What battery for 3.0 V6 1996?

[proxy]

What battery I should use for my Plymouth Grand Voyager 1996 3.0 V6. I
mean how much Ah. Now I have 55 Ah but the battery has just broken.

 

[Rufus T. Firefly]

If you still have the owners manual the vehicle specs page usually list the
amp hour rating of the original battery - or - if the one in there is the
original then you can read it right off of that. The replacement should be
the same amp hour rating / cold crank amp rating as the spec. Many people
move up to a premium battery at replacement time and go for a higher AH &
CCA rating, especially in cold climates.
If you have added some power drawing accessories like a sound system booster
then a little bigger battery capacity won't be a bad idea.

Just don't go for the biggest is best. It is possible to have a battery
with so much capacity that a low output alternator cannot bring it back up
to fully charged on short trip driving.


--
Mike....................................................
"Opportunities are spawned from crisis"

What battery I should use for my Plymouth Grand Voyager 1996 3.0 V6. I
mean how much Ah. Now I have 55 Ah but the battery has just broken.

 

[Bill Putney]

If you still have the owners manual the vehicle specs page usually list the
amp hour rating of the original battery - or - if the one in there is the
original then you can read it right off of that. The replacement should be
the same amp hour rating / cold crank amp rating as the spec...
...Just don't go for the biggest is best. It is possible to have a battery
with so much capacity that a low output alternator cannot bring it back up
to fully charged on short trip driving.

Hmmm - not sure I go along with that, Rufus T.

The starter on that small car is going to drain the same number of
amp-hours (or watt-hours since the voltage will be pretty much the same)
during starting whether the battery is small or large. The job of the
alternator is to pump the battery back up by the same amount (i.e.,
replace the same number of amp-hours or watt-hours) that was lost
(ignoring resistive losses, which actually will be less for the larger
battery) during starting, plus power the running devices (same
regardless of battery size). The battery's self-discharge (leakage that
occurred while sitting since the last run) will be proportional to the
size of the battery (everything else being equal), but that's a second-
or third-order effect and will just about balance out with the
improvements in resistive losses of the larger battery.

The only place where that smaller alternator would have more trouble
with the larger battery is under the very stressful situation of
charging a severely discharged battery (i.e., someone left the lights on
overnight). However, an alternator should not be used to charge a
discharged battery - a charger should be used to restore intial charge
before starting the engine (though admittedly, you don't always have
that choice).

IMO, the philosophy of buying the biggest battery that will fit is not
wrong.

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")

 

[clare]

Hmmm - not sure I go along with that, Rufus T.

I have a 3.0 in an 88 New Yorker, and I put in the biggest Interstate
Megatron they make for it. Don't have the number handy - but at
100,000 I removed the original battery (6 years old) and put in the
first Megatron. At 212,000, and 16 years (10 years on battery), I
replaced it (after my wife left the headlights on at -25C for a couple
hours - and froze it)