Car Battery differences?

slemons

Hi Guys...
I just bought a Citroen Saxo 99 1.1litre. You might remember the 'back to college' car thread.
Anyway the car battery is dead. It may or may not be chargeable. I can give it to my mechanic to test, but he'd need it overnight.

So, I was wondering, could i take the battery out of my current car and drop it into the Saxo?

The current car is a Pug 406 Coupe. I dont know anything about batterys but i just had a look at the current one and its rated at 70AH, 600A whatever that means.

This page http://www.tayna.co.uk/batterygroups/8/007-Car-Batteries-page1.html suggents betteries for a Saxo and they're only 30odd AH.

So can i just bang my current battery into the Saxo and work away for the time being?

Thanks for the help guys!
John

JMcCR

So long as it fits!!

If it fits in the cradle you can swap them over. ampage may be higher but this doesn't matter.

on a side note, take the other battery to kwik fit or similar and they can test your battery in seconds. If it is knackered that best (cheapest) place to go is to a scrapyard. They always have tonnes of good batteries.

sundodger5

might be the same battery unless the 406 is diesel. even then it might. the saxo is probably an 063 the 406 may be a 065 (same width but longer) i think the tray in the saxo that the battery sits in may take the 065 just move the little plate that holds the battery down into the other hole in the the battery tray.

Run_to_da_hills

JMcCR wrote: »

If it is knackered that best (cheapest) place to go is to a scrapyard. They always have tonnes of good batteries.

That could be false economy, you would buy a new one from e45 up and It would be guaranteed to last you a couple of years. A scrap yard would try to charge you a score and it could be knacked in a few months unless you are lucky to pull one out of a recently crashed car. A lead acid battery will deteriorate permanently if it is left idle over a long time.

slemons

Thanks guys.
My 406 is way too big to fit in.
But i got a loan off a chager off a mate and it looks like the old battery might hold charge after all...
I'll let you know in the morning
How long do you usually charge a battery for? My mate says til it get to about 5 or 6 amp's on the little meter?

DublinDilbert

well if its say a 60AH (amp hour battery) and your charger gives 6A (amps) then divide the two numbers to roughly get the charge time....

60/6 = 10 hours.....

When the amp meter on the charger is hitting 6A it means its still charging the battery.... The battery will be charged with the amp meter on the charger starts to drop off....

slemons

Thanks Dub!
Motors has to be the most helpful forum I was ever on!

My little battery is 40AH and the charger gives 6A. Its been on approx 11 hours now and the ammeter reads about 3A. Any idea what i should charge it to?

The good news is that it seems to hold that 3A when i switch off the charger for a minute. But does that mean anything as there's nothing drawing on it?

There is a little LED on the top of the battery that a sticker says should read green when charger, white when goosed and grey when discharged. Its always been blank/black?
Any idea's on this?
Thanks again
John

slemons

Great News guys. Looks like the old one works after all.
Just needed a good charging over night
Thanks again
J