters of water to each barrel. Now each barrel is filled again.
How does this happen in a car?
Now imagine that the generator is our source of water. It charges the batteries (barrels) at a constant rate for as long as needed. The generator cannot give the battery more energy than it can take. More precisely, the generator produces energy when there is a consumer for it. The battery takes it when it is needed and as much as needed (a full barrel).
Now the starter (hose). It takes energy from the battery. Let’s say that during 1 engine start, the starter takes 20 A*h. No matter how powerful the battery is, it will still take its 20 Ah. When the engine starts, the generator starts working. He must make up for the losses. And it replenishes the same 20 Ah. No matter what power the battery is installed in the car.
In addition to the starter, the vehicle's on-board systems can also consume battery energy if they operate when the engine is turned off. Often motorists find themselves in unpleasant situations when they cannot start the car using the starter because the battery is dead. This happens because the driver forgot to turn off the lights or audio system.
We see that the battery capacity does not affect the performance of the car in any way. Whatever battery is in the car, the generator will charge it exactly as much as the consumers charged it.
Then what are the myths based on? It's a matter of changing concepts. There is a fundamental difference between the concepts of “the battery is charging” and “the battery is being recharged.” This is like in our example above, if we apply a constant current of 1 A to each 100 A*h battery, it will boil in 100 hours, and the second one, 200 A*h, will not yet be recharged. After 200 hours, the second battery will boil, while the first one will already boil for 100 hours. Of course, the numbers are given conditionally, only to explain the process itself. No battery will boil for 100 hours.
The above process is called charging the battery, but this is not the case in question.
When we talk about battery performance in a car, we mean the process of recharging, not charging from scratch. Consumers took some, but not all. This amount is the same for both batteries. This means that it doesn’t matter which one takes longer to charge.
If the battery is completely dead, we will not be able to start the starter from it. Then the battery will have to transfer the power required for the starter from an external device (“light it”). Again, once the starter starts the engine and the generator is running, the fact that one battery will take longer to charge than the other will have no practical significance for us. While driving, the generator is responsible for power supply, not the battery. If we turn off the engine, for example, after 5 minutes, both batteries will be charged by the same amount. The next time you start the engine, charging the batteries will continue evenly.
To understand the reason for the emergence of these myths, it is worth going back to the 70s of the last century. It's all about broken roads. When drivers got stuck somewhere, they got out “on the starter”. Naturally, he burned out. That's why manufacturers took this step, limiting the power.
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Many car owners are sure that the battery capacity must correspond to the characteristics recommended by the manufacturer of a particular car, and other options are simply unacceptable. But is this so, and what will happen if you install a battery with a larger capacity under the hood, or, conversely, a smaller one?
What capacity does the battery need?
What do we know, or rather, what have we been told? They said that if the car has a battery with a larger capacity than recommended in your car's manual, the battery will be constantly undercharged. If you install a battery with a smaller capacity, the battery will definitely boil. That is, in any case, the battery will not last long in this mode. This is exactly what, or something like this, scares car gurus on the forums of young car enthusiasts who decide to replace the old battery in their car for the first time. Where this superstition came from and who started it first is no longer important, but it is important that people promoting such inaccuracies simply do not have an idea of the principles of operation of the electrical units of a car, and they are unlikely to be at odds with physics, as well as common sense.
Is it dangerous to install the wrong battery?
Destruction of the myth
So, so that the darkness of technical superstitions does not affect your friendly relationship with the battery, you should understand one thing: a car generator works the same on any car, and it doesn’t matter what the volume of the battery is, how many ampere hours are indicated on its case. Remember, the generator on a modern car only responds to the level of current electricity consumption. In the event that only the ignition and engine are working, that is, consumption is low, then the generator produces a small amount of energy. When electricity consumption is higher, for example, all systems are turned on, and the battery requires recharging (discharged), then the generator begins to operate in a mode of greater energy production.
Which battery to choose
As much as you need, as much as you can
The key point here is that the amount of energy that the generator produces is always equal to the amount of energy consumed by the on-board system. He does not put anything in reserve, does not produce too much, and does not under-produce (if he is working properly). As for batteries, we can give a couple of examples using logic and common sense, which will clearly demonstrate the inconsistency of scarecrows about the dangers of non-compliance with the recommended battery capacity. We all know that a battery loses its original capacity over time. Well, that's the nature of all batteries. So what should happen based on what the gurus recommend? Yes, the battery becomes dramatically abnormal. But we continue to use it, and it doesn’t boil, although it seems like it should.
Is it time to change the battery?
