Car Audio Question

[ripspeedtimmy]

Hi guys.

I was just after peoples opinions on my situation. I have owned for about 16 months an Exide Gel Cell Battery. I have been using this as my only Battery, therefore using it as a starting Battery, Now the cold cranking rating on this battery is 750-900 CCA and i know for a fact that my 1995 corolla 1.3 16v does not need that much, i have also noticed that if i have my system playin loud it drains the battery very quickly according to my volt meter, and i recently did a battery test and found out it was only pushin out 505cca. this was after a 20 minute drive as well. I dont really need the extra power for my system as it does not drain that much. I also have 2 single farad power caps.I have been offered a brand new Halfords heavy duty calcium battery "for my car" with a 4 year guarantee (my gel cell is out of guarantee now) for my gel cell battery. I was just wondering what people would do, would they either swap the batteries or keep the gel cell even though the car is struggling to charge the battery now. Also if i rev my car, i notice that the voltmeter rises and the headlights go brighter but go dim as i take my foot off the throttle, i never noticed this with a standard battery. Any help appreciated people

[Unity Jon]

the Gel cell Battery does not recieve a good charge from a standard car alternator, and your not supposed to charge them from a standard Car charger either, I've seen Two explode due to charging problems which is really bad considering they're sealed and not supposed to gas (they do gas but its contained. You can run them in a car as the stock Battery replacement, but it kills them really quick. it sounds like your gel cell has got, or is developing a dead cell, meaning it will accept a charge but it will loose it pretty quick, this will get worse over time until the Battery is toast and its irriversible, you can repair lead-acid batts, but its hardly worth it to be honest.

If you want a really high amperage batt that will accept a charge from an alternator try to get a commercial starter battery (1000amp) but they're large (i've got six in the boot of the regal !) Otherwise just buy a good but normal, car battery, it will save you a lot of grief in the long run.

Gel Cells work well as secondary batts as that way they are not always getting a charge at a high rate from the alternator. They work best with only a 5amp charge rate over a long period of time !

[ripspeedtimmy]

thanks for your help mate, that really helped me! just what i wanted to know.