OK to have a higher crank amp battery for winter?
 

Hi all,

I went to Walmart got a fresh battery (everstart), the spec of the battery (from their book) for our car has (I think) 600 32 degree crank amp and 525 cold crank amp. I just simply didn't like that number, and for the same price I got one with 720 32 degree crank amp and 600 cold crank amp that would fit. One person at Walmart told me not to, but I didn't think anything bad would happen in this cold weather (10 below). Can anyone give me some ideas? Thanks

Xiaonan

I have a redtop and mines fine

More is better as long as it fits.

Ditto

yeah, I installed it and changed oil today, it starts much better. It doesn't fit very perfect, but I manage to use a strap to secure it and used some electrical tape to avoid shorting.

Well.. Canadian Tire's computer says that the battary for the first gens is 720 32 degree crank amp and 600 cold crank amp or something like that,and the Wal-mart's here don't even have the 7's in any of there manuals (i work at one so i check constantly, hell they don't even seel the oil filter or air filter for the first gen's) . Where I live 600 cold crankin amps isn't enough, the coldest it got this week was -32 degrees celius... -40ish with windchill.. no clue what that is in Fahrenheit.. but its damn cold.. my battery runs just over 1000 cold crankin amps, don't remember what amps in normal temp.. it fits perfectly.. anyways i had the 720/600 battery in my car before and it was too small for the tray.. kept slidin around and such (mostly cuz my hold-down broke) but the new fits in perfect and gives enough juice on our coldest days.. for now it does atleast.

i have a optima red top that is 870cca right now tomorow im gonna know if is gonna be enought to start, because is -34 up here

i have a high cranking battery i use all year round, its a spiracoil gell cel, its a damn good battery but im gonna upgrade to an optima so i can mount it in the storage bin without having a box

btw i believe my battery is like 770 cca

-40 is -40, it's where the two scales meet.

put the biggest you can fit in the hole for it........the additional amprage will give you more time if you leave your headlights or dome light on when you park it and if you ever flood the engine it will give you more cranking time. the only specs that would hurt anything is if you went to a higher voltage battery and they only make those for racing applications to crank high compression (over 13:1) engines.

That's actually not true, because if you look at the top of a battery, it will typically list CCA (cold cranking amps) and RC (reserve capacity). Reserve capacity (measured in minutes) is the one that determines how long your battery will last under a certain load.

Back on topic, more CCA isn't necessarily better, but it certainly isn't going to hurt anything. You probably just won't be able to tell the difference between starting your car with a DieHard Silver and a DieHard Gold.

My plans exactly. Optima lying on its side.

higher CCA - more likely the battery will be unable to turn over the engine on that critical first try. For those of us in a prairie winter, high CCAs mean lower towing bills.