car battery question

[Bill Douglas]

My Corolla is meant to have a cca (cold crank something..) 330 battery. Will a cca290 battery be OK. I know it will go flat quicker, but will it stuff the car's charging or other eletronics? thanks

[pksystems]

I hope that is for a warm weather car. My DD battery has 750 CCA

CCA (Cold Cranking Amps) is for winter starting.

[gacook]

I believe the "a" is amperage.

I personally wouldn't go below the recommended amperage, but others may disagree...

[URY914]

If it is a high mileage car and you live in a hot climate you should be fine with a CCA that is less than recommended.

[Bill Douglas]

Thanks Paul, thanks Guys. It's an old Corolla so doesn't need much to spin up the starter motor. Plus it gets driven fairly much everyday.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Agreed with the others, probably ok in moderate weather. Nothing is harder on a battery than cold weather.

[flyenby]

CCA= cold cranking amps. I would not scrimp on a battery..

[ckelly78z]

A higher CCA battery will have more starting strength in the cold months. My diesel truck has TWO 1150 CCA batteries.

[T77911S]

Originally Posted by ckelly78z

A higher CCA battery will have more starting strength in the cold months. My diesel truck has TWO 1150 CCA batteries.

correct. although i dont know how much more CCA you need in the winter. yes the engine will be harder to trun over but the bigger problem is what the cold does to the battery itself. pull up a tech sheet on a battery. on the one for one of my UPS's the float voltage goes from 2.27v percell at 77 degrees to 2.29v per cell at 68 degrees.

a lower CCA does not mean it will go dead sooner. think of it as power that the battery can put out. does your car require 330A everytime it starts? probably not.
although 330a is pretty small for a car battery. most are in the 6-700 range at least.

i usually just buy cheap advance batteries these days. i dont know if you are really getting your moneys worth out of a more expensive battery now.
exception. a lot of new cars "require" a certain battery like my mercedes. perhaps it is due to the internal resistance.

[Bill Douglas]

Thanks Guys. It doesn't get too cold, or too hot, around here Matt so I think I'll get away with it. Yep, a cheap one is good. I don't want to buy a battery that is worth more than the car

[john70t]

Batteries and tires should be the very last thing to scrimp on for a few measly extra bucks.

The rest of toyota will last forever. Guaranteed.