What Can Happen If You Put The Wrong Battery In Your Car?

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It seems elemental enough, right? Your car artillery is confirmed to beryllium dead, not simply plagued by different electrical issues like a bad alternator. It's clip for a travel for nan section car parts shop to acquisition a caller replacement battery. Or possibly your conveyance is astatine nan mechanic and they're providing one. In immoderate case, you'll want to make judge that nan caller artillery intimately matches, aliases improves upon, nan specifications of your aged battery, and that it besides fits properly. 

The "wrong" battery tin beryllium defined by nan pursuing issues: replacing a 6-volt artillery pinch a 12-volt battery, aliases vice-versa; nan incorrect size, arsenic successful beingness dimensions; nan caller battery's terminals are nan incorrect type aliases successful nan incorrect location; aliases nan acold cranking amps are excessively debased for your engine.

The problem arises because immoderate vehicles had 6-volt electrical systems until nan 1960s, erstwhile 12-volt architecture afloat took over. Putting a 12-volt artillery successful a conveyance equipped for 6 volts will wreak each sorts of havoc, for illustration frying ray bulbs and dashboard gauges. To usage nan much communal 12-volt artillery decently successful an aged 6-volt car aliases truck, conversion kits are available.

Accidentally putting a 6-volt artillery successful a modern 12-volt strategy conscionable won't work, since thing little than astir 11 to 12 volts is excessively debased to commencement nan engine, depending connected nan make and model. Admittedly, 6-volt car batteries are rare nowadays, truthful this isn't terribly likely.

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Once it's wished that you're buying a artillery pinch nan due voltage — almost surely 12 volts — the adjacent information is to find nan correct size. Car and motortruck batteries travel successful dozens of different beingness sizes, but fortunately, you're apt to encounter only astir 10 really celebrated sizes (sometimes called group number aliases group size) successful banal astatine a store. Sourcing nan due size is important because a artillery that's excessively long, wide, aliases gangly whitethorn not fresh successful your vehicle's artillery tray properly.

A bully fresh that uses your vehicle's hold-down hardware to securely fasten nan artillery is highly important. Batteries are dense and filled pinch acerb aliases different caustic substances, truthful you decidedly want them to enactment firmly put during acceleration, braking, and cornering. Catastrophes specified arsenic improperly fastened batteries contacting moving motor parts aliases shorting retired against metallic components tin and do happen. Sometimes, there's a mini magnitude of wiggle room erstwhile it comes to artillery sizing, but immoderate you do, make judge that immoderate type of sturdy "hold down" system is successful place. 

Besides selecting nan correct artillery group size, salary attraction to nan terminals, nan metallic posts to which nan artillery cables attach. For example, General Motors famously utilized broadside terminal artillery posts for decades, alternatively of nan much accepted top-mounted terminals. In that case, you'll request to acquisition a artillery truthful equipped, aliases perchance a set of adapters. 

In nan aforesaid vein, batteries for definite vehicles person nan affirmative and antagonistic terminals reversed (by nan way, which terminal should you disconnect first?). For example, nan Group 24 artillery versus nan Group 24F, which has nan terminals reversed. If attempting to usage 1 of these oddball batteries successful a different application, nan vehicle's artillery cables whitethorn not beryllium agelong capable to connect. Alternatively, nan affirmative artillery terminal could beryllium perilously adjacent to metallic parts, for illustration nan fender.

Finally, make judge your caller artillery has astatine slightest arsenic galore acold cranking amps (CCA) arsenic nan artillery it's replacing and/or specified successful nan owner's manual. Cold cranking amps are a measurement of a battery's expertise to commencement an motor successful acold weather. For instance, if you person a diesel motor that requires 800 CCA and a artillery pinch only 600 CCA is substituted, you're going to person a bad time. When you cardinal up nan starter, it mightiness move much slow than accustomed aliases neglect to commencement astatine each nether difficult conditions, for illustration freezing temperatures. For this reason, some diesel-powered pickup trucks really person 2 batteries, not conscionable one.