Quick Battery Question

[Coolwazabi]

does higher CCA mean it has a bigger capassity ?? or just it'll crank out more during start ?

i was browsing batteries at wal-mart and they had a 900cca battery for like $70 and it was about the size of a kinetik 1400 and then one that was 750cca that was $110 about the size of a 1800 or so...

[Coolwazabi]

have i stumped everyone ?? i think i know the answer but i don't like to assume i know things and make a fool out of myself

[MECHMAN]

have i stumped everyone ?? i think i know the answer but i don't like to assume i know things and make a fool out of myself

Cold Cranking amps reffers to what amperage load the battery can support for 30 secconds at 0 degrees without falling below 7.2V (on a 12 V battery)

It is really a measurement of discharge rate at a very low temperature, but capacity also plays a factor. It isn't really the best measurement for determining a batteries capabilitys in a car audio application.

[Coolwazabi]

ah okay... so what should i be looking for ??

[Boon]

Depends what you want it for.

Either you want Ah (amp-hours) which is an indication of capacity - the higher this is, the longer you can run the battery with a low to medium load and keep the voltage up - or you want CCA which, as mentioned above, gives how much the battery can give in a 'burst'

If you're a street beater you want lots of Ah and if you're an SPLer you want lots of CCA Mind you some specialist SPL 'burp' batteries will deliver several thousand amps for a few seconds but have surprisingly weak CCA figures...

[RamenNoodles]

Depends what you want it for.

Either you want Ah (amp-hours) which is an indication of capacity - the higher this is, the longer you can run the battery with a low to medium load and keep the voltage up - or you want CCA which, as mentioned above, gives how much the battery can give in a 'burst'

If you're a street beater you want lots of Ah and if you're an SPLer you want lots of CCA Mind you some specialist SPL 'burp' batteries will deliver several thousand amps for a few seconds but have surprisingly weak CCA figures...

Thats where BatCaps come into play. Not extremely high CCA but can put out a lot of power for 5 or so seconds.

[Coolwazabi]

ah okay... and the AH should be on the battery right ?

[MECHMAN]

Depends what you want it for.

Either you want Ah (amp-hours) which is an indication of capacity - the higher this is, the longer you can run the battery with a low to medium load and keep the voltage up - or you want CCA which, as mentioned above, gives how much the battery can give in a 'burst'

If you're a street beater you want lots of Ah and if you're an SPLer you want lots of CCA Mind you some specialist SPL 'burp' batteries will deliver several thousand amps for a few seconds but have surprisingly weak CCA figures...

Couldn't have said it better myself. Powermaster batteries are a perfect example, they don't have the greatest CCA ratings, but they will blow other batteries away under high amp/ short duration conditions. (like SPL)