The opposite example is associated with special vehicles, police cars, which are equipped with additional batteries, since they need to power flashing lights, radio stations and other special equipment. It turns out that the standard battery does not work, it is incorrect. But no one has complained about it yet. So, what we have is: a battery with a smaller capacity will charge a little faster, a battery with a higher capacity will charge a little slower. That's all it takes, that's all the difference. No catastrophe will happen in the engine compartment, there is no place to come from.
There is an opinion among motorists that a battery can only be installed in a car with the capacity recommended by the instructions, since with a lower amperage it will boil, and with a higher amperage it will constantly be in an undercharged state. But in fact this is a deep misconception, let's think about why.
A little theory.
Without delving into various technical terms, a car network can be imagined as a chain of interconnected elements: battery - generator - starter - on-board system. The latter, in the absence of additional energy-intensive equipment, consumes little energy, however, like the starter, which acts as a consumer only when the engine starts (the rest of the time it does not work). What remains is the “battery – generator” connection.
The first one provides electricity to start the engine and supplies it to all additional electrical consumers (radio, headlights, interior lighting, alarm, etc.) while the car is not started.
The second one replenishes the current losses of the first one (recharges it) and ensures constant maintenance of energy in the car system. This system has its own characteristics, similar and interrelated with the characteristics of the battery - voltage and power. The standard voltage of the on-board network practically does not change, it is equal to the difference between the voltage of the network and the battery and is in the range of 13.8-14.2 V. But the power is identified with the power of the generator, which can be different (both 40 A and 80 A). In this case, it is not at all necessary that these characteristics of the named device and the battery be equal. These figures are only information from the manufacturer about their capacity: how much electricity they can give/consume in 1 hour. In general, the recharging current of a car battery is always less than what the generator is capable of producing, so the answer to the question of whether it is possible to install a larger capacity battery in a car is unequivocal: yes, it is possible!
What's the point?
In other words, if you put a more powerful battery under the hood of the car, but with the same voltage, it will simply take longer to charge and discharge, which will guarantee the maximum number of cold starts in cold weather.
For those who don't understand.
For those who still don’t understand anything, let’s explain with an abstract example. You have 2 barrels: 55 and 65 liters. You have the opportunity to supply the entire required volume in 1 second, but you don’t do this, because, firstly, you simply don’t need it so quickly, and, secondly, this can lead to the rupture of these same barrels, so water is decided supply through hoses with the same pressure. The smaller barrel will naturally fill faster, the larger one will fill more slowly. But the latter will last longer, because there is more liquid in it. It’s the same in a car, only instead of a barrel there is a battery, instead of water there is an electric current, and instead of a displacement there is a capacity measured in A/hours. Hence it turns out that with the same power (and today almost all cars have the same current), one battery is more likely to replenish its charge than the second. That's the difference.
Are there any restrictions?
Surely, no one needs to explain that there should be a measure for everything. Battery capacity is no exception, so if you install a larger battery, then do it without “fanaticism”, because:
- a device that is too large may simply not fit into the space allocated for it in the engine compartment;
- the greater the difference, the greater the risk of overload.
By the way, do not rush to write off a standard-capacity device, since manufacturers always provide for a sufficient supply in order to:
- maintain the on-board voltage at a negative balance;
- have a reserve of starting properties even in the presence of all kinds of complicating circumstances;
- guarantee sufficient service life;
- provide the opportunity to get to the parking/repair site after the power source fails;
- power all devices with the engine off.
So before you experiment, think it through carefully. And our advice to you: if your car does not have powerful electrical consumers installed when the engine is turned off (system heating, powerful audio system, etc.), use what the manufacturer recommends!
Several opinions from car owners.
Igor:
“Be that as it may, you should never forget about the nature of the trips you make. If you only move around the city and often get stuck in traffic jams, it is better not to install a high-amperage battery, since it will indeed always be in an undercharged state.”
Sergey:
“It seems to me that everything is even simpler: when the engine starts, the battery loses the nth part of its charge, regardless of what capacity it has (55, 70 A/h, etc.), and how quickly the battery The “loss” will be restored depends not on the capacity of this battery, but on the power of the generator and the voltage of the on-board network.”
Egor:
“Don’t forget that a drive that exceeds the standard one in throughput will have less resistance (compared to the standard one) when fully charged, and more resistance when fully discharged. Hence, if there is a certain charge, everything will be ok, but if there is a deep discharge, and the vehicle’s on-board network does not have an energy reserve and a current limiter, installing a device with increased capacity is fraught with overheating of the network.”
