- Jan 12, 2005
- 9,500
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Hope this is suitable as an off-topic subject. Please move to the Garage if that's the better place.
I still have the original OEM battery in my 2003 Acura RSX. I've unintentionally drained the battery at least 20 times over the years because of the design of the overhead driver/passenger lights (there's no chime to warn you if you open the door with one of those lights on, and I'm VERY absent minded). Thank goodness I carry around a portable jump starter.
But that OEM battery is still going strong at almost age 7. I don't understand that at all. I thought deeply discharging lead-acid starter batteries was a surefire way to kill them. What am I missing here?
Another battery mystery - I've been planning to at some point replace the OEM battery with one of the high-end after-market batteries. You know the kind: 800 cold-cranking amps, even though the OEM battery is only like 420 CCA. More is better, right? But maybe not: I've read that in order to up the CCAs, the manufacturers make the plates much thinner, so more of them can be crammed into a limited volume. And thinner plates are - it's claimed - much more vulnerable to vibration, leading to reduced lifespan. Is this true? Should one just stick to a battery that just matches the OEM battery's CCA specs?
Anyone here a car-battery expert?
I still have the original OEM battery in my 2003 Acura RSX. I've unintentionally drained the battery at least 20 times over the years because of the design of the overhead driver/passenger lights (there's no chime to warn you if you open the door with one of those lights on, and I'm VERY absent minded). Thank goodness I carry around a portable jump starter.
But that OEM battery is still going strong at almost age 7. I don't understand that at all. I thought deeply discharging lead-acid starter batteries was a surefire way to kill them. What am I missing here?
Another battery mystery - I've been planning to at some point replace the OEM battery with one of the high-end after-market batteries. You know the kind: 800 cold-cranking amps, even though the OEM battery is only like 420 CCA. More is better, right? But maybe not: I've read that in order to up the CCAs, the manufacturers make the plates much thinner, so more of them can be crammed into a limited volume. And thinner plates are - it's claimed - much more vulnerable to vibration, leading to reduced lifespan. Is this true? Should one just stick to a battery that just matches the OEM battery's CCA specs?
Anyone here a car-battery expert?
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