Standard Battery Is 41ah

[lagonda 42]

Haven't been on the forum for months! Been busy with move to France, plenty to do. Also the CTi has been behaving very well.

 

The battery, though is on its last legs....not a cause for complaint, it goes back to 1997 if not before, so it's done very well. It might have carried on if I hadn't tried jump starting the old tractor here.

 

Anyway, the standard fitment is 41ah 360A, but I could fit 45ah 400A, or even 56ah 480A...that latter I understand being standard for 205 diesel. I was thinking a more powerful battery would not be a bad thing....apart from the tractor, I have old cars where a bit of help from, or even sticking this battery in, might be useful. I suppose the one concern might be the ability of the alternator to cope, but would it be a problem in practice?

 

The local LeClerc hypermarket has Bosch S3 batteries in stock at what seem pretty good prices to me...they don't currently have the 41ah, but they have the other two, €46.63 & €58.14 respectively.

[Ryan 99]

I've got a 205 diesel battery in mine. It's been in for five and a half years and I've had no problems. I'm still using a 1.6 alternator too, and it's had no trouble keeping the battery charged.

[lagonda 42]

Thanks Ryan, just what I was hoping to hear!

[Anthony 1,003]

As said, a larger battery will be absolutely fine and the alternator won't be fussed.

 

To give you some idea, my current 205 has the old battery from my 306 HDi in it which is an 075 type (~61Ah).

[pug309twin40s 1]

my goodwood was running the biggest battery i could squeeze in the gap, was a 550amp one, used it like that for couple of years without any problems.

 

 

 

i always fit the biggest battery i can get when i need to replace a battery, currently sat in my renault safrane is a 720amp battery(that i found lying around:)!! huge battery, would never fit in a 205 or 309..

[Rob Thomson 6]

Conversely I've never had any problem with the standard battery so why bother with the extra weight?

[Ryan 99]

Starting the car puts less strain on a bigger battery, so they last much longer. Plus they crank the engine over a bit faster too, especially if you've upgraded to an XU10 starter.

 

The weight difference is only a couple of kg, you'll never notice the difference.

[lagonda 42]

Thanks guys. Fortunately the vendor left a really good charger here (one of the few things he left that actually works!), & to make sure it will still start once I'm out....no problem so far....I'm using a spare battery for the lorry here as back up. It's a Mercedes battery....no, not from a Mercedes, but actually (apparently) made by Mercedes. It is huge & has a couple of serious carrying handles, just as well, as it's all we can do to lift the thing. It just squeezes in the passenger footwell. Even though still technically flat on the hydrometer (charging it up slowly), it spins the CTi engine over like a top.